R K Dhawan rejects ex-IB director Rajeswar's claims

R K Dhawan, who was a close aide of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, has rejected the claims by former Intelligence Bureau (IB) director T V Rajeswar that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had backed the Emergency.

That RSS conveyed its support to the Congress for the post-Emergency elections of 1977 is "not just wrong but laughable", Dhawan said.

Speaking to Karan Thapar on the India Today TV programme To The Point, Dhawan also alleged Rajeswar concocted the 'missing chapter' in the controversial memoirs of M O Mathai, Jawaharlal Nehru's private secretary. He alleged the former IB chief did this to sell his book, India the Crucial Years.

Rajeswar had claimed that in 1981, the then Tamil Nadu chief minister M G Ramachandran handed him a copy of the 'missing chapter' in Mathai's autobiography to be handed over to Gandhi. Dhawan dismissed this as "lies".

Rejecting a series of claims by Rajeswar, Dhawan said he was at Gandhi's side all the time, including at her residence at 1, Safdarjung Road, and that the claims by Rajeswar were "simply not true".

Dhawan also rejected the claim Gandhi used both IB and Research and Analysis Wing for "reports on men and matters, including reporting on Congress people".

In an earlier interview to Karan Thapar, Dhawan had said Gandhi was not aware of the excesses of the Emergency.

Dhawan outrightly rejected Rajeshwar's claims that efforts were made to "resurrect and revive Mrs Gandhi's electoral fortunes in some manner" when it was becoming clear she had lost the 1977 elections.

On the Sikh unrest in the 1980s and Operation Blue Star, Dhawan rejected the claim that Gandhi was ever suspicious of either the then Punjab CM Darbara Singh or the then home minister Giani Zail Singh.

He also denied Rajeswar's claim of giving Gandhi a four-page note advising her to form an Akali-Congress coalition as the only way of restoring peace in Punjab. He also rejected the former IB director's statement that the IB had advised against Operation Bluestar and that on May 27, 1984, a week before the operation, he himself had handed over a note to Gandhi advising against the operation and that the note was circulated to the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs.

Dhawan said Gandhi was forced to accept the advice of officials and the Army Chief's assurance that there would be no damage done to the Golden Temple complex.

Dhawan accused Rajeswar of adding to the deterioration in the relationship between Gandhi and her daughter-in-law Maneka Gandhi by sending daily reports to Gandhi about Maneka when the former was visiting London.