Rajiv Gandhi Birthday Sadbhavana Diwas Speech in English
Shri Rajiv Gandhi became the youngest Prime Minister of India at the age of 40. He was probably the youngest elected head of government in the world. His mother Indira Gandhi was 48 years old when she first became the Prime Minister in 1966. Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajiv’s younger brother, was 58 when he began his 17-year career as the first Prime Minister of independent India.
Rajiv Gandhi, who brought generational change in the country, got the largest majority in the history of the country. As soon as the period of national mourning for his mother Indira Gandhi, who was assassinated, was over, a general election was ordered for the Lok Sabha consisting of directly elected members of Parliament. In that election, the Congress won 401 of the total 508 seats in the Lok Sabha, with a higher percentage of votes compared to previous elections.
His impressive start as the leader of 70 crore Indians is remarkable in any case. The special feature of Rajiv Gandhi is that he did not want to enter politics and even entered late, despite coming from a political family that served India for four centuries. His family was a great contribution to the country during the freedom struggle and beyond.
Rajiv Gandhi Biography
Rajiv Gandhi was born on August 20, 1944 in Mumbai. He was only three years old when India became independent and became the Prime Minister of his small country. His parents left Lucknow and started living in New Delhi. His father Feroze Gandhi became an MP and earned a reputation as a fearless and hardworking MP.
Rajiv Gandhi spent his childhood with his younger brother in Trimurti Bhavan. Indira Gandhi was taking care of the Prime Minister’s house at that time. After initially studying at Welham Prep School in Dehradun, he was soon admitted to the residential Doon School in the foothills of the Himalayas. It was in that school that he met many lifelong friends. Later, Nanabhai Sanjay also joined the same school.
After completing his schooling, he joined the Tertiary College, Cambridge, but soon left the college to enroll at Imperial College, London. He studied at the School of Mechanical Engineering.
It was clear that he was not interested in pursuing politics as a career. According to his classmates, his bookshelf was not filled with books on philosophy, politics and history, but with books on science and engineering. He also took pride in his interest in music. They also loved western, classical and modern music. He was also interested in photography and amateur radio.
He had a special interest in flying in the sky. That’s why, returning home from England, he passed the Delhi Flying Club’s entrance test and obtained a commercial pilot’s license. There was nothing to be surprised about. In short order, he became a pilot for the national carrier, Indian Airlines.
During his studies at Cambridge, he met Sonia Maino, a native of Italy. Was studying about Sonia. In 1968, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia got married in New Delhi. Along with his children Rahul and Priyanka, he lived with Mrs. Indira Gandhi in New Delhi. He was living his personal life amidst the busy political activities going on in Chomer.
But the sudden death of his brother Sanjay in a plane crash in 1980 turned his life upside down. Rajiv Gandhi also began to feel pressured to enter politics to help his mother with the burden of domestic and international politics. Initially, he resisted this pressure to enter politics but eventually succumbed to the rational approach. He won the by-election on the Amethi seat of Uttar Pradesh, which fell vacant due to the death of his brother.
In November 1982, India was to fulfill a promise made a year earlier to build a stadium and other infrastructure to host the Asian Games. Rajiv Gandhi was entrusted with the responsibility to complete this work on time and ensure that the sports festival is completed without any hindrance or defect. It was while doing this challenging job that he introduced efficiency and organizational skills. Similarly, he played an important role in energizing the party organization while holding the post of Congress General Minister. All these qualities continued to rise to the test anvil.
In the tragic circumstances of his mother’s brutal murder on October 31, 1984, it becomes difficult for anyone to hold the post of both Prime Minister and Congress President. Yet he carried the burden of both personal grief and national responsibilities with remarkable dignity and control
During the month-long election campaign, Rajiv Gandhi traveled from one corner of the country to the other, traveling one and a half times the distance of the earth’s orbit. In the meantime, he addressed lakhs of people in about 250 meetings held at many places.
Rajiv Gandhi, who had a modern ideology and decisive temperament, was familiar with the modern technology of the world. He has repeatedly said that apart from perpetuating the unity and integrity of the country, one of the objectives will be to usher the country into the 21st century.
