Kalam dedicates Rajiv memorial to nation

President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam today dedicated to the nation the memorial for former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, constructed at Sriperumbudur...

President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam today dedicated to the nation the memorial for former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, constructed at Sriperumbudur where he was assassinated on May 21, 1991.

The ceremony was held in the backdrop of the temple town in the presence of Rajiv’s widow and AICC president Sonia Gandhi, their daughter Priyanka, son-in-law Robert Vadra and son Rahul. Tamil Nadu Governor P.S. Rama Mohan Rao was also present.

While Sonia sat through the one-hour programme with a grim face, Priyanka broke down when Kalam and Sonia were going round the memorial after the dedication event. Though no speeches were made, Kalam chose to break protocol and prayed to God to help people combat divisive forces. He read the prayer first in Tamil and then in English.

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While there were many Congress stalwarts there, the presence of Union Forest and Environment Minister and DMK representative in the Vajpayee Government T.R. Baalu raised many an eyebrow. Union MoS for Urban Development Bandaru Dattatreya was the sole BJP representative on the occasion.

The ceremony began with students chanting Vedic verses, invoking mother earth, followed by inter-faith prayers. There was an eerie silence when students standing before each of the seven pillars read out from the inscriptions on them symbolising the values dear to Rajiv’s heart
—dharma, satya, nyaya, vigyan, tyaga, shanti and samridhi. Recalling Rajiv’s martyrdom, students, holding aloft a red cloth, came in a procession down the ‘‘last steps’’ of Rajiv (from the place where he alighted from his car to the red carpet where he was assassinated).

As they paid homage, the silence was shattered by the piercing blow of conches, when Kalam dedicated the memorial by unveiling Rajiv’s portrait and a plaque.

Priyanka, Rahul break security cordon, mingle with Cong cadre

J. BALAJI
CHENNAI, OCTOBER 10

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The way Rajiv Gandhi’s children, Priyanka and Rahul, mingled with the crowds at Sriperumbudur today showed it won’t be difficult for them to strike a chord with the people if they choose to carry on their family tradition.

After the ceremony to dedicate Rajiv’s memorial, both Priyanka and Rahul, accompanied by Priyanka’s husband Robert Vadra, broke the security cordon, squeezing their way through the barricades and shook hands with the delighted Congress cadre. Ignoring security personnel, the duo grasped at the hands reaching out, and even obliged a few with autographs. Sonia too gave a go by to security restrictions and freely moved around the memorial. Interestingly, many Congress CMs, like Shiela Dikshit (Delhi), S.M. Krishna (Karnataka) and A.K. Antony (Kerala), instead of using official cars, travelled in an air-conditioned bus to Sriperumbudur, along with senior Congress leaders. Security arrangements were unprecedented at the venue and also at the helipad in the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Youth Development where the President and Sonia Gandhi landed in separate helicopters. Such was the cadre’ enthusiasm that her vehicle was forced to stop as many as three times.

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