Rajiv Gandhi

Rajiv Gandhi
File:Rajiv Gandhi.gif
7th Prime Minister of India
In office 31 October 1984 – 2 December 1989
President	Giani Zail Singh Ramaswamy Venkataraman
Preceded by	Indira Gandhi
Succeeded by	V. P. Singh
Personal details
Born	20 August 1944 Mumbai, Bombay Presidency, British India
Died	May 21, 1991(1991-05-21) (aged 46) Sriperumbudur, TN, India
Political party	Indian National Congress
Spouse	Sonia Gandhi
Profession	Airline pilot

Rajiv Ratna Gandhi (IPA: [raːdʒiːv gaːnd̪ʰiː]), born in Mumbai, (August 20, 1944 – May 21, 1991), the eldest son of Indira and Feroze Gandhi, was the 7th Prime Minister of India (and the 2nd from the Gandhi family) from his mother's death on 31 October, 1984 until his resignation on December 2, 1989 following a general election defeat. Becoming the Prime Minister of India at the age of 40, he is the youngest person to date to hold that office.

Rajiv Gandhi worked as a professional pilot for Indian Airlines before coming into politics. While at Cambridge, he met and subsequently married Italian-born Sonia Maino. He remained aloof from politics despite his mother being the Indian Prime Minister, and it was only following the death of his younger brother Sanjay Gandhi in 1980 that Rajiv was convinced to enter politics. Upon the assassination of his mother in 1984 after Operation Blue Star, Congress party leaders convinced him to become the new Prime Minister. It is a tradition in Congress that they always want a person from Nehru Gandhi family to lead them. Having the advantage of sympathy wave, Rajiv Gandhi led the Congress to a major election victory in 1984 soon after, amassing the largest majority in Parliament. He began dismantling the License Raj - government quotas, tariffs and permit regulations on economic activity - modernized the telecommunications industry, the education system, expanded science and technology initiatives and improved relations with the United States. He also was responsible for sending Indian troops for peace efforts in Sri Lanka, which soon ended in open conflict with the LTTE. The Bofors scandal broke his honest, corruption-free image and resulted in a major defeat for his party in the 1989 elections.

Rajiv Gandhi remained Congress President till the elections in 1991. He was assassinated while campaigning, by a female LTTE suicide bomber Thenmuli Rajaratnam. His Italian-born widow Sonia Gandhi became the leader of the Congress party in 1998, and led the party to victory in the 2004 elections. His son Rahul Gandhi is a member of parliament.

He was awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1991. It is important to note that his mother and grandfather were also awarded by the title.

Early Life

Rajiv Gandhi was born in India's most famous political family. His grandfather was the Indian independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru, who would become India's first Prime Minister after independence. He has no blood relation to Mahatma Gandhi despite his name. Actually Gandhi surname was adopted after Mohandas Gandhi and Jawahar lal Nehru were not happy with Indira gandhi marrying a muslim "Feroze Khan Ghandi" as it would have started talk during their political career. Rajiv (father feroze khan ghandi) and his younger brother Sanjay (half brother, father mohammad younus) were raised in Allahabad and Delhi, but suffered from the separation of their mother, who lived with Nehru to care for him. His parents were reconciled in 1958 but his father, Feroze died from a heart attack in 1960.

Education

Rajiv was educated at two highly exclusive private boarding schools for boys: at the Welham Boys' School and The Doon School, and he later attended university in the United Kingdom, at Imperial College London, part of the University of London, and at Trinity College, University of Cambridge, but he did not receive a degree. At Cambridge, he met and fell in love with an Italian student Sonia Maino, who was there to learn English. Maino's family opposed the match, but Maino came to India with Rajiv and they were married in 1968.

Gandhi began working for Indian Airlines as a professional pilot while his mother became Prime Minister in 1966. He exhibited no interest in politics and did not live regularly with his mother in Delhi at the Prime Minister's residence. In 1970, his wife, Sonia gave birth to Rahul, his first child, and in 1972, Priyanka, his second child and daughter. Even as Gandhi remained aloof in politics, his younger brother Sanjay became a close advisor to their mother.

Entry into politics

It was following his younger brother's death in 1980 that Rajiv was pressured by Congress politicians and his mother to enter politics. Rajiv and his wife were both opposed to the idea, and Rajiv even publicly stated that he would not contest for his brother's seat, but he finally accepted his mother's urging and announced his candidacy for Parliament . His entry was criticized by many in the press, public and opposition political parties, who saw the role of Nehru's dynasty intensifying in Indian politics .

Elected for Sanjay's Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituency of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh state in February 1981, Rajiv became an important political advisor to his mother. It was widely perceived that Indira Gandhi was grooming Rajiv for the prime minister's job, and Rajiv soon became the president of the Youth Congress - the Congress party's youth wing.

Prime Minister

Rajiv was in West Bengal when Indira Gandhi was assassinated on October 31, 1984. Top Congress leaders, as well as President Zail Singh pressed Rajiv to become India's Prime Minister, 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, killing more than 3,000 Sikhs . Commenting on the violence in national capital Delhi, Rajiv Gandhi said, "' When a giant tree falls, the earth below shakes" ; a statement for which he was widely criticised. Many Congress politicians were accused of orchestrating the violence . Soon after assuming office, Rajiv asked President Zail Singh to dissolve Parliament and hold fresh elections, as Lokh Sabha completed its five year term. Rajiv Gandhi also officially became the President of the Congress party.

Owing largely to the feelings of sympathy in wake of Indira's murder, the Congress party won a landslide victory - with largest majority in history of Indian Parliament, giving Rajiv absolute control of government. Rajiv Gandhi also benefited from his youth and a general perception of being Mr. Clean, or free of a background in corrupt politics . Rajiv thus revived hopes and enthusiasm amongst the Indian public for the Congress.

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi began leading in a direction significantly different from Indira Gandhi's socialism. He improved bilateral relations with the United States - long strained owing to Indira's socialism and close friendship with the USSR - and expanded economic and scientific cooperation . He increased government support for science and technology and associated industries, and reduced import quotas, taxes and tariffs on technology-based industries, especially computers, airlines, defence and telecommunications. He introduced measures significantly reducing the License Raj - allowing businesses and individuals to purchase capital, consumer goods and import without red-tape and bureaucratic restrictions. In 1986, Rajiv announced a national education policy to modernize and expand higher education programs across India. Rajiv Gandhi was the founder of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya System in the year 1986. Rajiv Gandhi can be called the father of telecom revolution. His efforts created MTNL in 1986 and the public call offices, better known as PCOs, helped spread telephones in the rural areas. The work that he did then laid the foundation for a telecom boom in 1990s.

Rajiv authorized an extensive police and Army campaign to contain terrorism in Punjab. A state of martial law existed in the (India) state, and civil liberties, commerce and tourism were greatly disrupted . There are many accusations of human rights violations by police officials as well as by the militants during this period. It is alleged that even as the situation in Punjab came under control, the Indian government was offering arms and training to the LTTE rebels fighting the Government of Sri Lanka. The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was signed by Rajiv Gandhi and the Sri Lankan President J.R.Jayewardene, in Colombo on July 29, 1987. The very next day, on July 30, 1987, Rajiv Gandhi was assaulted by a Sinhalese naval cadet named Vijayamunige Rohana de Silva, while receiving honor guard. Though the embarrassed Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayewardene initially attempted to pass off the bizarre assault as "Rajiv tripped a little and slightly lost his balance", Rajiv Gandhi while enroute to New Delhi asserted to J.N. Dixit who was in charge of arranging that disastrous visit, "What is all this nonsensical speculation. Of course, I was hit." Rajiv's government suffered a major setback when its efforts to arbitrate between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE rebels backfired .

Bofors scandal

File:2MGR0011.jpg

Rajiv with President R. Venkataraman and Tamil Nadu Chief minister M. G. Ramachandran at the unvieling of a statue of Tamil poet Subramania Barathi

Main article: Bofors scandal

Rajiv's finance minister, Vishwanath Pratap Singh uncovered compromising details about government and political corruption, to the consternation of Congress leaders. Transferred to the Defence ministry, Singh uncovered what became known as the Bofors scandal, involving tens of millions of dollars - concerned alleged payoffs by the Swedish Bofors arms company through an Italian businessman and Gandhi family associate, Ottavio Quattrocchi, in return for Indian contracts. Upon the uncovering of the scandal, Singh was conspicuously dismissed from office, and later from Congress membership. Rajiv Gandhi himself was later personally implicated in the scandal, when the investigation was continued by Narasimhan Ram and Chitra Subramaniam of The Hindu newspaper, shattering his image as an honest politician, however, he was cleared over this allegation in 2004

V. P. Singh's image as an exposer of government corruption made him very popular with the public , and opposition parties united under his name to form the Janata Dal coalition. In the 1989 elections, the Congress suffered a major setback. With the support of Indian communists and the Bharatiya Janata Party, V. P. Singh and his Janata Dal formed a government. Rajiv Gandhi became the Leader of the Opposition, while remaining Congress president. While some believe that Rajiv and Congress leaders influenced the collapse of V. P. Singh's government in 1990 by promising support to Chandra Shekhar, a high-ranking leader in the Janata Dal, sufficient internal contradictions existed, within the ruling coalition, especially over the controversial reservation issue, to cause a fall of government. Rajiv's Congress offered outside support briefly to Chandra Sekhar, who became Prime Minister. But this support was withdrawn in 1991 and fresh elections were announced.

Sri Lanka policy

The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord signed was opposed by the then Sri Lankan Prime Minister Premadasa and was forced to accept it due to pressure from then President Jayewardene. in January 1989 Premadasa was elected President and on a platform that promised that the IPKF leave within 3 months.In the 1989 elections both the SLFP and UNP wanted the IPKF to withdraw and they got 95% of the vote.

The police action was unpopular in India as well, especially in Tamil Nadu as India was fighting the LTTE Tamil separatists.

Rajiv Gandhi refused to withdraw the IPKF, believing that the only way he could succeed in ending the civil war was to politically force Premadasa and militarily force the LTTE to accept the accord. Meanwhile in December 1989 Indian elections V.P.Singh became the Prime Minister and completed the pullout. The IPKF operation cost over 1100 Indian soldiers lives and cost over 2000 crores.

Shah Banu case

For more details, please refer to Shah Bano case In 1985, Supreme court of India gave a judgement in favour of a Muslim divorcee Shah Banu that her husband should give alumany to her. Muslim fundamentalists in India treated it as an encroachment in Muslim Personal Law and protested against it. Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, agreed to their demands and cited the gesture as an example of "secularism". In 1986, the Congress (I) party, which had an absolute majority in Parliament at the time, passed an act that nullified the Supreme Court's judgment in the Shah Bano case. The Shah Bano case generated tremendous heat in India. It proved that fundamentalist minorities can exert pressure on government and judicial decisions. The mainstream media disapproved of the decision. The opposition reacted strongly against the Congress party's policies (which, according to BJP, reflect "Pseudo-secularism".)

The case has led to Muslim women receiving a large, one-time payment from their husbands during the period of iddat, instead of a maximum monthly payment of 500 Rs (around 10 US Dollar per month) - an upper limit which has since been removed. Cases of women getting lump sum payments for lifetime maintenance are becoming common.

Assassination

The stone mosaic that stands at the exact location where Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in Sriperumbudur

Main article: Rajiv Gandhi assassination

Rajiv Gandhi's last public meeting was at Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991, in a village approximately 30-miles from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, where he was assassinated while campaigning for the Sriperumbudur Lok Sabha Congress candidate. The assassination was carried out by the LTTE suicide bomber Thenmuli Rajaratnam also known as Gayatri.

At 10:10 p.m., the assassin Dhanu approached him in a public meeting and greeted the former Prime Minister. She then bent down to touch his feet and detonated an 700 grams of RDX explosive laden belt tucked below her dress. The former Prime Minister along with many others were killed in the explosion that followed. The assassination was caught on film through the lens of a local photographer, whose camera and film was found from the site. The cameraman himself also died in the blast.

The Rajiv Gandhi Memorial was built at the site recently and is one of the major tourist attractions to the small industrial town.

The Rajiv Gandhi Memorial at Sriperumbudur.

As per the Indian Supreme Court judgement, by Judge Thomas, the killing was carried out due to personal animosity of the LTTE chief Prabhakaran towards Mr Rajiv Gandhi arising out of his sending the IPKF to Sri Lanka and the alleged IPKF atrocities against Tamils. The judgement further cites the death of Thileepan in a hunger strike and the suicide by 12 LTTE cadres in a vessel in Oct 1987.

In the Jain Commission report, various people and agencies are named as suspected of having been involved in the murder of Rajiv Gandhi. Among them, the cleric Chandraswami was suspected of involvement, including financing the assassination. The interim report of the Jain Commission created a storm when it accused Karunanidhi and the Tamils of a role in the assassination, leading to Congress withdrawing its support for the I. K. Gujral government and fresh elections in 1998. LTTE spokesman Anton Balasingham told the Indian television channel NDTV that the killing was a "great tragedy, a monumental historical tragedy which we deeply regret." A memorial christened Veer Bhumi was constructed at his cremation spot.

External links

• http://www.pressbrief.in

• Supreme Court Judgement by Judge Thomas
• Supreme Court Judgement by Judge Quadari
• Supreme Court Judgement by Judge Wadhwa
• TERRORIST AND DISRUPTIVE ACTIVITIES (PREVENTION) ACT, 1987
• Denial of fair trial leads to Death Sentences

Further reading

• Sachi Sri Kantha; Pirabhakaran Phenomenon, Lively Comet Imprint,2005;641 pp (chapters 24 to 35, pp.207-352, cover in detail the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi)
• "Working with Rajiv Gandhi" by R.D. Pradhan