For the last two days one comment of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has become viral. The two main points of his statement made in a programme that have created interest among the public are 1) Pilots can make a better politician than others and
2) his father Rajiv Gandhi warned Sanjay Gandhi not to fly the planes. The warning came before June 23, 1980, the day Sanjay Gandhi died in a plane crash.
Many also smelt a rat in the second statement as it was being said that Rajiv Gandhi mentioned the date June 23, 1980 specifically. The conspiracy theory thus came up. It was natural. If Rajiv Gandhi did, indeed, tell his younger brother about the specific date –that would have obviously meant Rajiv Gandhi knew something would go seriously wrong on that day. And, the conspiracy theory also got the wind because of Subramanian Swamy also indicated something on that line recently.
I have gone through the statement of Rahul Gandhi in details and from that some points emerged
1) Rajiv Gandhi warned Sanjay Gandhi in general terms of dangers in flying –but not exactly about the flying on a particular date that is 23 June 1980. Rahul Gandhi said : “My uncle was flying a particular type of plane — it was a Pitts. It’s a very aggressive plane. My father told him that you know, don’t do this. My uncle really didn’t have the experience. My uncle had similar hours to what I have about 300-350 hours”.
So, that Rajiv Gandhi knew of any sinister design being plotted did not really stand. It was reported that Sanjay Gandhi was trying to do some aerobatics with the plane and crashed. But that does not, of course, rule out any conspiracy against Sanjay Gandhi—there were several unresolved deaths of important politicians in our country – Pt Deen dayal Upadhyaya, Lalit Narayan Misra (Russian Connections ?), Lal Bahadur Shastri, Rajesh Pilot, Madhav Rao Scindia, Lt Col TS Anand (father of Maneka Gandhi) et al. So there remains a grey area for speculations, and also if possible for further probe.
What, however, was really interesting was Rahul Gandhi’s second statement : Pilots can make better politicians. More interesting is the way he also sought to sell his image as a pilot – with 300 to 350 hours of flying experience -and as such a better politician than others.
Having said that a pilot can make a better politician Rahul Gandhi said : “So a pilot, and I am one, we move from these 2 spaces very seamlessly and very quickly. Pilots also when they fly, their imagination isn’t blocked by roads, by railway lines. Their imagination is at 30,000 feet, so they have this ability to see large systems….”I could see this process taking place where he would go and meet people, get into their details, understand their details and then instantly move to 30,000-40,000-50,000 feet and look at the big picture. His work was constantly moving between these two perspectives and always understanding that imagination can bridge anything. So that to me was a very powerful thing that my father had.”….
What one can exactly make out of this statement – how the bigger vision, better vision of politics and people are made is his or her problem, not Rahul Gandhi’s.
Nevertheless, the logic and argument, all will, perhaps, agree with me that, were Rahul specific and typical. After all, he always seemed very fascinated about flying ‘high’ with ideas and information. In 2013 he sought to teach something of Jupiter velocity to a gathering Dalit people :, “Aeronautics mein ek escape velocity ka concept hota hai. Escape velocity matlab agar aap ne dharti se space mein jana hai… agar aap hamari dharti pe hai to 11.2 km per second aap ki velocity honi padegi. Agar use kam hogi to aap kitna bhi karenge aap space mein nahin ja sakte aur agar jyada ho gayi to aap nikal jayenge. Then he explained, “To Jupiter ki escape velocity kya hoti hai? Agar koi Jupiter pe khada hai aur Jupiter ki kheech se nikalna ho to use 60 km/sec ki acceleration chahiye”..This is a subject taught to common people who had come listen about his visions for socio-economic development of the Dalit people. The statement went viral as Rahul Gandhi’s Jupiter Velocity remark. But died out soon as it was akin to rocket science and needs greater understanding of science and common people do not really like to learn or argue with a subject like astronomy. “agar aap hamari dharti pe hai to 11.2 km per second aap ki velocity honi padegi. Agar use kam hogi to aap kitna bhi karenge aap space mein nahin ja sakte aur agar jyada ho gayi to aap nikal jayenge—that is scary, very scary—alone in that endless space and forever . As far as earth gravity is concerned they are well settled here and not really interested to fly out to space. They would say Keep the matter for Elon Musk.
But in recent statement it was far more mundane in a sense as Rahul Gandhi was clearly trying hard to create an image of himself—as a pilot. And a pilot , according to him, makes a better politician. So Rahul Gandhi is a better politician with a vision from up above , say 30, 000- 50, 000 feet above. Height gives a clear view. Going by this logic, even if not a pilot, at least those live in sky scrapper should also make, if not better, but good politicians too. The question as to how many of great politicians or statesmen who shaped the Indian democracy lived in high rise buildings, or saw the world from 30000-50000 feet above for greater vision , must also take rest for a while.
However, in the meantime and in between a question can be asked, in that sense and by that standard Rajesh Pilot, Satish Sharma or Rajiv Pratap Rudi should have shone far more than what they did ..or Rudi does now.
Ultimately, the gist of Rahul Gandhi’s statement is simple: He flew 300-350 hours a plane ( not sure what sort of planes that were. And I also do not know whether those two- seaters from those flying clubs can really fly up to 30000 ft to 50000 like that of Boeing or Airbus kind of planes). In any case since he is a pilot and so he is a better politician with a greater vision. End of the story.
Now, many also ask questions as to why he suddenly brought up his father Rajiv Gandhi in his statement—and what he might have told his younger brother -after four decades? There is nothing to be surprised. Rahul Gandhi has this special knack too, like his interest in astronomy ( now do not read it as astrology).
Don’t you remember what once he said in UP, on Mar 19 , 2007 ( reported many agencies but I quote UNI) : ”My father (Late Rajiv Gandhi) had so often told my mother, (Congress President Sonia Gandhi) that he would stand in front of the Babri Masjid to prevent any attempt to demolish the structure,” Mr Gandhi said on the second day of his three-day tour of Western UP to campaign for the Assembly elections….
Well, just to remind you Babri demolition took place on Dec 6 1992 after Rajib Gandhi’s unfortunate death –the assassination was on ..21 May 1991.
So there is no reason to take his statement so seriously. It will be a better try to find out what Subramanian Swamy has to say…it will be definitely intriguing and interesting … Either you believe it or not…
I would however agree with Rahul Gandhi’s one point that he said in his pilots being better politicians that his mother was always worried when Rajiv Gandhi would go on flying.. She had reasons, once the Kashmiri militants planned to hijack a plane that Rajiv would be flying… it later led to some other very interesting developments. That remains in store another discussion…..
