Rajiv Gandhi- Pilot, Politician, Political Heifer
A few days ago, an individual from the ruling party most popular for its slanderous posts against the Opposition Congress, once again decided to malign the defence-less, this time late Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi. The late PM was addressed as a “murderer” no less, by the said individual. I refrain from using his name for I do not want to glorify him here. For anyone who missed the news you may want to look up the news from 25th May, 2020.
As someone who has weaned on the ideologies of the Indian National Congress, this transgression did not come as a surprise but the timing did; for all of this was happening barely 5 days after Rajiv Gandhi’s death anniversary on May 21st. While I have read extensively on former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and her father Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, I did not have the chance to read Rajiv Gandhi’s life in detail with the exception of his accidental Prime Ministership and his achievements in the Indian National Congress. Time had come to read him up in detail. And here’s what came up instead.
At 41 Rajiv Gandhi was not only the youngest Prime Minister of India but also one whose initiation into the world of politics was one that was marked by the blood of his brother, the victim of a tragic air crash and his mother Indira whose assassination by her own guards shook the entire country and the world at large. With no time for bereavement, he took over the reins of the party and the country. Gone was the reluctance of the pilot- photographer who once flatly refused politics. Rajiv Gandhi was here to stay.
Rajiv Gandhi was popularly the lesser aggressive of the two brothers, as someone rightly put it, he was non — abrasive. I had my own idea when I saw Rajivji and I was amazed to see how calm and composed he was, talking about his early childhood to talking of his own mother and brother’s deaths which are seemingly painful for any human to have gone through. As a person he seemed silently resolute with no outward need for a photo- op to justify his purpose in politics. And I realised that is exactly what a politician ought to look like. A leader needn’t find the need to validate his works but his good deeds must compel others to share it.
For me, as someone rediscovering an individual who in his brief tenure in politics made a mark on history, I found Rajiv Gandhi find his way through politics in a far more important way, working on solutions rather than propagating problems. Yes, times have changed. We have moved from a letter to an email and from a phone call to Whatsapp; but somehow the Old School charm of the ones who made sure they were not just being noticed but were working their way into people’s hearts remains timeless. Rajiv Gandhi was one of them.
The interesting thing about the tweet posted was that the individual in question talked specifically about Rajiv Gandhi murdering 5000 Sikhs. Now while that in itself is questionable what essentially happened is in one of his interviews, his opening statements talked of respect for religion first. He talked of a childhood that taught him how to respect people from other religions.
For someone who had all that he could possibly wish for, Rajiv Gandhi had little reason to empty the State coffers as alleged by the current ruling party on multiple occasions. As one who was said to be at home with technology it was Rajivji who brought home the world of computers.
He is famous to have said, “India missed the Industrial Revolution; it cannot afford to miss the Computer Revolution.”
This statement hit home for my own father was the first to introduce computers in schools in Pune despited facing the harshest criticism at the time.
It was Rajiv Gandhi who also introduced liberal economic reforms and even contributed to the Education sector creating the new education policy.
Education, said Rajiv, must be a great equaliser in our society. It must be the tool to level the differences that our various social systems have created over the past thousands of years.
In many ways, Rajiv Gandhi was the face of the rising aspirations within the Indian diaspora. It was his unfortunate loss in the subsequent elections of 1989 that Rajiv became the Leader of Opposition. With the government failing to complete its term, Rajiv Gandhi was on an election campaign in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu when a blast ripped through the event with the leader of the masses losing his life.
Perhaps had Rajiv Gandhi lived, India would have launched futuristic pursuits in science, technology and even education faster but it was not meant to be. He was destined to be the next heifer sacrificed at the altar of political rivalry that ultimately claimed his life. Instead of paying homage to the country’s slain leader ever since his death the famous Bofors Case came to be used synonymously with his name. It was stated that the Gandhis had received kickbacks in this major arms contract. In an interview with Hoot, years later, Sten Lindstrom, the former head of Swedish police, who led the investigations in this particular international scandal, they did not find anything to suggest that payments had been received by Rajiv Gandhi.
The bottomline of the short-lived Rajiv Gandhi administration is that it brought India a fresh lease of life in the field of Science and Technology apart from Economic liberalisation which helped India to move up the ladder of success faster than most developing countries of its time.
It is indeed unfortunate that in the process of indulging in political rhetoric and getting carried away in their emotional excesses, many Indians with malafide intention find it easier to malign the dead while carefully brushing their own shortcomings alongwith their party’s misgivings under the political carpet. Altered History in these cases has been used as a weapon in this case.
If Rajiv Gandhi had to be described in a line, one could easily say he was a visionary well beyond his years who despite a reluctant entry displayed stoic dignity and grace as he worked for his people as a Leader not a Ruler.
