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Rajiv Gandhi Biography

Rajiv Gandhi

Rajiv Gandhi was the youngest Prime Minister of India.

Rajiv Gandhi, the ninth Prime Minister of India, was born on August 20, 1944. The elder son of Indira Gandhi and Feroz Gandhi, he was brought up in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. He did his schooling at Welham Boys’ School and the Doon School and went on to join the Imperial College, London.

He later joined the University of Cambridge where he fell in love with an Italian student Edvige Antonio Albina Maino. In 1966, he joined Indian Airlines and started working as a professional pilot. He married Albina Maino (Sonia Gandhi) in 1969.

In spite of being a member of the most famous political family, Rajiv kept himself aloof from the politics. He was pressurized to join the politics after the death of his younger brother Sanjay Gandhi, who was very close to his mother and was also her adviser. Even though against the idea initially, Rajiv had to give in to the mounting pressure. In 1981, he fought from the seat of Sanjay Gandhi and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Amethi.

In 1984, after his mother’s assassination he was compelled to resume the post of his mother. Thus within hours of his mother’s death, he was sworn in as the next Prime Minister of India. After assuming the office he advocated adjournment of the Parliament. Fresh elections were held and Congress won with unprecedented margins. Rajiv Gandhi again became the Prime Minister.

Being the head of the largest democracy in the world, this youngest Prime Minister of India did his best to improve the condition of India in every field including bilateral relations with countries such as the United States, and Sri Lanka. He tried to act as a peacemaker between Sri Lanka government and LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). As a consequence, he had to pay with his life. On May 21, 1991, while he was campaigning in Tamil Nadu for the Lok Sabha Congress candidate Mrs Margatham Chandrrasekhar, he was assassinated by one of the LTTE suicide bombers at a public rally.

His memorial ‘Veer Bhumi’ is built in New Delhi.

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Sadbhavana Diwas


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