Congress President Rahul Gandhi said on Saturday that he and his sister Priyanka Gandhi had “completely forgiven” their father Rajiv Gandhi’s killers.
LTTE, a militant organisation from Sri Lanka, led by Prabhakaran was blamed for plotting and executing the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
When asked during an interactive session here if he and his sister Priyanka Gandhi had forgiven his father Rajiv Gandhi’s killers, Gandhi said: “We were very upset and hurt and for many years. We were quite angry. But, somehow, completely…in fact, completely (forgiven).
“When one realises that when these events take place, its collision of ideas, forces, confusion. That’s where you get caught. When I saw Prabhakaran lying dead on TV, I got two feelings – first was why they are humiliating this man in this way.
“And second was…I felt really bad for him and for his kids,” said Gandhi during the interactive session.
“We have been through this experience, so we understand. I literally find it difficult to hate people, even my sister does. I don’t like any kind of violence.”
Gandhi also said: “We knew that my father was going to die. We knew that my grandmother was going to die. In politics, when you mess with the wrong forces, and if you stand for something, you will die. That’s pretty clear.
“My grandmother told me she was going to die and my father…I told him he was going to die.”
“In politics, we deal with forces, big forces, which are normally not visible. You are dealing with structures that are powerful. Those are not visible but they can hurt you,” he added.