Rajiv gandhi brief biography of mahatma gandhi
- Dr. Shashi Kumar Singh, Ph.D, D.Litt
It would not be an exaggeration to mention that during the end of the 20th century, India witnessed the advent of many luminaries. Among them, Rajiv Gandhi was the most radiant one. Becoming the Prime Minister of India at the age of 42, he left a deep imprint on contemporary Indian politics as well as global politics. As PM, he gave a new shape to India and evolved into an internationally acclaimed personality across political spectrum. Mahatma Gandhi Ji had a vision of a prosperous and an accomplished India replete with Swaraj in all its manifestations, which he fondly referred to as ‘Ram Rajya’ (a just state). Rajiv Gandhi had a vision of India of the 21st century which would ensure the fulfilment of bare minimum needs of food, clothing and housing for all; where people would enjoy peace and would remain free from hunger, corruption, political crimes, or terrorism. There was no place for discrimination between the rich and the poor in his idea of India. He had perceived India as enjoying communal harmony. He had dreamt of an India self-reliant and proud.
Rajiv Gandhi had an inner zeal of doing something, in best of his capacity, for his nation and its citizens. This led him to visualize India of the 21st century which would be worked up with the engines of prosperity and a sense of egalitarianism. In fact, our nation had been fortunate to have availed such a leader in Rajiv Gandhi, who was worked up with a sense of direction for India of the future. That future was to be so empowered that it could lead politics out of the dark rooms of seclusion to include everyone in it. Regrettably, that sacred desire of doing his best was disrupted by his sad and brutal assassination. His sudden and unfortunate demise led the country into a political vacuum. The country lost a leadership who had an illustrious vision for the 21st century India.
EDUCATION POLICY
Rajiv Gandhi knew well that education is the bed rock of democracy. Ill
Reap the Whirlwind — The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi, son of India’s long-time Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, had no intention of entering politics like the rest of his family, but as heir to the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, such a step was almost pre-ordained. Rajiv Gandhi became India’s seventh Prime Minister on October 31, 1984 just hours after his mother was assassinated by two of her own bodyguards. As a member of India’s post-independence generation, Gandhi was viewed hopefully as a modern technocrat who would help transform the populous nation.
However, it was old-school Realpolitik that ultimately proved to be his undoing. India had long supported the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which had been fighting for independence from Sri Lanka since its founding in 1976. When the conflict intensified, Rajiv Gandhi sent in the Indian Peacekeeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka in 1987 in the hopes of disarming the LTTE and defusing the violent conflict. This backfired badly, as the LTTE began to resent the presence of Indian troops and the government’s strong-arm tactics. When the Congress Party was unable to win a majority, Gandhi’s term as Prime Minister came to an end in December 1989. In 1990 he said in an interview that he would send the IPKF back to disarm LTTE if he came to power again.
On May 21, 1991, while campaigning for the upcoming elections, Gandhi was assassinated by a suicide bomber, Thenmozhi “Gayatri” Rajaratnam, a female member of the LTTE. He was killed in the outskirts of Madras (now known as Chennai), the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, which was a haven for many Tamil separatists; more than a dozen others were also killed. It is widely assumed that the LTTE decision to kill him was perhaps aimed at preventing him from coming to power again. Gandhi’s widow Sonia became the president of Congress party in 1998, and led the party to victory in the 2004 and 2009 parliament elections. His Unlike his grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, or even his mother, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv appears to have been singularly lacking in intellectual attainments, and his interventions in Parliamentary debates were notoriously prosaic and dull. His years in office cannot be described as having contributed in any healthy way to the political life Prime Minister of India from 1984 to 1989 This article is about the politician. For other uses, see Rajiv Gandhi (disambiguation). Rajiv Gandhi (20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who was the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the assassination of his mother, then–prime minister Indira Gandhi, to become at the age of 40 the youngest Indian prime minister. He served until his defeat at the 1989 election, and then became Leader of the Opposition, Lok Sabha, resigning in December 1990, six months before his own assassination. Gandhi was not related to Mahatma Gandhi. Instead, he was from the politically powerful Nehru–Gandhi family, which had been associated with the Indian National Congress party. For much of his childhood, his maternal grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru was prime minister. Gandhi attended The Doon School, an elite boarding institution, and then the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. He returned to India in 1966 and became a professional pilot for the state-owned Indian Airlines. In 1968, he married Sonia Maino; the couple settled in Delhi for a domestic life with their children Rahul and Priyanka. For much of the 1970s, his mother was prime minister and his younger brother Sanjay an MP; despite this, Gandhi remained apolitical. After Sanjay died in a plane crash in 1980, Gandhi reluctantly entered politics at the behest of his mother. The following year he won his brother's Parliamentary seat of Amethi and became a member of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India's Parliament. As part of his political grooming, Rajiv was made general secretary of the Congress party and given significant responsibility in organising the 1982 Asian Games. On the morning of 31 October 1984, his mother (the then prime minister) was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguardsSatwant Singh a
Rajiv Gandhi
of the nation, and the precipitous decline of the Congress party can also be attributed to his inept handling of party affairs, and the encouragement he gave to those willing to do his bidding.Rajiv Gandhi, born in 1944, served as the Prime Minister of India from 1984 to 1989. The first son of Indira and Feroze Gandhi, Rajiv attended Cambridge University, where he met and married Sonia. He was not a man of any unusual academic achievements or other distinctions, and appears to have had few ambitions until the death of his brother Sanjay in 1980. The following year, his mother, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, appears to have induced Rajiv, an airline pilot, to enter politics. He stood successfully for election in 1981 and became a political adviser to his mother. After her assassination in 1984, Rajiv succeeded her as head of the Congress party, and was sworn in as Prime Minister of India. Rajiv, rather keen on preparing India for the twenty-first century, collected his buddies and cronies around him, and sought to increase Indian investments in modern technology. His “vision” of India, insofar as he had one, was that of a technocrat, and his policies did little to eradicate or diminish poverty and the vast inequities of power and wealth which are to be found in Indian society. Like his mother, he could not contain the political problems afflicting India, and found refuge in international entanglements and commitments. He committed the so-called Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka in an endeavor to help the government there to eradicate militants agitating for a separate Tamil homeland. His pe Rajiv Gandhi