Rahul's words came back to haunt Sonia after Rajiv Gandhi's assassination

In her memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, Sonia Gandhi recounts the events of May 21, 1991, when a woman pretending to offer Rajiv Gandhi a garland detonated explosives strapped to her body in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. The blast killed him and 14 others nearby.

In Short

• Sonia Gandhi recalls Rajiv Gandhi's 1991 assassination in her book
• Rahul warned about his father's security two months before attack
• SPG cover was withdrawn before assassination, replaced by local police

Sonia Gandhi has recalled the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the warning their son Rahul Gandhi had made about his security two months before the attack, news agency Press Trust of India reported.

In her memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, Sonia Gandhi recounts the events of May 21, 1991, when a woman pretending to offer Rajiv Gandhi a garland detonated explosives strapped to her body in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. The blast killed him and 14 others nearby.

Rahul Gandhi had been travelling with his father two months earlier when he told his mother: “If something isn’t done about Pa’s security, I know I’ll soon have to come back for his funeral.” Sonia Gandhi writes that his words returned to her mind after the assassination.

According to PTI, Gandhi writes that the attack took place a little over a year after Rajiv Gandhi’s Special Protection Group cover was withdrawn by the VP Singh government. A committee had met in December and decided that the SPG cover should continue “unless a change was warranted by some fresh threat assessment."

“No such review was ever undertaken. The very next month, the SPG cover was withdrawn by the VP Singh government. A specialised force in a whole system trained to provide proximate security was replaced with the local police,” she writes.

Gandhi recalls that the day had begun like any other. When Rajiv Gandhi was away, she found a “sense of comfort” on his side of the bed. Priyanka Gandhi was in her room preparing to attend a friend’s birthday party, while Rahul Gandhi was studying in the US.

“Suddenly, I heard footsteps running down the corridor towards my room. No one else was in the house; it could only have been her. I thought I heard her stumbling, then the footsteps stopped abruptly at my door. I shut my book and listened, feeling uneasy,” Gandhi writes.

She says Priyanka entered slowly and appeared to be forcing herself to remain calm. “But her breath was fast and shallow, the colour had drained from her face, and her eyes were darker than I had ever seen them before,” she writes.

Priyanka told her about a phone call, a bomb explosion and people dying, and asked her to prepare to leave. Gandhi initially struggled to understand what had happened.

“I couldn’t understand what she was saying, she was speaking fast, and nothing was making sense. Why Madras? Was Rajiv in Madras (Chennai)? What bomb? It was less her words than the dread in Priyanka’s voice that froze me into realising what she really meant. I couldn’t breathe. I stood up, she stepped forward and held me in her arms. I could feel her heart thumping wildly against my chest,” she writes.

Over the next few minutes, calls were made to senior party leaders and close friends to establish what had happened. Gandhi writes that she eventually collapsed in her daughter’s arms and repeatedly cried, “I should have gone with him. Why didn’t I go with him?”

Still hoping the news was not true, she called “Mr George” and asked him directly. “Just tell me, is it true?” she said. His voice faltered as he replied, “Yes, it is true, Sahab is no more.” Gandhi writes: “I felt as if my world had gone dark, and that darkness had swallowed me whole.”

Although many of her memories from that period remain “sketchy”, Gandhi recalls staff members sobbing, the family’s nanny Ongmu wailing in the corridor, and Priyanka remaining composed despite being devastated.

“Much later, some moments returned to my mind, but to this day my own memories here are mixed with what has been recounted to me by my daughter and others,” she writes. Gandhi recalls feeling faint before Priyanka supported her, took her to her room and helped her sit on the bed.

“Rajiv’s beloved daughter was broken but composed. Priyanka hadn’t cried in front of me, not once. She took charge of everything, darting between her room and Rahul’s,” Gandhi writes. She says Priyanka tried to shield her from hearing anything that could deepen her pain while making calls and arranging their travel.

Gandhi recalls Priyanka arguing with someone over the arrangements: “Let us go on the plane that’s bringing him back. Please. If you don’t allow us, we’ll make our own arrangements. But we will go.”

When Rajiv Gandhi’s remains were flown to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, Sonia Gandhi felt a strong urge to see him. Memories of “a moment, a word, a loving gaze” returned, and she remembered that he had pledged to donate his eyes, as his mother had done.

She urgently asked for the family physician, Dr Mathur, so she could tell him about Rajiv Gandhi’s wish. The doctor replied: “Aankhen? Arre kya baat karte ho, kuchh nahin bacha hai, kuchh nahin!” Gandhi translates the response as: “Eyes? What are you talking about? There’s nothing left, nothing!”

She writes that the response “dealt me a blow that made me sick to the stomach”. “I couldn’t breathe. I wanted to die,” she recalls.

Rahul Gandhi was eventually contacted. A friend told him, “Buri khabar hai,” meaning there was bad news. Rahul immediately replied, “Papa is dead, isn’t he?” Gandhi writes: “I hold him tight. Had there not been a hitch in his schedule, he would have been in Sriperumbudur, right there by Rajiv’s side. Now he stands motionless by his father’s remains.”

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