Sonia Gandhi pleaded with her husband, Rajiv Gandhi, not to take over as prime minister after the assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, on October 31, 1984, fearing that he could meet the same fate.
In an edited extract from her memoir published by The Guardian, the former Congress president has recounted the emotional moments following Indira Gandhi's killing by two of her bodyguards at her residence at 1, Safdarjung Road in New Delhi.
Rajiv was in West Bengal attending a political rally when he received news that a serious incident had taken place in the national capital. He immediately returned to Delhi, landing at around 3.30 pm, and was driven directly to the hospital.
Sonia's plea to Rajiv at the hospital
Recalling the moment she reunited with her husband at the hospital, Sonia said she wanted to be alone with him, even briefly. But she soon realised that Rajiv was about to share news that she desperately did not want to hear.
“We held each other, and as he spoke to me, it sunk in that he was saying something I didn't want to hear. 'I have been asked; They want me to be sworn in as prime minister,'” she wrote.
Sonia said the prospect of Rajiv succeeding his mother filled her with anger, anguish and fear. She was particularly worried that he could become a target following Indira Gandhi's assassination.
“I felt as if a knife had been plunged right into my heart. I felt a pounding in my chest, a rage welling up deep inside me. I was about to explode. I attempted to hold it in,” she recalled.
She questioned why Rajiv had been asked to shoulder the responsibility and urged him to reject the offer.
‘They will kill you, too’
Sonia recalled breaking down in tears and pleading with Rajiv with folded hands not to accept the post. She warned him that his life could also be in danger and appealed to him to think about himself and their children.
“No, no, you can't think of it. You have to stop them, you must refuse, you must say no, for the children's sake, for yourself. You can't do this to us. They will kill you; they will kill you, too!” she recalled telling him.
According to Sonia, Rajiv responded with a remark that left her even more distressed: “They will kill me anyway.”
The exchange, she wrote, was marked by overwhelming pain and fear as she tried to convince her husband not to take over as prime minister in the aftermath of his mother's assassination.
Rajiv Gandhi was sworn in as India's prime minister on October 31, 1984, the same day Indira Gandhi was assassinated. He remained in office until December 1989.