Rajiv Gandhi (1944-1991): The youngest PM of India

He was not the Prime Minister of India when he was assassinated. But a large number of world leaders across continents flew down to attend his funeral in New Delhi.

R. Venkatraman, who was then the President of India wrote: “The fact that world leaders from as many as 63 countries joined India's simple men and women to pay their homage to Rajiv Gandhi during his funeral, bears testimony to the stature that he had acquired among world statesmen in the short span of five years during which he was Prime Minister...Rajiv Gandhi illumined the path towards a united and modern India.”

B.K. Nehru, a former Ambassador to USA and maternal uncle of Rajiv, who had spent long years of his early life in Motilal Nehru's Anand Bhavan at Allahabad, drew comparison with Jawaharlal Nehru: “To anybody who knew them both, Rajiv Gandhi reminded one irresistibly of his grandfather. He had the same good looks, charm, courtesy, consideration, superb manners and grace that distinguished Jawaharlal Nehru and made him the darling of his country.”

“It was not only in these externals that Jawaharlal's genes seem to have descended whole into Rajiv. The grandson's instincts, his devotion to the country, his selflessness and dedication and the nobility of his character were exactly the same as his grandfather's. The adulation amounting to worship that his grandfather inspired had begun to be shared by Rajiv,” he went on to write.

As Prime Minister (1984-89) Rajiv Gandhi had several achievements to his credit - which strengthened the unity and integrity of the country, secured its borders, lifted millions above the poverty line and enhanced India's image abroad as a country which was strong, secular, tolerant and compassionate. Unfortunately, all that lies in tatters today.

P.V. Narasimha Rao, who succeeded Rajiv Gandhi as Congress President and, soon after, became Prime Minister held that Rajiv Gandhi was a leader of great promise and vision: “When I look back, I feel that objectivity and farsightedness were perhaps Rajiv Gandhi's greatest qualities. He had the ability to look at things dispassionately. His own prestige never stood in the way of finding acceptable solutions to problems, for him India always came first...he visualized an India which was in the vanguard of the movement for world peace, an India which would move into the future on the crest of technological advance.”

TECHNOLOGY MISSIONS: This is elaborated by C Subramanian, a veteran who served in the cabinet of atleast four Prime Ministers: “Rajiv Gandhi had realised early that India could never secure the future with confidence unless it massively inducted science and technology and accepted modern methods of management while opening the economy to competition... The Technology Missions which he launched to speed up development and obtain optimum results by harnessing science and technology for the benefits of the people were his daring brain childs of innovation. He sought complete eradication of the existing mediocrity from all walks of life of the people and wanted the scientific attitudes to percolate to the lives of all countrymen, just as his grandfather had envisioned.” Rahul Bajaj, industrialist and grandson of freedom fighter Jamanlal Bajaj, stated Rajiv Gandhi will go down in the history of post-independence India as the second great modernizer, the first being Jawaharlal Nehru… I am convinced that the liberalization measures taken by the new Congress government from July 1991 onwards are the direct result of what was desired and planned by Rajiv Gandhi. Ofcourse, the present government deserves full credit for its bold and speedy efforts in this direction.”

As Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had spelt out the relation between technology and reduction of poverty: “The poverty gap, whether between countries or within countries, is essentially a technology gap. We believe that it is only through increasing the technological output in the daily lives of our people that we will be able to foster equitable economic growth, In India, therefore, the prime objective of technology is the elimination of poverty.

According to General Krishna Rao, former Army Chief and later Governor J&K, “It was clear to him [Rajiv Gandhi] that unless the root cause of the country's problems, such as poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and backwardness were tackled effectively, there could be no enduring peace or progress.”

Added economist AM Khusro: “It must not be forgotten that during Rajiv Gandhi's rule the anti- poverty programmes of employment oriented production such as IRDP, NREP and the Nehru Rozgar were strengthened ...also a crucial bill vesting village panchayats with the new responsibilities and additional resources was prepared and moved in Parliament. Besides Panchayati Raj, ushering in the IT and Computer Revolution is perhaps Rajiv Gandhi's most outstanding and everlasting achievement in the domestic field.

ShivrajPatil, a Minister in the Rajiv cabinet and later Speaker, Lok Sabha, wrote in 1992: “Today's India owes much to Rajiv Gandhifor ushering in a new era in the overall development process and for bringing India not only at par, but far ahead of many a developed country in computerization and computer technology. ' He also wrote that 'in the sphere of foreign policy and international relations, Rajiv Gandhi's contribution was remarkable.”

This is amplified by TN Kaul, former Foreign Secretary: “Rajiv Gandhi's contribution in the field of foreign affairs is most impressive...One must admire his great personal rapport with world leaders including Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev, Margaret Thatcher, Robert Mugabe, Fidel Castro and other leaders of Asia, Africa, Latin America and the countries...He was able to improve relations with China and the United States of America and to further consolidate Indo- Soviet relations... Rajiv Gandhi's speech and proposals at the United Nations for complete nuclear disarmament ..were practical, realistic and necessary, if the world is to be saved from the threat of self- destruction through a nuclear holocaust.”

According to Jaswant Singh, who was a BJP MP and later Foreign Minister in Vajpayee government, the world leaders took to him more easily as “they had somebody from the Third World to whom they could talk easily, besides in that international world the memories and legacy of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi were still alive.”

It may be befitting to conclude with a tribute paid by Khursheed Alam Khan, who was a cabinet colleague of Rajiv Gandhi: “Rajiv was a symbol of modernism, a democrat and truly secular in outlook…He believed a person's patriotism had nothing to do with his religion...he was a beacon of hope when forces of self - destruction, separatism and communalism were making their appearance in the country, he was prepared to make any sacrifice to remain steadfast to his ideals and finally he made the ultimate sacrifice, that of his own life.”

It is true that strange are the ways of God, but as SB Chavan, the Home Minister in the PV Narasimha Rao government lamented '… this is no consolation to us faced with the sad fact that instead of celebrating many more birthdays of such a man we should pay obituary tributes to him.

(The writer, an ex-Army officer, is a political analyst and columnist)