By David Alexander
NEW DELHI (UPI) – Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated Tuesday by a bomb explosion as he campaigned for this week’s parliamentary elections, which his Congress (I) Party was expected to win.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack on the 46-year-old Gandhi, who served as prime minister after his mother, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was slain by two of her Sikh bodyguards in 1984.
The assassination Tuesday prompted officials to postpone India’s ongoing elections until at least mid-June. Before Gandhi’s death at least 200 people had been killed in the campaign and the week of voting that began Monday, making it th bloodiest election since India’s independence in 1947. The government also declared a week of mourning.
The explosion blew off Gandhi’s head after he stepped out of his car to address a crowd during an election rally near the southeastern city of Madras about 10:20 p.m. local time, police and the Press Trust of India news agency said.
Crowds of people pressed around the former prime minister, placing garlands of flowers in his hands and around his neck. The Press Trust quoted officials as saying the bomb appeared to have been concealed among flowers offered to Gandhi.
At least 16 other people were killed in the blast, including a police superintendent, five policemen and Gandhi’s personal security officer, the Press Trust said.
Police in Madras said no suspects had been detained, but they could not rule out the involvement of ethnic Tamil extremists fighting for an independent state in the nearby island nation of Sri Lanka. The separatists have bases in southern India.
Security forces were put on alert nationwide and police in the capital were rushed to sensitive areas to forestall the kind of rioting that followed the Oct. 31, 1984, assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Rioting, looting and arson were reported in Madras, the capital of Tanil Nadu state, following Tuesday’s assassination. Hundreds of supporters mobbed his family’s home in the capital on hearing the news of Gandhi’s death, shouting “blood for blood” and condemning the leaders of rival political parties.
The mob refused to let caretaker Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar through their lines to express condolences to Gandhi’s Italian-born wife, Sonia, the Press Trust said.
Gandhi’s wife and his teenage son and daughter were not with him at the time of the attack. The Press Trust said Gandhi’s son, Rahul, was visiting the United States and had been summoned back to India.
Sonia Gandhi was later reported to be traveling to Madras, and the Press Trust said her husband’s body would be returned to the capital about 11 a.m. Wednesday.
Senior leaders of the Congress (I) Party met in an emergency session to find a successor to Gandhi, India’s most prominent political personality. A party spokesman, calling Ghandi’s death a “sudden shock,” said the party would decide Wednesday on a new leader.
The Press Trust said after the blast Gandhi’s body lay in a pool of blood under several unidentified people who also died. About 10,000 people attending the rally ran screaming in all directions.
Some shouted, “Gandhi, where, where?” Several women with blood-stained clothes wailed, “They have killed Rajiv.” The air was filled with smoke and the stench of burning flesh.
The agency said dazed policemen took several minutes to get to Gandhi’s remains out from under the pile. Some party officials broke down in tears on seeing their leader’s body. Security personnel attempted to cordon off the site and get dozens of wounded to the hospital.
Witnesses said the blast took place 10 yards from the dais where Gandhi was to speak as he was being jostled by party workers and supporters, who were placing garlands of flowers around his neck. They said the blast also blew a huge crater in the ground and sent debris flying in all directions.
A former airline pilot, Gandhi was first thrust into the limelight when an airplane crash killed his younger brother and only sibling, Sanjay, who was following in the footsteps of his grandfather, India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
After Sanjay’s death, Rajiv entered politics and was being groomed to succeed his mother when she was assassinated. He served as prime minister for five years after his mother’s killing, but was defeated in the November 1989 elections.
Polls had predicted his Congress (I) Party would winn the largest number of seats in the May 20-26 parliamentary elections, and many observers expected he would again be nominated prime minister.
He arrived in Madras Tuesday evening on a two-day election tour of Tamil Nadu state and had traveled to the town of Sriperumpudur, 25 miles away, where the explosion occurred.
Tamil militant groups campaigning for an independent nation in Sri Lanka’s north and east maintain bases in Tamil Nadu.
Gandhi, as prime minister in July 1987, brokered an accord with then-Sri Lankan President Junius Jayewardene under which the Tamil militants would lay down their arms in return for greater autonomy.
Most militant groups accepted the accord, but the most powerful Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rejected the agreement and fought almost 100,000 Indian troops, who were stationed in the island to keep the peace.
The Press Trust, reporting from London, quoted a spokesman for the Tiger rebels as denying any involvement in the killing.
“The news has come as a shock to us and we are unable to say anything,” said rebel leader Commander Kittu. “We certainly are not involved in it in any way.”
Gandhi also reportedly on the hit list of Sikh extremists fighting for an independent nation in northern Punjab state. Suspected Sikh militants this week attempted to assassinate two members of Gandhi’s Congress (I) Party.
In October 1986, a Sikh youth fired three shots at Gandhi during an outdoor ceremony. Gandhi, who was then prime minister, was not hurt but two bystanders sustained slight wounds.
During his term in office, Gandhi was accused of becoming aloof and distancing himself from the people. In the current election campaign, he had tried to break through the security cordon around him in order to meet close-up with his supporters.
Both political allies and fies alike expressed shock and disbelief at the news of Gandhi’s assassination.
“I condemn this dastardly attack, which is a terrible blow to Indian democracy,” said Jaipal Reddy, a spokesman for the Janata Dal Party, which led a coalition government following Gandhi’s 1989 defeat.
“On this occasion all Indians should act with unity of purpose, cutting across party lines,” he said.
A spokesman for the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has posed the main threat to the Congress (I) in the elections, said “it was sad and horrifying to learn about the ghastly killing of Mr. Gandhi.”
May 21, 1991
Rajiv Gandhi assassinated by bomb blast while campaigning
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Above: Rajiv Gandhi's body lies in state after his assassination. Below: The funeral pyre where he was cremated. At bottom: Mourners collect his ashes in urns for transfer to the confluence of India's two holy rivers, the Ganges and Yamuna, where they were submerged according to Hindu custom.