Rajiv Gandhi: a reformer and a gentleman

He became prime minister at the age of 40 and lived for barely seven more years. Had he lived longer and served another term as prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi would certainly have deepened his political legacy. That, unfortunately, was not to be as he was assassinated 33 years ago, on 21 May 1991.

Not counting exceptions, Indians born in the 1980s or later have a foggy sense of his gifts to the nation. As they walk past the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the Siri Fort Auditorium or the Asian Games village in New Delhi, they don’t see his hand in their existence. These landmarks came up in 1981-82 even before he became prime minister, when he was still only a Member of Parliament, but he played a key role in the construction of these iconic structures.

Colour television also came to India during the Asian Games and television spread rapidly during Rajiv Gandhi’s time as prime minister. It was during his tenure that MTNL (Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd) was set up (in 1986), railway reservation was computerised and the voting age reduced from 21 to 18.

He was also instrumental in pushing through the Anti-defection Act in 1985, sought to ban commissions in arms deals and envisaged the landmark 73^rd  amendment to the Constitution—passed in 1992 by the Narasimha Rao government after his assassination—the law that ushered in a three-tier Panchayati Raj system for local self-governance in rural areas, deepening India’s democracy. He also restored peace in Punjab, Assam and Mizoram and signed historic accords that have stood the test of time.

His tenure was marked by three big controversies over the Bofors arms deal, the law that overturned the Supreme Court’s Shah Bano judgment and opening the lock on the makeshift Ram idol at Ayodhya for worship. Most people who worked with him believe that given a second chance, he would have made a course correction.

Recalling his acquaintance with Rajiv in an interview with <Outlook> magazine, former BJP MP Subramanian Swamy said: “We were buddies”. In the same interaction, Swamy also said that as law minister in the Chandra Shekhar government, he had gone through the files related to the Bofors deal and found no involvement of the then Prime Minister. When Rajiv Gandhi, who was Leader of the Opposition then, approached him in the Central Hall of Parliament, he asked, as Swamy recalled: “I hear you have been poring over the Bofors papers. What did you find?” In his reply, Swamy recalled having said: “I found that you got the boot and others got the loot”.

Last year on the former prime minister’s 79^th birth anniversary, Swamy turned up at the Central Hall to pay his tributes along with a motley group of parliamentarians. Posted Trinamool Congress MP Jawhar Sircar on X: “Honouring late Rajiv Gandhi on his birth anniversary—on behalf of Trinamool Congress [and] Bengal. With Kapil Sibal, K.C. Venugopal, Mallikarjun Kharge and Sonia Gandhi. BJP did not have the decency to send a minister!”

Indeed, no BJP leader nor even the Lok Sabha Speaker had turned up. Sircar had earlier posted a photograph of the leaders waiting for the Speaker.

“In Parliament today — waiting for Speaker or [a] senior BJP minister to honour Rajiv Gandhi’s portrait on his birth anniversary—but none came! Defines Modi’s culture or its absence.”

The PM and the Speaker paid their tribute on social media with one-line posts. While Rahul Gandhi, travelling in Ladakh, paid his tributes on the banks of the Pangong Tso lake, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Sunday morning posted:

“Rajiv Gandhi would have been 79 today. His Prime Ministerial tenure, although brief, was very consequential. It was a period of wide-ranging achievements which he never boasted about. Let me recall a few of them.

His personal drive and leadership ensured that:

1. 18-year-olds have the Right to Vote

2. More than 15 lakh women are elected representatives in panchayats and nagarpalikas today

3. Peace Accords were signed in Assam, Punjab, Mizoram and Tripura

4. Decisive steps were taken to usher India into the IT era.

5. Technology missions were launched in rural drinking water, immunisation, literacy, oilseeds, telecom, dairy and wasteland development. Vaccine research and production capabilities were expanded

6. The New Education Policy anchored in science and progressive values was introduced

7. Over 650 Navodaya Vidyalayas in each district of the country are a direct outcome of this policy   

Pankaj Pachauri, former media advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, posted, “1988 was the only year in the country’s independent history when India’s GDP became larger than China.”