Dead or alive

It is all outrage and no common sense in the Congress over the mention of Rajiv Gandhi8217;s name in Column Two of the Bofors chargesheet. If things carry on like this the party is going to find itself in pretty bad odour with the public and with little to show for its efforts to defend its late leader8217;s reputation. The Congress must get its act together and realise that there is not going to be a lot of public sympathy for it on the Bofors issue. Therefore it is going to have to show more skill in handling the matter. That means putting the public interest first and being clear about its tactics. Thus far MPs have shown they are undecided about what to do in Parliament, first demanding and then withdrawing the demand for a discussion. A comprehensive statement from the party8217;s legal cell expected in the beginning of the week is still awaited. These are comparatively minor blunders and the party should be able to survive the ridicule they invite.

It would be a much more serious mistake to act on the broad hintsfrom Sonia Gandhi and Kapil Sibal that parliamentary business will be obstructed unless Rajiv Gandhi8217;s name was deleted from the chargesheet. This may have been couched in the language of consensus or lack of it but the meaning was plain. Atal Behari Vajpayee has been talking about creating an atmosphere of harmony. The chances of that coming about are reduced when the main opposition party sees a political vendetta in putting Rajiv Gandhi8217;s name in the Bofors chargesheet. But what Congress leaders are saying goes further than this and implies a deliberate attempt to stall parliamentary business. Before the party proceeds in that direction, let it be clear about a few things. It may well be that there is political motivation behind the filing of the charges now. Indeed it would be very surprising after the bitter exchanges between the BJP and the Congress during the elections if there were no political calculation on the BJP8217;s part. But the people will not forgive the Congress if it tries fighting back byholding up important legislation or stalling discussion on Bills and policies. In normal circumstances people may sympathise with the Congress8217; case that it is unfair to name Rajiv Gandhi but not allow him to be defended because he is not being brought to trial. Everybody has the right to defend himself. It is also true that Arun Jaitley is not entirely credible when he argues in effect that in order to bring the accused middlemen to book it is essential under the Prevention of Corruption of Act to charge Rajiv Gandhi as well. It is also disingenuous to claim that the government played no part in the timing of the charges when by L K Advani8217;s own admission it has influenced the CBI on this score. But when all is said and done, none of the games the BJP may be playing will justify the Congress scuttling parliamentary business. It would be selfish and arrogant for the Congress to hold up Bills it has until now agreed to vote for. It should never forget that Rajiv Gandhi is seen as having directly and indirectlybrought down two governments. More instability in his name would be intolerable. The defence of Rajiv Gandhi can be made legally in court and politically outside Parliament.