Know some interesting facts and netizens reactions on Rajiv Gandhi 75th birth anniversary
Rajiv Gandhi born on 20th August 1944 was the youngest Prime Minister of India who became 6th Prime Minister of India at an age of 40. Rajiv was the scion of a politically powerful Nehru-Gandhi family.
Rajiv Gandhi attended college in the United Kingdom. He returned to India in 1966 and became a professional pilot for the state-owned Indian Airlines. In 1968, he married Sonia Gandhi. After marriage, the couple settled in Delhi and have two children together, Rahul and Priyanka.
Until his brother’s death in a plane crash during 1980 his career was apolitical. He joined politics after the behest of his mother and then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He joined politics in 1980 after Sanjay Gandhi’s death and won the Lok Sabha elections as well from his brother’s constituency i.e. Amethi.
Gandhi family is being always haunted by conspiracies. Right after his brother Sanjay Gandhi mysterious death in 1980, his mother was also assassinated by a Sikh appointed for the security of Indira Gandhi. After his mother died, he was appointed as the chief of the party and that year in 1984 Indian National Congress won the Lok Sabha elections with the highest mandate ever, 411 seats out of 542 seats.
His era as Prime Minister of the country was very controversial as due to two major heart-wrenching public incidents i.e. Bhopal Gas Tragedy and Shayra Bano case.
In 1988, he reversed the coup in the Maldives, antagonizing militant Tamil groups such as PLOTE, intervening and then sending peacekeeping troops to Sri Lanka in 1987, leading to open conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In mid-1987, the Bofors scandal damaged his corruption-free image and resulted in a major defeat for his party in the 1989 elections.
While campaigning for the elections, he was assassinated by a suicide bomber from the LTTE. His widow Sonia became the president of the Congress party in 1998 and led the party to victory in the 2004 and 2009 parliamentary elections.
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