Issuance of death certificate of Mr Rajiv Gandhi & the man who rose to become PM

It perhaps categorically reveals ‘what fate or destiny’ can do !  - in the prelude to Indian elections in 1991, every one had their own calculation and theory on road to power ~ though the National Front was still nursing some hopes, there was a wave predicting return of Rajiv Gandhi.  Most press had started writing that he is going to the Prime Minister for sure.  In that melee, there was this person, who was retiring from active politics – not an ordinary person for sure… he had been there in the State cabinet and for a brief tenure as Chief Minister also.  

In the 1984 Parliamentary elections, the aftermath of assassination of Indira Gandhi saw routing of all political parties.  Bharatiya Janata Party could win only 2 seats. One in Mehsana by Ak Patel who defeated Rayanka Sagarbhai Kalyanbhai of Congress by 43896 votes and the other was in South ~ the Hanamkonda constituency where M. Chandupatla Janga Reddy of BJP defeated his nearest Congress rival by 54198 votes.  The man who lost so at a time when Congress swept to power was 70 by the 1991 elections, could not get a ticket and had chosen to retire to peace…….. destiny thought otherwise………  In the run up to the Elections, no body on earth could have predicted that this man would rise to become the Prime Minister whence he had not even contested.

The night of 21^st  May 1991 changed it all ~ after the cruel assassination of Rajiv Gandhi during an election meeting at Sriperumpudur, he was chosen to be the leader of the Congress party and thus became the Prime Minsiter. He then participated in a by-election in Nandyal  winning by a record margin of  5 lakh  votes.  He was the first person outside the Nehru-Gandhi family to serve as Prime Minister for five continuous years, the first to hail from southern India and also the first from the state of Andhra Pradesh.  He broke convention by appointing a non-political economist Dr  Manmohan Singh as his finance minister and he grew to become PM is another story.

The man - Pamulaparti Venkata Narasimha Rao (1921 - 2004) who served as the ninth Prime Minister of India (1991–1996).  The cruel elimination of Mr Rajiv Gandhi changed the political scenario of the country.   

It is common knowledge and a rule that every birth has to be registered within 14 days and every death shall be registered within 7 days with the Town Panchayat.   A death certificate can be obtained by application in the prescribed format and is available online also within city limits.  

Many a times, procedures are ridiculed and strange things get reported.  Nearly 21 years after chilling assassination of Mr Rajiv Gandhi, reportedly  a 50-year-old woman claiming she was from Andhra Pradesh sought and received a copy of his death certificate from the registrar’s office. It was news because she reportedly claimed she was Rajiv Gandhi’s wife.  TOI reported that in her application, the woman identified herself as Sabeena Feroz of Dada Saheb Street, in Hyderabad, sources said. But there appears to be no such street in Hyderabad, indicating the address may be ficticious. She had on applied to the registrar office on Sriperumbudur-Tiruvallur Road for a copy of Rajiv Gandhi’s death certificate. After processing the application, she got a copy of the same.  

Subsequently, newspaper reports indicate that the Kancheepuram district administration has transferred the record clerk from the sub-registrar office in Sriperumbudur who had issued a death certificate of Rajiv Gandhito a woman claiming to be the former Prime Minister's wife.  It is stated that a departmental probe was ordered looking into the procedural aspects of issuance.  Reportedly based on the report, the Kancheepuram district administration ordered transfer of the record clerk B Natarajan, who had given the death certificate to the woman. A revenue official at the Kancheepuram collectorate confirmed his transfer with immediate effect. However, the official denied revealing where the record clerk was shunted out or any other information in connection with the matter.

It was further stated quoting a revenue official that the issuing of death certificate was not confidential, but what had caused discomfiture was that she claimed to be Rajiv Gandhi's wife.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

28^th Dec 2012.