Congress party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi (File)The Congress on Friday expressed its disappointment over the Supreme Court’s decision ordering the release of all six convicts serving life imprisonment in connection with the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and said that it “disagreed with Sonia Gandhi” on the matter.
Addressing a press conference, party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said, “This move has shocked the nation’s conscience and has invited serious concern and criticism from all sides of the political spectrum.”
When asked why the party’s decision was different from that of Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, who said that they have forgiven the convicts for the murder of Rajiv Gandhi, Singhvi said, “Sonia Gandhi, above all, is entitled to her personal views. But with the greatest respect, the party doesn’t agree and has made our view clear.”
Singhvi said that the apex court’s decision sends a message to the world “that we extend to these killers such benefits forgetting the nature of their crime. They murdered, in cold blood and by deliberate design, a former Prime Minister”. “We stand by that view because according to us, sovereignty, integrity, and identity of the nation is involved in a PM’s assassination sitting or former. That’s perhaps why Central Govt has also never agreed with the State government’s view in this regard,” he added.
Singhvi also questioned why the court, despite being aware of the nature of the crime and evidence, “sought to grant preferential treatment to individuals convicted of so reprehensible, horrific and heinous a crime?”
The Congress also said that it believes that this was a “wholly inapposite invocation of the drastic, ad-hoc and unique power of the Apex Court” in a case involving convicted assassins of a former head of the Indian Government, striking at the very root of Indian sovereignty.
Singhvi said that the party will pursue legal remedies to seek the reversal of the decision. “We owe it not only to the people of this country but also to the Supreme Court and the legacy it has built,” he said.
Earlier in the day, AICC General Secretary In-Charge Communications Jairam Ramesh said, “The decision of the Supreme Court to free the remaining killers of former PM Shri Rajiv Gandhi is totally unacceptable and completely erroneous.” “The Congress Party criticises it clearly and finds it wholly untenable. It is most unfortunate that the Supreme Court has not acted in consonance with the spirit of India on this issue,” he added.
The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the release of all six remaining convicts serving life imprisonment in connection with the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, including Nalini Sriharan, R P Ravichandran, Santhan, Murugan, Robert Payas and Jayakumar.