Chidambaram turns emotional on Rajiv’s death anniversary

Chennai: Congress veteran P Chidambaram on Sunday turned emotional while remembering former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, a “messenger of peace”, and said those who feared that peace would prevail in Sri Lanka were responsible for his death.

The former finance minister said Rajiv’s mother, Indira, “realised” that a nuclear-powered India would enter the elite superpower club and conducted the Pokhran I test. Her son, however, did not do it when he was the prime minister as he was a “lover of peace” and never ordered nuclear tests despite being well aware of the status it would accord on the country, he said.

Describing Rajiv as a “messenger of peace”, Chidambaram said the former prime minister had initiated various peace agreements in Punjab, Mizoram, Kashmir and Assam. (PTI)