For Modi, late Rajiv Gandhi might be Bhrashtachari No 1, but Rajiv was a very dear friend to the late Atal Behari Vajpayee
PM Narendra Modi’s utterance about former PM Rajiv Gandhi being Bhrashtachari No 1, and his consequent death has reaffirmed our fear that politics in India has reached its lowest ebb.
It is even more surprising that the comment comes from a party whose PM face Atal Behari Vajpayee had once shared a superb bond with the late Rajiv Gandhi and his family. Atal Behari Vajpayee is still remembered for his rein in Lucknow, as MP. Political watchers continue to maintain that it is the charisma of Vajpayee that makes people attracted towards the BJP in the prized Lucknow constituency.
Known for his comments during poll time, the current Prime Minister may be reminded that both Vajpayee and the Gandhis shared such a close bond that when Vajpayee fell ill, Rajiv pitched in for help keeping aside politics.
20 years older than Rajiv Gandhi, Vajpayee considered him a younger sibling. It was none other than Vajpayee who made this candid confession after Gandhi was assassinated in 1991.
It is now in public domain that when the going got rough for Vajpayee, Rajiv Gandhi got him treated.
He had said he was alive because of Rajiv. The Congress and the BJP had political differences then, and that continues even today but decency levels had not nosedived then.
It was 1988 Atal Bihari Vajpayee was suffering from a kidney ailment. Having lost a kidney in 1985, he was battling for life and death now. When Rajiv Gandhi came to know of this he helped Atal by getting him treated in the US.
Rajiv included him in India’s delegation to the UN and gave him a chance to get treated. His treatment was done in New York. This episode has been quoted in a book – The Untold Vajpayee: Politician and Paradox by journalist Ullekh NP.
Rajiv Gandhi instructed officials that Atal Bihari Vajpayee come back from the US only after treatment. Interestingly ten years later when he went to US for treatment, he was PM.
Vajpayee has also been recorded as someone who praised the Leader of Opposition in 2003, for honouring the rights for consensus of foreign policy.
A Hindu report had then talked of Vajpayee citing Sonia Gandhi as evidence of vibrancy of Indian democracy. Reportedly back then the Gandhis were highly concerned of his well being during the Parliament House attack in December 2001. He had got a call from the Gandhis then.
Vajpayee died at the AIIMS hospital at the age of 93, following a prolonged illness.
Rajiv Gandhi served as the 6th Prime Minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He entered politics after his mother was assassinated. As the youngest Indian Prime Minister at 40, he faced massive hardships with major personal losses.
From a professional pilot to politician, his life had toil. He was heir apparent to mother Indira Gandhi, after brother Sanjay Gandhi died in an aeroplane crash in 1980. After winning Amethi, Rajiv became general secretary of the Congress and organised the 1982 Asian Games.
After Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984 by her bodyguards, Gandhi was appointed Prime Minister. Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure had both ups and downs. His rule saw the Bhopal Gas Tragedy and the Shah Bano case.
It was his achievement to reverse the coup in Maldives, intervening and sending peacekeeping troops to Sri Lanka in 1987, leading to open conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). He was killed by a suicide bomber from LTTE. He was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna. The Bofors scandal was during his regime.
Among the most noted development projects that were spearheaded by his regime were the overhaul of national education policy and major expansion of the telecom sector.
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