New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday once again targeted the Nehru-Gandhi family, addressing a rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan. The prime minister said, in 1987 when Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister, he went to an isolated island in Lakshadweep for a 10-day holiday.
The prime minister recalled that Rajiv Gandhi’s family had used the Indian Navy aircraft carrier INS Viraat for the holiday. The prime minister did not name the island, but the complete details of that vacation of the family had appeared in India Today on 31 January 1988. Journalist Anita Pratap had written sequentially the episodes of that picnic in her report.
“Can you imagine that a frontline warship of the Indian armed forces could be used as a taxi for a personal holiday? One dynasty did it,” Modi said in his election speech.
The Navy was made to host the Gandhi family and Rajiv Gandhi’s in-laws, and a helicopter was deployed in their service, too, Modi said, recalling the story in the media in 1988.
“He (Rajiv Gandhi) insulted INS Viraat by using it as a personal taxi. This happened when Rajiv Gandhi and his family was on a 10-day vacation. INS Viraat was meant for securing our maritime boundary. But it was misused for the Gandhi family’s vacation,” Modi said.
The prime minister recalled that INS Viraat was also made to halt at an island for 10 days.
“His in-laws, who had come from Italy, accompanied Rajiv Gandhi. The question is whether the security of the country was not compromised by taking foreigners on board a warship,” Modi asked.
Related: Archives on India’s sixth prime minister
Luxurious trip of Rajiv Gandhi, family, relatives, friends
The then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, had gone to a beautiful island with his whole family and special friends to celebrate New Year in 1987. Rajiv Gandhi’s friends included film star Amitabh Bachchan and his family.
In southern India, 465 km west of Cochin lies a beautiful island situated near Lakshadweep, which is named Bangaram. The entire island is deserted. The area spread over 0.5 sq km was carefully selected.
There is no restriction on the arrival of foreign nationals here. PN Agarwal, the then police chief of Lakshadweep, had said that the Bangaram island was safe and kind of isolated from the world. The geographical location of this area makes it really private for vacationing people.
A great effort was made to hide this highly secretive tour of the Nehru-Gandhi family from the media. Still, the media got a whiff of the vacation well before it had started: On 26th of that month when Rahul Gandhi flew in, with four friends of his, by a white helicopter of the Lakshadweep administration.
The family, relatives and friends had reached the island in different groups for holidaying. Rahul Gandhi’s group was the first. The government tried to hide Rajiv Gandhi’s personal trip at the time. An unsuccessful attempt was made to keep the media away from it. The government monitored both land and sea routes of Rajiv Gandhi and his guests to maintain the privacy of the then prime minister’s leave.
But those who were part of this holiday were all too high-profile to suppress the news. Four friends of Rahul and Priyanka, Sonia Gandhi’s sister, brother-in-law and his daughter, Sonia’s mother R Mino, her brother and uncle were part of the vacation. These were the relatives. The tour included Rajiv Gandhi’s special friend Amitabh Bachchan, his wife Jaya Bachchan and three children. Among the three children — two of Amitabh and the daughter of his brother Ajitabh. Ajitabh was those days stuck in a case of violation of the Foreign Exchange Regulatory Act (FERA).
Apart from this, another family was part of this tour. Bijendra Singh was the brother of former Union minister Arun Singh. Two foreign guests were included in the plush party.
Rajiv and Sonia reached the island in the afternoon of 30 December while Amitabh Bachchan arrived from Cochin-Kavaratti helicopter after one day. Jaya Bachchan and her children, along with Priyanka, had reached the spot four days ago.
An attempt was made to hide the news of the arrival of Amitabh Bachchan at the Bangaram island, too.
But on 31 December, another island Kavaratti, situated at some distance from Bangaram, saw Amitabh’s helicopter land for refuelling. It took 50 minutes. After this, the news spread like wildfire.
After returning from the holiday, Amitabh Bachchan encountered an Indian Express photographer. The film star was upset about this. He warned the photographer, but the journalist had done his job.
Old story dug out by a Twitter user
On 3 May, Twitter user Devi Prasad Rao dug the story out from the archives.
#CongressNeverAgain
26th Dec 1988 and the Prime Minister and Congress President Rajiv Gandhi planned a ten-day holiday at Bangaram Island.The Lakshwadeep Archipelago consists of 30 islands of which Bangaram is one, an uninhabited island, covering a mere half a sqkm.
1/n
— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
The Indian Navy's aircarft carrier, INS Virat picked up the holiday-goers from Mangalore & sailed them to Karavatti, the capital of the Lakshwadeep Islands.
Let that sink in.
Not a luxury cruise ship
Not a hired, private yatch
Not a plane
But Indian Navy's aircraft carrier2/n
— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
An aircraft carrier is not an ordinary ship; alone on the seas.
It is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase.
It is the capital ship, heading a Carrier Battle Group, requiring exceptional protection for itself.A vulnerable aircraft carrier is a useless white elephant.
3/n
— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
The security for an aircarft carrier is a layered, in-depth protection against all conceivable threats at sea.
An outer-most layer of aircraft on airborne early warning, surveillance & air defence tasks.
The next layer; anti-submarine patrols by ships as well as specialised4/n
— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
aircraft / helicopters.
Another layer of destroyers & frigates, specifically for anti-air, anti-missile, & anti-submarine tasks.
The inner-most, close-in-defence by the systems on the carrier itself are needed.In this case, a submarine was rumoured to be lurking around too.
5/n— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
The holiday-goers list included:
The PM, his Italian-born wife & 2 children
4 friends of Rahul & Priyanka
Sonia's sister, husband & daughter
Sonia's widowed mother
Sonia's brother
Sonia's maternal uncle
Amitabh Bachchan's wife & their 2 kids
His brother Ajitabh's daughter6/n
— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
Wife & daughter of Birendra Singh, brother of former Union Minister, Arun Singh
A total of:
6 Italian nationals
2 unknown foreigners
14 Indians (including Sonia who had surrendered Italian passport 5 years earlier)
On a joy-ride on the Indian Navy's aircraft carrier7/n
— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
Amitabh joined the group by catching a helicopter from Cochin to Karavatti, a day later.
On his way back, he was spotted by an Indian Express photographer. As he was roundly abusing the scribe, the journo managed to click 4 snaps and the holiday was reported in the press.
8/n
— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
Bangaram is an uninhabited island.
So, everything was set-up from scratch.An Administration helicopter ferried to the party,
The Society for the Promotion of Recreation, Tourism and Water Sports (SPORTS), a wing of the Lakshadweep administration was at their service.9/n
— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
A temporary farm with 100 chickens was set-up, two cooks worked full-time, under the personal supervision of the Gandhi's personal cook.
Crates of liquor were brought from New Delhi, cold drinks and drinking water suppplied from Karavatti.
The island's choicest fruits.10/n
— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
The rest came from Cochin or Karavatti, in 3 trips for this group of 20+ VIPs.
A data uplink was set-up in Agatti, understandable for a Prime Minister on the move.But for the rest, the Administration was waiting hand & foot, to ensure that the VIPs had a pleasant stay.
11/n
— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
4 months earlier, Rahul and Priyanka with 4 friends had holidayed at Lakshwadeep. The total bill they ran up was Rs 18,000/- (paid by Rajiv).
A group of 6 ratcheted up a bill of Rs 3k per head in 1988.
In 2019, that would be Rs 2.7 lakhs per head and Rs 16.38 lakhs total!12/n
— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
There is nothing wrong in a Prime Minister taking a break from his/her hectic schedule. The US President at Camp David and Putin's shirtless escapades come to mind.
Contrast this with our current PM, who has never taken a holiday, sleeps on overnight long-haul flights.
13/n
— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
It is in the manner in which virtually the entire State machinery was exploited & security compromised that raises several questions and reveals why the Gandhi parivaar, their scions feel they are entitled; that the country owes it to them to take care of all their needs.
14/n
— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
The sight of an entitled Prince celebrating his birthday on board a Chartered Aircraft with his sis, mamma & granny, then PM, pales in comparision to the Bangaram holiday.
The sense of entitlement, that put the State machinery to be at their beck and call, is mind-boggling.
15/n— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
Was there outrage?
Of course!
How could the Bachchan family, Ajitabh's brother & daughter, go along when there was a there was an ongoing investigation into Ajitabh's assets in Switzerland?What was the message to the investigators? Asked the opposition.
16/n
— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
Was there an outrage on the use of an aircraft carrier for a joy-ride?
Who at Naval HQ agreed to divert an entire aircraft carrier for ten days, for private use?
Why did no one object to the presence of foreign nationals?
Who were the 2 unknown foreign nationals?
17/n
— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
At least now, hard questions should be asked
Admiral J G Nadkarni passed away in 2018 but Navy records should reveal how the decision came by.What security checks were made of the foreign nationals?
What was the occupation of the foreign nationals?
Was Q among them?
18/n
— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
After the vacation, the group dispersed separately, with Rahul & Rajiv going back from Karavatti to Mangalore on the INS Virat.
Again!
The Administration spun the entire affair as a major positive: the publicity would boost tourism for the islands & create employment!
19/n
— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
Growing up under the shadow of a towering parent or a grandparent can be daunting.
The constant self-doubts.
The expectations of their family, of the circles they move in, of society.
The constant comparisions with the legend in the family.It is not easy & not all make it.
20/n— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
But none of that applies to the Gandhi scions
They can commandeer an aircraft carrier for a joyride
Have an entire nation at their beck & call
Enthrall us with a mere smile,
With every word however meaningless it may be
With a simple gesture, no matter how empty it may be.21/n
— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
The Gandhis are entitled to an immense sense of entitlement because, we the people of India, have placed them on a pedestal based, merely because of who they are born or married to.
Till now, we have believed that it is OUR privilege & their right to be on that pedestal.
22/n
— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
We, the people of India, have exempted them from the need to work, to create something of lasting value to society
to do anything of substance before they earn our respect
or to prove, in any manner they see fit, that they are worthy of being placed on that pedestal.23/n
— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
So, don't begrudge the arrogance of Rahul & Priyanka
Or their hate towards Modi & his new India
Deprived of an India as their private jagir
With its snake charmers, riverboat safaris, dinner with the natives, temple-hopping
& other exquisite entitlementsIts we the people!
24/n— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
We, the people of India, have given them that exalted place.
And it is time, to change thatOur leaders MUST earn our respect,
MUST work for the privilege to represent us
And when they do, it is not a gravy train to enrichment
but an opportunity to serve#CongressNeverAgain
25/n— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
Towards the end of the thread of tweets, revealed the source of his information, which is the media story in the first half of this report.
For exquisite details of the vacation, https://t.co/3ebsLAouq8#CongressNeverAgain
26/n— Devi Prasad Rao 🇮🇳 (@DPRArohana) May 3, 2019
As this is a social media generation, where VIPs and commoners alike use platforms like Google and Twitter to keep themselves informed, it was a matter of time that either the BJP would raise the issue, expecting it to get a lot of traction during the election season, or the Congress would question the resurfacing of a part of the history of one of their beloved leaders. Prime Minister Narendra Modi seized the opportunity, as it gelled perfectly with his recent raising of the issue of alleged corruption under Rajiv Gandhi’s rule, which the Congress found offensive.
In the meantime, Rao has alleged that, since the day his thread of tweets above was liked and re-tweeted by hundreds of users of the micro-blogging site, Twitter has been “shadow-banning” him.
