Was President Zail Singh planning to topple Rajiv Gandhi govt in 1987?
NEW DELHI: In a revelation that has brought the political era of 80s back into the limelight, Lt General PN Hoon, a former Army commander of the prestigious Western Command in his recently released book ‘The Untold Truth’ has divulged that a plot was hatched to topple Rajiv Gandhi government in 1987.
As per a Times of India report, Hoon has revealed that three crack para-commando battalions including one from the Western Command, were asked to move Delhi to take over the government.
The octogenarian Lt General has claimed that the former Army chief and vice chief General Krishnaswami Sundarji and Lt Gen SF Rodrigues were part of the action plan.
He has also shared in his book that some senior politicians who had to settle old scores with Rajiv Gandhi were behind the plan.Hoon has also stated that during his farewell function, hosted by the ex-Punjab governor in Siddharth Shankar Ray in Chandigarh, former president Giani Zail Singh had held Rajiv responsible for corruption and negligence and also stated that the ex-PM was not bothered about the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, states TOI report.
The report further quotes excerpts from Hoon’s book, which claim that as chief of the Western Command in May-June 1987 he had received a message that a letter had been received at command headquarters from army HQ seeking three para-commando battalions.
The battalions included the First-Para Commando, which was under the Western Command, and the 9th and 10th Para Commando which were under the Northern and Southern Commands.
These three battalions were ordered to be placed under Rodrigues. He said he immediately briefed Rajiv and his principal secretary Gopi Arora about the development and showed them the letter demanding special forces.
VC Shukla, who a cabinet minister in Congress-led government, was aware of this possible army action, the ex-Army official has stated in his book.
Hoon has also revealed that Zail Singh, out of his fear that the action against the government could transfer the power to the armed forces, didn’t pursue the plan further.
