Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 22 May 1991

Vol. 408 No. 8

Death of Rajiv Gandhi: Expressions of Sympathy.

The Taoiseach

It was with a deep sense of shock and outrage that I received the terrible news of the murder yesterday of Rajiv Gandhi. It was a cruel and devastating blow to his immediate family, to whose members, first of all, I extend profound condolences on behalf of the Government and people of Ireland. Rajiv Gandhi had distinguished himself as a leader of his party, a leader of his people and an international statesman. His premature death and the appalling circumstances surrounding it are, indeed, profoundly tragic.

The atrocity has robbed India of one of its foremost political leaders and we share in the grief that has descended on the Indian people. It is a grim and bitter irony that this savage event has deprived India of one of its most distinguished sons during the current democratic election. This brutal assault on the Gandhi family, and on Indian democracy, has evoked worldwide revulsion and the most heartfelt sympathy for the Indian people. The Government condemn this atrocity in the strongest possible terms.

It is particularly distressing that this act of violence occurred during an election campaign of great importance for the world's most populous democracy. This reprehensible act was not only a murderous attack on Rajiv Gandhi but a direct assault on the very foundations of India's democratic system. I have no doubt that the deeply rooted democratic traditions of the Indian people will withstand this effort to subvert democracy.

Rajiv Gandhi was born into one of India's most respected and prominent families. He followed in the footsteps of his grandfather Jawarharlal Nehru and his mother, Indira Gandhi, herself the tragic victim of assassination in 1984. Coming to power in the wake of his mother's murder, Rajiv Gandhi provided a vital link of continuity and stability which permitted the Indian people to unite under his leadership at that crucial time.

Rajiv Gandhi's political philosophy was underpinned at all times by an exemplary commitment to the welfare of his people, whom he led from 1984 until 1989. Despite the many challenges which he faced as leader of that vast and multifaceted country, his lifelong attachment to democracy and the rule of law was never in question. As Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi sustained India in its role as a leader state in the South Asia region, as a major participant in the non-aligned movement and as a loyal member of the United Nations.

The peoples of India and Ireland have long enjoyed strong ties of friendship and mutual respect, forged in the quest for independence of both our countries. We share in common with the Indian people many historical experiences and maintain excellent relations with that country, with which we share a deep commitment to democratic values, and to peace, justice and equality.

The sad passing of Rajiv Gandhi now means that India has lost a conciliatory leader with the capacity to guide his country's progress towards the goal he had set of achieving a genuinely developed and modern society. However, I have no doubt of the capacity of the Indian people and its leaders to overcome their tremendous sense of loss and to translate his vision into reality.

On behalf of the Government and people of Ireland I extend our most sincere condolences to the Government and people of India on this sorrowful occasion. I have arranged that the Tánaiste, Deputy Wilson, will represent the Government at the funeral.

Mr. J. Bruton

On behalf of the Fine Gael Party I wish to express to the people of India and to the Gandhi family the deepest sympathy of our party and, I am sure, of all democrats throughout the world in the enormous and tragic loss which they suffered yesterday.

Rajiv Gandhi is, in every sense, the victim of the passions engendered by historic religious and ethnic divisions in his country. Democracy and tolerance have been preserved in India despite enormous burdens of under-development, despite the fact that there are literally hundreds of different languages spoken in that country, despite the fact that in 1949 India was partitioned and has since been repartitioned, despite the fact that passions remain deeply felt beneath the surface, nevertheless, in all those adverse circumstances, parliamentary democracy has been preserved in India, which must rate as one of the greatest 20th century achievements of mankind.

Unfortunately, this terrible murder will put even further strain on that enormous achievement. As a country which struggled, as India did, for self-determination over many years and has achieved it — as we have also — in a democratic way and, having achieved it, preserved democracy, we in Ireland feel a very special affinity with the Indian people in their moment of great loss.

It is particularly sad, as the Taoiseach said, that this atrocity should have occurred in the midst of an election campaign; in the midst of the very expression of democracy which, in its essence, is an exercise in tolerance; that a violent act should strike down one of democracy's leading protagonists in the world's largest democracy is truly a great tragedy.

We in this House join in expressing sympathy to the family which has suffered so much in the cause of democracy and express the hope that out of this tragedy a greater sense of understanding and tolerance will grow in India which will ensure that this awful event is not repeated. I hope that out of that sense a greater tolerance will emerge in similar situations throughout the world, including those which, sadly, still exist within our own island.

Mr. Spring

On behalf of the Labour Party, I wish to express our condolences to the people of India and to extend to them our sympathy and solidarity at this traumatic time. The links between the people of India and this country go back a long way. It is often said that the existence of India as an independent parliamentary democracy owes more than a little to the inspiration drawn by Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru from their understanding of Ireland's colonial history. Indeed, Nehru, the grandfather of Rajiv Gandhi, wrote extensively about Ireland.

Bearing this in mind the murder of Rajiv Gandhi has come as a great shock not only to us in Ireland but to the rest of the world. The brutal manner of his death will have been traumatic for millions of the followers of the Congress Party and for every Indian democrat. There will I am sure be attempts to retaliate which will only add to the suffering and tribulation of the people of India as a whole. Against this background the action of the outgoing Government in postponing the remaining phases of the election must be seen as a prudent and wise decision.

As a leading advocate of the non-aligned movement, Rajiv Gandhi in his day played a major role in pursuing the objectives of freedom and equality. Internationally, he will be remembered for among other things, his confrontations with Mrs. Thatcher at several Commonwealth conferences on the issue of sanctions with regard to South Africa. Domestically, he struggled to break down age old barriers in India and to improve the economic and social conditions of millions of his countrymen. There was every prospect that he would have secured an opportunity to carry on this work by victory in the election had it not been for his assassination.

His death, like that of his mother before him, will inflame the troubled sub continent of India which is already in an extremely volatile state. It must surely be hoped that some sense of order and reason will enable the people of India to come to terms with this disastrous event.

Proinsias De Rossa

The murder of Rajiv Gandhi is a particularly shocking and horrific outrage coming as it did less than seven years after the murder of his mother, Indira Gandhi. The death of Rajiv Gandhi will clearly be felt most deeply in India where he still had so much to contribute to the development of his country but it will also be a great loss to the world community where he was recognised as a statesman of great stature. He was a champion of the Third World and an articulate voice for the non-aligned nations. He should be particularly remembered for the contribution he made as Prime Minister of India in the early eighties, along with the leaders of Greece, Argentina, Sweden, Tanzania and Mexico, to the campaign for peace and disarmament. This campaign helped in no small way to create the climate in which the later disarmament measures agreed by the nuclear powers became a reality. Indeed, it is a sad indication of the violent times in which we live that two of those leaders, Olaf Palme and Rajiv Gandhi, have now fallen victim to vicious assassins.

India is a very complex society, as we are all aware. It is going through a very difficult period at present as a result of religious and political conflict from which we hope it will soon emerge. The independence and territorial integrity of India must be preserved. Any disintegration of that country could plunge the entire region into conflict. We express our support for those politicians in India from various parties who have rejected religious sectarianism and who are committed to a democratic and tolerant society.

On behalf of The Workers' Party I want to extend my deepest sympathy to the family of Mr. Gandhi and to the Indian people on their appalling loss.

Minister for Industry and Commerce (Mr. O'Malley)

On behalf of the Progressive Democrats I would like to join in the expressions of sympathy and condemnation which have been made here and elsewhere at the brutal murder of Mr. Rajiv Gandhi. I would like to offer my deepest sympathy to the people of India and to the late Mr. Gandhi's family.

One can only be filled with revulsion and horror that a person whose life had been committed to the preservation and strengthening of democracy in his native India should be struck down so callously during the course of an election campaign. Even in his short career in public life Mr. Gandhi demonstrated an outstanding commitment to democracy and to the advancement of India, both domestically and on the international stage. He represented a forward looking, progressive and inclusive India and rejected the politics of sectarian and class division which threatened constantly to undermine all the progress made in India since its independence. Although a very different man he inherited in some ways at least the mantle of his namesake, Mahatma Gandhi, whose commitment to a nonsectarian and peace loving India has been an inspiration to divided communities throughout the world.

As a society in which political violence can still be detected as an undercurrent Ireland, perhaps more than any other country, has empathy with the Indian people, that their best politicians can fall victim to self-appointed arbiters of life and death. India's recent political history has indeed been troubled. From Kashmir to Tamil Nadu and from the Punjab to Assam the entire sub continent is riven by separatism and sectarianism.

The family of Mr. Nehru, the first Prime Minister, have paid dearly for their commitment to the cause of India. We must hope that Indian democracy, tolerance and pluralism are sufficiently strong to withstand the merciless violence to which they have been subjected. For our part as a country, perhaps the best way in which Irishmen and women can honour the memory of people such as Rajiv Gandhi and his late mother is to practice the virtues of democratic, nonviolent, inclusive and pluralist politics both among ourselves and in our dealings with others.

Members rose in their places.