May 21 commemorates the death anniversary of India’s ex-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Leading the country from 1984 to 1989, Gandhi was assassinated by LTTE militants in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, during an election rally in 1991. The killing in May 1991, directed by LTTE leaders and executed by a suicide bomber, stirred strong disgust.
On that tragic day, Gandhi and 15 others, including Superintendent of Police T.K.S. Mohammed Iqbal, lost their lives. After the assassination, the investigation was transferred to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the CBI, as per the request of the Tamil Nadu government.
A.G. Perarivalan was arrested by authorities a month later for allegedly aiding the investigation. Years after, in 1998, the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court sentenced 26 individuals to death. In 1999, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentences of Murugan, Santhan, Perarivalan, and Nalini. After numerous appeals over more than a decade, the execution of Santhan, Murugan, and Perarivalan was scheduled for September 2011. However, in 2014, the Supreme Court commuted their death sentences to life imprisonment.
In November 2022, the Supreme Court instructed to set free six prisoners who had been in jail for over thirty years serving life sentences. These six individuals were Nalini, Ravichandran, Jayakumar, Santhan, Murugan, and Robert Pius. This event marked the conclusion of a sorrowful chapter that originated from India’s troubled engagement in Sri Lanka’s internal conflicts during the 1980s.
When the LTTE gave the job of assassinating Gandhi to their intelligence operative named Sivarasan, they decided he shouldn’t be involved with the LTTE network in Tamil Nadu. To ensure success, the LTTE conducted a practice run at a rally for former Prime Minister V.P. Singh in Chennai. As Singh was leaving, the suicide bomber, Dhanu, approached him and touched his feet as a sign of respect for an elder.
During the rally, Dhanu carried a sandalwood garland along with a lethal suicide vest. When Rajiv Gandhi approached a group of people, Dhanu approached him. She placed the garland around him and stooped as if to touch his feet. However, instead of rising, she activated the toggle switch on her suicide vest. This triggered a devastating explosion that killed her, Rajiv Gandhi, and 16 others.
Rajiv Gandhi became the leader of the Congress party in 1984 after his mother, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was assassinated. He became India’s youngest Prime Minister at the age of 40 when he took office in October 1984. He held the position of India’s Prime Minister until December 2, 1989.
