Gandhi family has forgiven Rajiv’s killers: Nalini’s lawyer

COLOMBO: The family of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi has forgiven the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the rebel group blamed for his killing nearly 17 years ago, claims S. Doraiswamy, the counsel for many convicted in the assassination case.

In an interview to the Colombo-based Tamil language publication Virakesari Illustrated Weekly on Sunday, he said Rajiv Gandhi’s daughter Priyanka Vadra had forgiven the killers, and consequently Sonia Gandhi, her mother and Rajiv Gandhi’s widow, also would have.

Referring to the sensational meeting Priyanka had with Nalini Sriharan, who is serving a life sentence for her role in the assassination at the maximum security jail in Vellore, on March 19, Doraiswamy said that when Nalini broke into tears and sought forgiveness, Priyanka held her hand and said: "Don’t worry. I’ve already forgotten everything."

"Priyanka said that she had forgiven Nalini. She went further and said that she had forgiven the killers. What does this mean?" asked Doraiswamy, who has represented Nalini.

Nalini had facilitated the assassination without knowing about it, Doraiswamy said. The plotters and the actual killer, a female suicide bomber, were members of the LTTE.

"I had told an English language daily that her forgiveness was not confined to Nalini and that it applied to the Liberation Tigers also. I say that again," Doraiswamy asserted.

"As far as I am concerned, I will say that even Sonia is not angry with the Liberation Tigers, because if the daughter says she is not angry, will it not apply to the mother also? I can say with certainty that others in Rajiv’s family also feel the same way," he said.

Asked if the Indian government felt the same way, the counsel said: "In a situation where Sonia Gandhi’s family itself is not angry with the Liberation Tigers, the Indian government has to accept it and declare that it is not angry with the Tigers."

"It is true that the people of India were angry with the Liberation Tigers (following the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi). But after Priyanka’s meeting with Nalini, the anger has more or less gone, not just vis-à-vis Nalini, but the Liberation Tigers also," Doraiswamy said. "In course of time, people will come to understand this. When that happens, it will be a good change."

Asked if Priyanka’s "noble gesture" of meeting her father’s assassin was "politically motivated," given the fact that Sonia Gandhi is president of the Congress Party and chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which is due to face several elections, he said: "I have no need to analyze the reasons for the meeting. I feel that Priyanka should be praised for her act. To go and meet a person who has been convicted and serving a sentence for killing her father, and forgive her, is an incomparably great deed."