Ahead of his visit to Sweden, President Pranab Mukherjee has set off a controversy by pointing out that no Indian court has given its verdict on the Bofors case and therefore, it cannot be officially denoted as a “scandal”.
Speaking to Swedish national daily Dagens Nyhetter at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Mr. Mukherjee said: “No Indian court has given verdict on it, and no process of trial is going on… and unless somebody, some authoritative institution describes it as a scandal and punishes, how could you say it is a scandal. You may have some doubts, you may have some suspicion, but that is not proof.”
He was replying to a question on the Bofors issues that rocked India and raised questions on the involvement of senior Congress leaders including the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Mr. Mukherjee, who was a long standing member of the Congress party and has served as a Union Minister during successive Congress reigns, replying to a question whether the Bofors case was a “media trial”, said: “I do not know. I'm not describing it, you’re putting that word. Don’t put that word.”
Mr. Mukherjee was the Union Defence Minister long after the Bofors case was first reported in 1987.
