All I could do was to ask the prime minister of the country not to allow the blood of innocents be spilled for the crime committed by two misguided s… - Zail Singh

In anguish, I asked the prime minister what our intelligence agencies were doing all these months when the arms build-up was going on. And why action had not been taken to apprehend Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the extremist leader. I asked her if any police officer had been taken to task for negligence of duty in allowing terrorists to smuggle arms into the temple [Golden temple, Amritsar] for almost two years. She had obviously no plausible answer. With a distant look in her eyes, she replied feebly that it was the duty of the Punjab government to take care of these aspects.

The dismissal threat was only a "deliberate ploy" by him to frighten the prime minister and regain the initiative for himself. The truth is that constitutional experts and even some opposition leaders had told him that the president had absolutely no authority to sack a prime minister enjoying majority support. Obviously, it was a war of nerves he was waging.

Senior journalists including some editors had the time of their lives acting as self-appointed advisers to the president or prime minister. Slanderous stories doubting his patriotism were planted in the press. He [therefore] cannot be blamed for sending a message to Rajiv Gandhi that he too, was consulting legal experts on the possible dismissal of the prime minister or his prosecution on corruption charges.