15 questions for TV Rajeswar. And not one has to do with RSS and Emergency

TV Rajeswar has every right to write a book and the vice president has every constitutional obligation to release it at his residence. That said, countrymen too have a right and an obligation to seek answers to some baffling events related to the period in which Rajeswar served.

First of all his remarks of RSS backing the Emergency have been rebutted by Indira Gandhi's close aide RK Dhawan. The salacious undertones to his mentor Indira Gandhi in the MO Mathai controversy are unfounded and mysterious too. Rajeswar’s career is as a result of the patronage of Indira Gandhi and his family - he was a known sycophant, rather than a productive operative. He could, however, have spared Indira Gandhi who made him the first IPS officer to become governor.

One of my IB friends was an eyewitness to some of the key events in the 1970s and 1980s. I have no reason to doubt his knowledge of these events because these were discussed in normal course when Rajeswar was not at the helm of affairs. But now Rajeswar has a moral responsibility to answer these questions because these events don’t find any play in his narrative. So here goes: 1) How did Rajeswar manage to stay on in New Delhi after Indira Gandhi was defeated in 1977 and Janata Party came to power despite being known as her aide?

2) What was his charter of duties between 1977 till Indira Gandhi returned to power in 1980?

3) Is Rajeswar aware that six boxes of valuable items along with an almirah (5x2x6 foot) were buried in Indira Gandhi's farm house at different places during April, 1977?

4) Is Rajeswar aware that Morarji Desai ordered an IB investigation in this matter?

5) Is Rajeswar aware that IB sleuths duly detected the burial of these valuables on August 31, 1978?

6) Did IB recommend a raid on Indira Gandhi's farmhouse after this detection?

7) Is Rajeswar aware that on November 18, 1978, IB sent a detailed note to the government, informing details of secret accounts, farmhouse burial and other related matters about Indira Gandhi?

8) Is Rajeswar aware who published a report on December 23, 1978 in the National Herald on the front page that intelligence agencies were keeping a vigil on Indira Gandhi's farmhouse?

9) Was IB surveillance withdrawn after this news report?

10) Was surveillance restarted in January 1979?

11) Is Rajeswar aware that on January 19, 1979, an IB operative on surveillance duty at the farmhouse informed IB seniors that two men in a DLY car entered the farmhouse and started digging for the buried valuables?

12) Is Rajeswar aware that while this digging was in progress IB operatives gave a blow-by-blow account to their seniors and asked their orders to catch those involved in digging?

13) Is Rajeswar aware that these valuables were taken to 12 Willingdon Crescent, the home of Indira Gandhi?

14) Is Rajeswar aware that raids were conducted on the farmhouse that very day and the raiding party returned empty-handed and found fresh pot-holes from where the valuables were taken away few hours back?

15) Is Rajeswar aware that major digging and flooring in the farmhouse were done during the period surveillance was withdrawn by IB on December 23, 1978?

My IB friend informed me that one IB mole was giving a day-to-day briefing of all these events and other information to Indira Gandhi between 1977 and 1980. TV Rajeswar has every reason to answer the above questions and also the mole because just after Mrs Indira Gandhi returned to power in 1980, he was "rewarded" with the appointment as director of IB. Even after his retirement in 1980, he was appointed L-G of Arunachal Pradesh in 1983 and later appointed governor of Sikkim in 1985, continuing in this position in West Bengal up to 1990. Subsequently, he was again appointed governor of Uttar Pradesh in 2004 for five years. Rajeswar is perhaps the first bureaucrat who served as governor in four states on different occasions.

What are the fundamental qualities Rajeswar possessed for which he was rewarded with four gubernatorial positions by Indira Gandhi and her scions? Rajewar has every moral duty to answer his countrymen because there is no mention about it in his book. Surprisingly, the one eminent journalist who is in the BJP and knows all this, is silent.