Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's close confidante RK Dhawan passed away at the age of 81, mourned by his admirers and relatives. He worked as Special Assistant to the then PM Indira Gandhi for 19 years. During those years, RK Dhawan was a power centre, who wielded enormous clout. He was then considered the second most powerful person in India after Indira Gandhi, but Dhawan never misused his clout. His strength lay in the fact that he used to help needy persons, and because of this, he had a large number of admirers.
The biggest tragedy that took place in his career was when fingers were pointed at him in the 1984 Indira Gandhi assassination case. I was at that time the Editor of Onlooker magazine and had exposed the manner in which Justice Thakkar Commission report was prepared in order to nail him.
At that time, RK Dhawan cautioned me that there were some powerful people behind this report and they could harm me. Undaunted, I exposed the entire game plan hatched by Arun Nehru, who was then wielding enormous clout during Rajiv Gandhi's rule. R K Dhawan later returned to the centre stage of politics. He became a Union Minister. He used to publicly tell people how a magazine cover story washed off the darkest blot on his career.
Dhawan was penning his autobiography during the last days of his life. He had discussed some of the chapters with me before he fell ill. This autobiography may never be completed in the near future.
