New Delhi, August 20: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday paid tribute to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his birth anniversary.
In a post on X, PM Modi said, “On the occasion of his birth anniversary, paying homage to former Prime Minister of India, Shri Rajiv Gandhi.”
Rajiv Gandhi was born on August 20, 1944, in Bombay, now Mumbai. He became India's youngest Prime Minister at the age of 40 after the assassination of his mother, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in 1984.
Rajiv Gandhi took charge as Prime Minister as well as Congress president and led the party to a major victory in the 1984 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress won 401 of the 508 seats it contested.
His entry into the top political office marked a generational shift in Indian politics. His grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, was 58 when he became independent India's first Prime Minister, while his mother Indira Gandhi was 49 when she first assumed the office in 1966.
Rajiv Gandhi spent much of his childhood at Teen Murti House with Jawaharlal Nehru. He studied at Welham Preparatory School in Dehradun and later attended Doon School. He subsequently studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, and Imperial College London.
Politics was not initially his chosen profession. Rajiv Gandhi had a keen interest in science, engineering, music, photography and amateur radio, while flying remained his greatest passion. After returning to India, he obtained a commercial pilot's licence and worked as a pilot with Indian Airlines.
He entered active politics after the death of his younger brother, Sanjay Gandhi, in a plane crash in 1980. Rajiv Gandhi contested the Lok Sabha by-election from Amethi and won by a substantial margin.
In 1968, he married Sonia Gandhi. The couple had two children, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi.
Following the Congress' defeat in the 1989 general elections, Rajiv Gandhi became the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. He was assassinated on May 21, 1991, in a bomb blast at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu while campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections.
