Rajiv Gandhi

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gandhi 1989

Rajiv Gandhi ( Hindi : राजीव गाँधी Rājīv Gāndhī ; born August 20, 1944 in Bombay, today Mumbai ; † May 21, 1991 in Sriperumbudur , Tamil Nadu ) was an Indian politician. From 1984 to 1989 he was Prime Minister of India . His mother Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977 and from 1980 until her assassination in 1984; His father Feroze Gandhi was Parse .

Gandhi died by a suicide bomber at an election rally.

Life

Politician

Rajiv Gandhi memorial stone

He went to school in Dehradun and England with his younger brother Sanjay . He then studied at the renowned Imperial College London . Gandhi initially stayed away from politics and became a pilot for the state airline Indian Airlines . After Sanjay, who had already inherited the political legacy of the family, died in a plane crash in June 1980, Rajiv became active in politics instead. In 1983 he was appointed General Secretary of the Congress Party by his mother . He initiated internal party reforms and fought against corruption; this quickly earned him the nickname Mr. Clean . One of his most violent critics was Maneka Gandhi , the widow of his brother Sanjay.

After his mother was murdered by two bodyguards on October 31, 1984, leaders of the Congress Party and President Zail Singh urged him to be elected Prime Minister. Two months after his appointment, he also won the general election with a landslide victory that earned his party and himself 401 out of 506 seats in the House of Commons. He then also became chairman of the Congress Party.

The first peace talks with Pakistan , the first rapprochement with Red China under Deng Xiaoping and an attempt at reconciliation with the rebels in Sri Lanka took place during his term of office . He also intervened militarily successfully in a coup attempt in the Maldives in 1988 . He stood out for his liberal style, which contrasted with his mother's, and for his diplomatic security, which contributed to his popularity abroad.

On July 30, 1987, a guard struck Gandhi with the butt of his rifle as he was stepping down from the guard battalion. It missed his head and only hit the shoulder, which was additionally padded with a bulletproof vest; Gandhi was almost unharmed.

In the parliamentary elections in November 1989 he was defeated because he was unable to keep the promises he had made, because at the same time he had to fight against high inflation, cope with the accusation of lack of proximity to the people and deal with a bribery scandal within the Congress party, the Bofors scandal . However, he continued to try to influence the course of Indian politics as chairman of the congress party. He briefly supported Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar , who led a minority government under the approval of the Congress Party.

death

On May 21, 1991, he was murdered with an explosive belt by an LTTE suicide bomber at a campaign rally in the town of Sriperumbudur near Madras . In addition to the assassin and Gandhi, another 17 people died in the attack. Almost seven years after the attack, ten Indians and 16 Sri Lankans were sentenced to death for the murder of Gandhi in January 1998. In May 1999 the Indian Supreme Court overturned the death penalty against 22 of the accused; the execution of the four remaining convicts was suspended.

Private

Rajiv Gandhi had been married to Sonia Gandhi (* 1946), who he had met at a language school in Cambridge , since 1968 . They had two children together, Rahul (* 1970) and Priyanka (* 1972). Sonia Gandhi was originally against Rajiv becoming the top politician in India after the accidental death of his younger brother. As the prime minister's wife, she supported Rajiv with due regard for Hindu customs. She is said to have had a significant influence on him and his decisions. In 1998 she became president of the Indian Congress Party , which won the Indian parliamentary elections in 2004 under her leadership, but then renounced the office of Prime Minister .

Rajiv Gandhi was a licensed radio amateur since 1975 . His callsign VU2RG is used today by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation club station .

Honors

See also

Web links

Commons : Rajiv Gandhi  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ No regrets for attack on Rajiv, says Lankan guard
  2. ↑ Der Spiegel 34/1991: Bite on the capsule
  3. ↑ Indian court commutes death sentences. In: Spiegel Online . February 18, 2014, accessed April 20, 2019 .
  4. ↑ My Ham buddy Rajiv Gandhi. Retrieved October 30, 2020 .
  5. ^ Prime Minister of India (Silent Key). Retrieved October 30, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Gandhi, Rajiv
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Indian politician
DATE OF BIRTH August 20, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Mumbai , India
DATE OF DEATH May 21, 1991
PLACE OF DEATH Sriperumbudur , Tamil Nadu , India