Indian anti-Congress parties have often painted Rajiv Gandhi as some one whose tenure bought defence procurements of this country to its knees. Bofors gun the famous FH77 is a Swedish 155 mm howitzer, which i remember booming in our fight to win back the tiger hill. In fact the gun was so successful in its intended role that DRDO using the technology transfer of the original FH 77, is developing its own Dhanush Gun. The later however is still facing development issues while Indian Army remains about 200 gun short in the category.
Still Bofors is known more for the alleged involvement of Indian Politicians – specifically Rajiv Gandhi. Ironically the case was handled by CBI reporting to multiple unfriendly (To gandhi family) PMOs, including that of VP Singh, PV Narsimha Rao, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Not once a sitting government ever alleged any involvement of Rajiv Gandhi. However the tone changes to allegations in no time, once the crutches of power (and boundations) of responsibility fail.
While Rajiv Gandhi has been blamed without proof, much of his good work is not advertised, even by his own party. Bofors for one was a right acquisition at the right time, so was speedy approvals for Integrated Guided Missile Program. For the uninitiated its this missile program that led to development of Prithvi tactical missiles, Agni ballistic missiles, Nag anti tank missiles, Akash and Trishul surface to air missiles. The replacement to INS Viraat and INS Vikrant with two new 28,000 ton Air Defence Ships (ADS) was planned by Rajiv Gandhi in 1989. He sought to build a nuclear navy with commissioning of INS Chakra in 1987.
If anything Rajiv Gandhi can only be accused of wishing his country’s armed forces to be well equipped. Why BJP can still choose to rattle a bribery theory, its members along with rest of us citizens can sleep a little easy with Rajiv’s defence procurements guarding our borders
