Threat To Sonia Gandhi

There are widespread reports in electronic and print media that the ministryof home affairs has issued an alert stating that LTTE has threatened to kill MrsSonia Gandhi. If media reports are correct, the warning is ominous. This warningshould be taken most seriously. Not because of what the home ministry has said,but because the home ministry at all said it. This is election time. IndiraGandhi was assassinated just before an election and her death had a profoundimpact on the poll. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated midway during a generalelection and that altered the poll trend after his death.

The truth behind political assassinations is seldom established. Doubt, mysteryand unanswered questions continue to haunt the assassinations of Liaquat AliKhan, President Kennedy, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and other world leaders.The conduct of several leaders during the murders of Indira Gandhi and RajivGandhi have never been satisfactorily probed or cleared. Dr Henry Kissinger oncesaid that trying to unravel the conspiracy behind a political assassination isseldom rewarding. He said it is more fruitful to consider who benefits from theassassination.

These worries arise from the inexplicable conduct of the home ministry. If ithas information about the presently beleaguered LTTE’s plans to assassinateIndian leaders, how does it help security to publicize the information andactually identify the intending killers? The information could have beenconveyed quietly to all the relevant leaders and their respective securitysetups. Would that not have been more effective for safeguarding the VVIPs?Instead, the doors have been thrown open to all potential terrorist groups andothers to plot assassinations. The plotters would be emboldened by the knowledgethat if assassination is successful, suspicion against LTTE as the culprit hasalready been established.

Home minister Chidambaram needs to ask the Intelligence agencies and homeministry officials some hard questions. And the security of Mrs Sonia Gandhi andother leaders needs to be stepped up to unprecedented levels. They must beguarded not only against the LTTE but against even the most unsuspectedquarters.