On May 21, 1991 Rajiv Gandhi, the seventh prime minister of India was assassinated by LTTE cadres in a suicide bombing at an election rally in Sriperumbudur, around 40 km off the Tamil Nadu capital Chennai — at a time when he was largely expected to return to power in India.
After his demise, every year, Rajiv Gandhi’s death anniversary is observed as anti-terrorism day. The significance of this day is to discourage youth from terrorism and violence. Here are some interesting facts about Rajiv Gandhi:
1. Mahatma Gandhi’s relation:
Rajiv Gandhi and Mahatma Gandhi were not related by blood even though they shared their last name. On 20 August, 1944, Rajiv was born to Indira and Feroze Gandhi. Indira Nehru fell in love of Feroze, a family friend and decided to marry him. But the then PM and father of Indira, Jawaharlal Nehru did not approve of her choice since it would have been an inter-religion marriage. He feared that if Indira married Feroze, she would stand to lose the chance of becoming the heir of the Nehru clan. Mahatma Gandhi mediated and adopted Feroze and thus gave him his last name. His name was changed to Feroze Gandhi via an affidavit in England, by which his last name was passed on to his descendants.
2. Christening:
He was christened as ‘Rajiv’ after his maternal grandmother Kamala Nehru’s name. Since ‘Kamala’ refers to goddess Lakshmi and ‘Rajiv to lotus, his name is in reference to the flower that is used to worship the goddess.
3. Flowers for Mahatma:
It is said that Rajiv Gandhi had offered flowers at the feet of the Mahatma on 29th January 1948, to which he was advised that flowers are offered at the feet of only dead people. Shockingly, Gandhiji was assassinated a day later on 30 January, by Nathuram Godse.
4. Education:
Rajiv Gandhi along with his younger sibling Sanjay Gandhi went to Doon School, Dehradun. He continued his higher education first at Imperial College, London and later at the University of Cambridge in 1965. In the year 1966, he returned from London, when his mother became the Prime Minister.
5. Family:
Family always came first for Rajiv Gandhi. In the year 1968, he married Sonia Maino. While he was at Cambridge in London, Rajiv first saw Sonia at a Greek restaurant and instantly fell in love with her.
6. Rajiv Gandhi – the pilot
After returning to India, he became a member of the Flying Club, where Rajiv took pilot’s training. Eventually he joined Air India in 1970. Rajiv was not interested in joining politics, unlike his mother and brother. He was quite content with Rs 5,000 a month salary as an airline pilot, making a career out of his hobby. He was also greatly enamoured by computers and was a music buff. Interestingly, Rajiv preferred the Rolling Stones to the Beatles.
7. Entering Politics:
In 1981, Rajiv reluctantly entered the political fray after the sad demise of his brother Sanjay Gandhi in an air crash. He fought his first electoral battle for Lok Sabha from his brother’s seat in Amethi and defeated the strongman Sharad Yadav. It was believed that Indira was grooming Rajiv for the top post and to keep her legacy alive. Rajiv soon became the president of the youth wing of Congress.
8. 1982 Asian Games:
The 1982, the Asian Games were a huge organisational success and it stamped Rajiv Gandhi’s stupendous managerial skills. Rajiv, who was an MP then, was made the member of the Organising Committee. He, along with the then sports minister Buta Singh, pulled off a brilliant show, making the Games a memorable event.
9.India’s Youngest PM:
When Indira Gandhi was suddenly assassinated by her own bodyguards in 1984, Rajiv was, on the same day, thrust to the post of the Prime Minister, making him the nation’s youngest PM.
10. Prime Ministership:
As the Lok Sabha had already completed its tenure of five years, Rajiv Gandhi, after assuming office, asked the then President Zail Singh for dissolution of the Parliament and hold fresh polls. Rajiv was also nominated as the president of the Indian National Congress. The Grand Old party, later, scripted history in the General Elections by winning a record 411 seats out of the 542 seats. This gave Rajiv absolute control over the government. His youthful and clean image hugely benefited the Congress party.
11. Previous assassination attempt:
Four years before losing his life to a brutal assassination, Rajiv had a major scare when he was in Sri Lanka. On 29 July 1987, Rajiv Gandhi and the Lankan president JR Jayawardene signed the historic Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord. On the very next day on 30 July 1987, while he was receiving the guard of honour, a Sinhalese naval cadet named Vijayamunige Rohana de Silva, tried attacking him with the butt of his rifle. In a quick reflex Rajiv saved himself from what could have been a fatal attack.
Rajiv’s last public meeting was to take place at Sriperumbudur on 21 May 1991, a small village almost 40 km from Chennai, when he was campaigning for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. But it never happened as he was assassinated by the LTTE in a first of its kind human bomb explosion. A woman, identified as Thenmozhi Rajaratnam, approached Rajiv and bent down to touch his feet. She then detonated 700 grams of RDX tucked under her dress. The blast killed Rajiv Gandhi along with 25 more people. Unfortunately, his dead body that was so badly decimated could be identified only by his ‘Lotto’ shoes.
