Rajiv Ratna Gandhi’s life history, family, achievements, contribution, and some interesting facts

Rajiv Gandhi was born into one of India's most prominent political families. He became the third generation of his family to become Prime Minister of India, after his maternal grandfather Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and his mother Indira Gandhi. He became the youngest Prime Minister of India at the age of 40. The development projects he launched included revising the national educational policy and a great expansion of the telecommunications sector. Rajiv Gandhi also emerged as one of India's most controversial Prime Ministers due to his alleged involvement in the Bofors scandal worth Rs. 640 million. His aggressive efforts to curb the LTTE in Sri Lanka led to the group's untimely assassination of him at Sriperambudur in 1991. He was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in 1991.

Early Life and Education

Rajiv Gandhi was born on 20 August 1944 into the country's eminent political dynasty: the Nehru-Gandhi family. His mother, Indira Gandhi, was India's first and only female Prime Minister. Feroze Gandhi, a key member of the Indian National Congress and editor of The National Herald newspaper, was his father. Rajiv Gandhi initially attended Welham Boys' School and then went to the elite Doon School in Dehradun. Later, he went to the UK to study at Cambridge University. Rajiv met Sonia Maino (later Sonia Gandhi) from Italy at Cambridge University. After his return from the UK, Rajiv Gandhi showed less interest in politics and focused on becoming a professional pilot. He later worked for Indian Airlines as a pilot.

Political Career

Entry into Politics

Rajiv did not incline to follow his family's tradition and join politics. His younger brother, Sanjay Gandhi, was being groomed to take the reins of the political legacy. But Sanjay's premature death in a plane crash changed Rajiv's fate. Leading members of the Indian National Congress party approached Rajiv Gandhi to persuade him to join politics, but Rajiv was reluctant, telling them "no". His wife, Sonia Gandhi, also supported Rajiv's position not to enter politics. But after the constant request of his mother, Indira Gandhi, he decided to enter the contest. His entry was criticized by many in the press, public and opposition. They viewed the Nehru-Gandhi scion's entry into politics as forced hereditary participation. Within months of his election as a Member of Parliament for Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajiv Gandhi gained significant influence in the party and became an influential political adviser to his mother. He was also elected General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee and later became Chairman of the Youth Congress.

Prime Minister of India

Following the assassination of Indira Gandhi on 31 October 1984 by her bodyguards at her New Delhi residence, Rajiv Gandhi took over as Prime Minister. The Congress Party, at the height of the tragedy, witnessed a landslide victory in the following parliamentary elections.

Economic Policies

The economic policies adopted by Rajiv Gandhi were different from those of his predecessors, like Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. He introduced policies bordering on mild reforms of the country's existing economic agenda based on protectionism following a Soviet model. These reforms paved the way for the more extensive linearization efforts of the economy in 1991. Another important decision during his tenure as Prime Minister was removing the Raj license and fee. He reduced the tax on the technology industry and reformed import policies related to telecommunications, defense and commercial airlines. He emphasized on introducing contemporary technological advances in various sectors, thus modernizing industries to attract more foreign investment in the economy.

Domestic Policies

His efforts to reduce the culture of "red tape" existing in the government's economic and financial processes aimed to encourage the establishment of the private sector. In 1986, Rajiv Gandhi announced a "national education policy" to modernize and expand higher education programs in India. Rajiv Gandhi brought a revolution in the field of information technology and telecommunications. The idea led to Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, popularly known as MTNL. Rajiv Gandhi was the man who transcended telecommunication services to rural India or "India in the true sense". As Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi strove to eliminate corrupt and criminal faces within the Indian National Congress party. Regarding the Shah Bano case, the government led by Rajiv Gandhi sought to pass the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights in Divorce) Act in 1986, a reversal of the judgment handed down by the Supreme Court. The government's decision to uphold unfair Islamic provisions to women made it look like "regressive obscurantism for minority populism in the short term."

Foreign Policies

Contrary to traditional socialism, Rajiv Gandhi decided to improve bilateral relations with the United States of America and later expanded economic and scientific cooperation with it. A revived foreign policy, with an emphasis on economic liberalization and information and technology, brought India closer to the West.

As India's Prime Minister, Gandhi secured stronger economic ties with the United States. He promoted Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence in the United Nations General Assembly by refusing to join the nuclear weapons bandwagon and vocalizing in favour of a "nonviolent, nuclear-free world order." He decided to lend his helping hand to deal with the internal problems of various neighbouring countries. In 1988, the Maldives faced a coup and sought the help of Rajiv Gandhi. He promptly ordered the deployment of the Indian Army in an operation codenamed Cactus. During the Sri Lankan Civil War, Gandhi sent the Indian Peacekeeping Force to the country to protect civilians.

Controversies

On Anti-Sikh Riots Post-election

While commenting on the anti-Sikh riots, which followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi in Delhi, Rajiv Gandhi said, "'When a giant tree falls, the earth below shakes." The statement was widely criticized both within and outside the Congress Party. Many viewed the statement as "provocative" and demanded his apology. To deal with the anti-Sikh riots that followed the death of his mother, Rajiv Gandhi signed an agreement with Akali Dal president Sant Harchand Singh Longowal on 24 July 1985. The key points of the pact were:

(1) Along with ex-gratia payment to those innocent killed in agitation or any action after 1-8-1982, compensation for property damaged will also be paid.

(2) All citizens of the country have the right to enrol in the Army, and merit will remain the criterion for selection.

(3) For all those discharged, efforts will be made to rehabilitate and provide gainful employment.

Bofors Case

The Bofors scandal was a big black mark on Rajiv Gandhi's political image. The then Finance Minister turned Defense Minister, V. P. Singh, uncovered details of corruption involving the government and a Swedish arms company called Bofors. The company allegedly paid the Indian government millions of dollars, $640 million to be exact, in exchange for contracts for the Defense Department. The deals were being brokered by Ottavio Quattrocchi, an Italian businessman who was a close associate of the Gandhi family. Top-tier Congress leaders and Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi were implicated in the scandal and accused of taking bribes from Bofors to win a bid to supply India's 155mm Field Howitzer (a type of part of artillery). Although Rajiv Gandhi's name was later cleared in 2005, the media storm that sparked the scandal ultimately led to his abysmal defeat in the 1989 election.

IPKF

In 1987, the Indian Peacekeeping Force was formed to end the Sri Lankan Civil War between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan Army. The Sri Lankan opposition parties and the LTTE opposed the actions of the Indian military contingent. But Rajiv Gandhi refused to withdraw the IPKF. The idea also proved unpopular in India, particularly in Tamil Nadu. The IPKF operation cost more than 1100 Indian soldiers and a cost of more than 2000 crores. The widespread feeling of malice against Rajiv Gandhi in Sri Lanka was evident when an honour guard, Vijitha Rohana, tried to injure Gandhi by hitting him with a rifle on 30 July 1987. Gandhi was in Colombo to sign the Indo-Indo Accord. Sri Lanka was expected to resolve the tensions caused by the Civil War.

Assassination

On 21 May 1991, on his way to the dais, Rajiv Gandhi was garlanded by many supporters and sympathizers of the Congress. Around 10 p.m., the killer greeted him and leaned down to touch his feet. He then detonated a belt loaded with RDX explosives attached to his belt. The act of violence was reportedly carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in retaliation for the involvement of the Indian Peacekeeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka.