Rajiv Gandhi’s political journey also started under tragic circumstances when he was forced to contest the Amethi bye-elections in 1981 after the death of Sanjay Gandhi. Rajiv Gandhi once again took over the responsibility of Prime Minister at a critical time following the assassination of Smt Indira Gandhi on 31st October 1984.
In the General Elections that were held in 1984, Rajiv Gandhi ji won an unprecedented majority. However, he never used this huge majority and popular support to push through bills in the parliament or centralise power.He is responsible for decentralisation of power in India through the 73rd and 74th Amendments which brought true democracy to villages and gave powers to gram panchayats and Municipalities etc. The Panchayati Raj system has empowered women across villages, talukas and zilla panchayats.
In keeping with keenness of country’s youth to participate in India’s democratic polity during Rajiv Gandhi ji’s tenure as Prime Minister through Constitution( 61st Amendment) Act 1988, voting age lowered from 21 years to 18 years.
The very first act he brought to the parliament was the Anti-Defection Law which was a long pending demand to stop money power and muscle power from destabilising democratically elected governments. When opposition leaders expressed reservations about a particular provision in the bill, he reached out to them and dropped the provision though he had the numbers to pass the bill. Rajiv Gandhi governance and reforms were made to end “politics without principles” in India.
But, today the circumstances are totally different because there are no principles at the highest level. There is a government with much less mandate which he enjoyed ,that pushes bills which are against farmers and workers without listening to the genuine concerns raised by the opposition because of brute majority. There is a government that is misusing the Anti-defection Law to bring down democratically elected governments in states where the opposition is in power.
There is a government that believes in keeping all powers to itself and refuses to even share tax revenues with state governments. So much of their talk of “cooperative federalism”.
Rajiv will always be remembered as the person who took the first steps to lead India to the 21st century of Industrialisation and Information Technology. Everyone knows that the telecom revolution was started by Rajiv Despite protests by the BJP and other opposition, it was Rajiv who brought in computerisation in banks and government departments. This led to the IT boom in 90s which continues today. It was Rajiv who ensured Maruti became a successful PSU within 2 years by choosing the right technocrats. Today Maruti is worth Rs 2 lakh crores, but the BJP Govt disinvested in 2002 at a valuation of only Rs 4,339 crores.
Rajiv had shown India how to have a successfully subsumed private sector and public sector which would have helped Indian economy. Unfortunately, the government today is working only for the private sector at the cost of the Indian public. It was Rajiv who laid the foundation for the economic reforms of 90s and the economic growth of our country.
When Rajiv took over as Prime Minister, he had to contend with the threat of terrorism and extremism in many states. His strong belief in non-violence and peaceful means of sorting out differences, led to the signing of historical accords in Punjab, Assam and Mizoram. It was due to the efforts of Rajiv that violence ended in North East and brought in development.
There was a concerted attempt to weaken his efforts to develop India from within his own government and party. Security was withdrawn from him by the government which led to his tragic assassination. False allegations were made during lifetime and even today bogus investigations are being continued after 30 years to deny him his legacy. However like the Buddha said, “Three things cannot be hidden for long: the sun, the moon, and the truth”. Our country will always remember Rajiv Gandhi as the person who laid the foundation for modern India.
