We have 'completely forgiven' father's killers: Rahul Gandhi

Singapore: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said that his family has "completely forgiven" his father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's killers as they find it "difficult to hate people".

'' I and my sister Priyanka have completely forgiven our father's killers,'' Rahul said.

The young Congress said this during an interaction with IIM alumni in Singapore.

During his interaction, Rahul spoke about the assassination of his grandmother Indira Gandhi and father Rajiv and said that it was a price that the family knew they had to pay for taking a stand.

"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," he said in a video shared by Congress on Twitter on Saturday.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi interacted with IIM alumni in Singapore. #RGinSingapore #IIMChat https://t.co/bW8VRxwxWj — Congress (@INCIndia) March 10, 2018

"We were very upset and hurt and for many years we were quite angry. But, somehow, (we have) completely...In fact, completely (forgiven them)," he added.

Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a woman suicide bomber of LTTE, the militant group in Sri Lanka led by Prabhakaran, on May 21, 1991, at an election rally in Tamil Nadu.

"There is a history that when one realises that when these events take place, it's collision of ideas, forces, confusion. That's where you get caught. I remember when I saw Prabhakaran on TV lying dead, I got two feelings - one was why they are humiliating this man in this way,'' he said.

"And second was I felt really bad for him and for his kids and I did that because I understood deeply what it meant to be on the other side of that thing. So to me when I see violence regardless of who it is, I know that there is a human being behind that, there is a family behind that, a kid crying behind that. I have been through a lot of pain to get this and it is something I consider very valuable. I find it difficult to hate people, even my sister does," he said.

Asked if he thinks he had a privileged life being the son and grandson of former prime ministers, Gandhi, who is on a five-day trip to the Southeast Asian countries, said, "It depends which side of the coin you are...Of course, there are a number of privileges where I sit, but I would not say that I haven't been through a rough ride."

He said his grandmother was assassinated in 1984 by security guards with whom he used to play badminton.

"I was 14 when my grandmother was assassinated. I used to play badminton with those who killed my grandmother. After that my father was killed. So you live in a particular environment...Surrounded by 15 guys from the morning, noon and night, I don't think that's a privilege. I think that's quite a hard thing to deal with," he said. 

(With PTI inputs)