Essay, Biography or Paragraph on “Rajiv Gandhi” complete biography for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Rajiv Gandhi

India : The heartbeat of a nation

Born : 1944 Died : 1991

The entire world received the news of his assassination with profound shock and disbelief. Rajiv Gandhi was proceeding towards the dais to address an election meeting at Sriperumbudur, 50 km. from Madras, On the night of May 21, 1991 when a woman moved forward to touch his feet. As she bent, there was a terrific explosion of a bomb which hit on his face throwing his mangled body on the ground. People ran helter-skelter in utter confusion. Later investigations revealed that a woman named Thanu with many surnames was employed as a suicide bomber to kill him. She had a powerful bomb tied to her waist and as she bent to touch his feet, she activated the bomb with a toggle switch. Thus, curtain was rung down on the young life that held so much promise and in short, symbolised the aspirations of an entire nation.

Rajiv Gandhi was born on August 20, 1944 in Bombay. Born to parents, Feroze Gandhi and Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi, he was heir to the political heritage of his mother and grandfather, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, the architect of modern India. He married Sonia Maino, an Italian girl, whom- he met during his student days in Cambridge. Interested in mechanical things from his childhood, he chose aviation as his career. The sudden demise of his younger brother Sanjay in a glider accident in Delhi steered Rajiv into politics, which never had any attraction for him. Before his entry into politics, Rajiv led a happy and contented life away from the glare of publicity.

He won the election from Amethi and became member of Parliament in 1981. He was appointed general secretary of the Congress party in 1983. On October 31, 1984, he took oath of office and secrecy as the seventh Prime Minister of the country after the brutal assassination of Indira Gandhi by her bodyguards. In the general elections held in December, 1984, he won a massive majority for his party, though it can be attributed to the sympathy wave generated by the assassination of his mother.

Rajiv Gandhi was the youngest Prime Minister of the world’s largest democracy. He was an epitome of gentleness, poised behaviour with progressive ideas. Though his advent on the political scene was, unprecedented, he showed uncanny insight for the problems which have beset the country. He proved himself to be an astute politician with foresight and a vision for his country. He took many bold steps and had a clear perspective regarding the burning issues that he had to face on taking over as the Prime Minister. His thinking was rather modem and he was always outspoken and soon came to be known as ‘Mr. Clean’ in the unhealthy Indian politics.

He displayed a modern outlook and youthful enthusiasm for solving many problems he inherited from his predecessors in those turbulent times. He was the first politician at the helm to castigate the power brokers who ruled the roost in the ruling party. He publicly accepted the prevalence of corruption in all spheres of activity in India. His vision was to make this country strong and prosperous and he roused new hopes and aspirations in the masses with his slogan of taking a quantum leap into the 21st century. A new education policy was devised and steps were taken to revitalise the industrial climate. Efforts to augment the pace of science. with sophisticated computer technology put the country on the third world communication network. A ‘Technology Mission’ was established for this purpose under Satyan (Sam) G Pitroda an ace technocrat with comprehensive programmes related to rural drinking water, immunization, adult literacy, oil .seeds, telecommunications and dairy development. In 1984, a centre for developing telemetry (C-DoT) for developing indigenous technology for a family of digital switching systems to suit Indian conditions with emphasis on a new work culture and result-oriented management was established under his patronage.

In the political field, Rajiv Gandhi displayed resilience and flexibility. The historic accord with Sant Harchand Singh Longowal on Punjab about the concessions to Sikhs upon autonomy to their state, besides similar accord on Assam and Mizoram were important steps in bringing peace to these disturbed Indian states.

He remained a powerful and seasoned statesman on the international scene for nearly five years. He strengthened India’s political, economic and cultural bonds with other countries. The leadership of the Non-Aligned Movement got transferred over to India in 1986. Rajiv carved a respectable place for India by his straightforward and non-partisan policies on many international issues: The support given to the struggle of Palestinians to secure autonomy on an alien land, opposition to the apartheid in South Africa and support to SWAPO-led independence movement in Namibia won him laurels from many friends across the world. An Africa Fund was launched to help the frontline states of Africa beset with unsound economy. Rajiv Gandhi rushed troops to Male in Maldives to crush the attempted coup against the established government and gained for his country the eternal gratitude of the rulers and people of that country. His independent action for solving the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka put a stop to the interference of the US and Pakistan in matters relating to countries in the Indian Ocean. It also proclaimed to the world that India shall remain the prime power in this region and no world power could ignore her pre-eminence in this area.

Rajiv Gandhi found himself in the centre of many controversies during the last two years of his prime ministership. His image was somewhat tarnished following the shady deals of mediocre advisers and sycophants upon vague policy measures. Consequently, in the 1989 general elections, the Cong-I lost the majority in the Lok Sabha. He, however, played a constructive and responsible role as the opposition leader in the lower house of lawmakers.

With the fall of Chandra Shekhar’s ministry, fresh elections were ordered in May, 1991. In these elections Rajiv Gandhi gave the country the slogan of ‘Stability’ as the opposition parties miserably failed to provide stable government at the Centre. He was confident that he would I win by a large majority and the last leg of his electioneering costed his life by the LTTE’s covert strategy against their wishes over gross injustice meted out by Sri Lankan authorities. Hundreds of international luminaries along with millions of his countrymen bade him a tearful adieu when his son lighted the funeral pyre at Shakti-sthal in Delhi. The Government of India conferred the highest honour of the land, ‘Bharat Ratna’, on him posthumously.