Rajiv Gandhi was the sixth Prime Minister of India and an Indian Politician who was also the youngest ever Prime Minister at the age of 40. He served the nation from 1984 to 1989 after Indira Gandhi got assassinated in 1984.

When Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her bodyguards, He had to succeed as the Prime Minister within hours of her murder. It happened on 31 October 1984 when he was in West Bengal.

When he became the Prime Minister, his first action was to pass the anti-defection law in January 1985. He remained the President of Congress till the 1991 elections but one day while doing campaigns for the elections, he was killed by a suicide bomber.

Later then Sonia Gandhi took ever and led Congress making it win in the 2004 and 2009 elections.

Rajiv Gandhi Recognitions:

He has always been a prominent figures just like the royalty of the Gandhi-Nehru family. Out of the 232 rural stadia of India, 226 are named after him. Here’s a list of all the institution’s named after him:

1. Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium at Hyderabad, Telangana.
2. Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Aizawl at Aizawl, Mizoram
3. Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Hyderabad, Telangana.
4. Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management at Shillong, Meghalaya
5. Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, at Patiala, Punjab.
6. Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, at Bangalore, Karnataka.
7. Rajiv Gandhi Technical University, at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
8. Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
9. Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology, at Kottayam, Kerala.
10. Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology, at Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh.
11. Rajiv Gandhi Combined Cycle Power Project, at Alappuzha district, Kerala.
12. Assam Rajiv Gandhi University of Cooperative Management, Sivasagar
13. Rajiv Gandhi University, at Doimukh, Arunachal Pradesh.
14. Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Intellectual Property Management.
15. Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, at Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
16. Rajiv Gandhi Container Terminal, at Kochi, Kerala.
17. Rajiv Gandhi Academy for Aviation Technology, Trivandrum, Kerala
18. Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law, IIT Kharagpur, West Bengal
19. Rajiv Smruthi Bhavan, Visakhapatnam
20. MCTs Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology, Mumbai

Rajiv Gandhi Marriage :

He married to Sonia Gandhi in 1968 after three years of courtship. Her initial name was Edvige Antonia Albina Màino from which she changed to Sonia Gandhi and welcomed India with open arms. Rahul Gandhi was born in 1970 and Priyanka Gandhi in 1972. Priyanka Gandhi is now married to Robert Vadra.

Rajiv Gandhi Age: 46 years. 1944–1991

Rajiv Gandhi Education Qualifications:

School: Welham Boys’ School

Elite Doon School in Dehradun

College: Trinity College, Cambridge
Imperial College London

Rajiv Gandhi Family: 

Mother: Indira Gandhi

Father: Feroze Gandhi

Son: Rahul Gandhi

Daughter: Priyanka Gandhi

Spouse: Sonia Gandhi

Grandfather: Jawaharlal Nehru

Brother: Sanjay Gandhi

Grandmother: Kamala Nehru

Nephew: Varun Gandhi

Rajiv Gandhi Controversies:

1. He and his team passed an act in the parliament in 1986 which was titled ‘The Muslim Women Act’ and it nullified the judgement of the Supreme court in the Shah Bano case. It was among the major controversies of those times. Shah Bano’s husband gave her divorce and refused to give any compensation because of which she reached out to Indore’s local court. The local court asked he, husband, to pay INR 25 per month initially which was increased to INR 179.20/ month by the Madhya Pradesh High court. Unfortunately, the act which stated that the husband will only pay compensation to a divorced woman during the iddat period or 90 days of divorce was passed by the central government and it created the entire controversy.
2. A corruption case called the Bofors Scandal was brought up in 1989 by the finance minister at that time V.P. Singh. The case showed a surprising involvement of US dollars and payoffs by Bofors which was a Swedish arms company. It was claimed that this was done through Italian businessman and associate of the Gandhi family Ottavio Quattrocchi.
3. McKinsey and company were cited in a magazine called Schweizer Illustrierte in an article on black money in which they claimed the company to be a source and also that Rajiv Gandhi has 2.5 billion Swiss Francs in Switzerland in secret Indian accounts.
4. There were claims in 1992 that Rajiv received funds from KGB in the Times of India and Hindu newspapers which were later also confirmed by the Russian government.