Rajiv Gandhi
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| Date of Birth: | August 20, 1944 |
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| Date of Death: | May 21, 1991 |
| Place of Birth: | Mumbai, MH |
| Prime Minister of India | |
| Tenure Order: | 6th Prime Minister |
| Political party: | Congress (I) |
| Took Office: | October 31, 1984 |
| Left Office: | December 2, 1989 |
| Predecessor: | Indira Gandhi |
| Successor: | V. P. Singh |
Rajiv Gandhi (राजीव गान्धी) (August 20, 1944 – May 21, 1991), the first son of Indira and Feroze Gandhi, was the Prime Minister of India from his mother's death on October 31, 1984 until his resignation on December 2, 1989 following a general election defeat.
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Education
He attended Terial College, London and Cambridge University (but did not receive a degree from either university). Initially preferring his career as an airline pilot, Rajiv was reluctant to enter politics until six months after the death in an air crash of his younger brother Sanjay, who had been seen as being groomed for the leadership of the governing Indian National Congress Party.
Prime Minister
Elected for Sanjay's Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituency of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh state in February 1981, Rajiv was chosen as prime minister by the party leadership within hours of his mother's assassination by two of her Sikh bodyguards. Some accuse him of not doing enough to stop the anti-Sikh riots which ensued. Commenting on the genocide, he said, "'When a giant tree falls, the earth below shakes". Two months later he won a landslide general election on the wave of popular sympathy surrounding his mother's assassination.
During his tenure as Prime Minister of India,he brought a certain dynamism to the premiership. He was instrumental in greatly improving ties with the United States and is credited with promoting computerisation in India.
Bofors Scandal
- Main article: Bofors scandal
His government became mired in a scandal involving a multi-million dollar arms contract. The Bofors scandal, as it later became known, concerned alleged payoffs by the Swedish Bofors arms company through an Italian businessman and Gandhi family associate, Ottavio Quattrocchi, in return for Indian contracts. The controversy contributed to the defeat of the Congress in the November 1989 elections.
Assassination
Gandhi was assassinated in Sriperumbudur whilst campaigning for a UCPI candidate in Tamil Nadu, by the suicide bomber Thenmozhi Rajaratnam A.K.A Dhanu. Dhanu is widely believed to be have been a LTTE member. In 1998 an Indian court convicted 26 people in the conspiracy to assassinate Gandhi. The conspirators, who consisted of Tamil militants from Sri Lanka and their Indian allies, had sought to stop Gandhi from getting elected in the then upcoming elections. They wanted to stop him from sending Indian troops into Sri Lanka as he had done in 1987 (when he survived an assassination attempt in Sri Lanka while inspecting a guard of honour) to help enforce a peace accord. Those troops ended up fighting the Tamil separatist guerrillas. His death brought the ailing Congress Party back into power in the 1991 general election on a similar wave of feeling as had followed his mother's assassination. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1991. A magnificent memorial, christened Veer Bhumi was constructed at his cremation spot.
Personal
He is survived by his Italian wife, Sonia Gandhi, and two children, Rahul and Priyanka Vadra. In 1998 Sonia Gandhi became the leader of the Congress Party, which won the 2004 elections. She is one of the most powerful political personalities in India today.
| Preceded by: Indira Gandhi |
Prime Minister of India 1984—1989 |
Followed by: V. P. Singh |
| Prime Ministers of India |
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Nehru • Nanda • Shastri • I. Gandhi • Desai • C. C. Singh • R. Gandhi • V. P. Singh • Shekhar • Rao • Vajpayee • Gowda • Gujral • M. Singh |
