Rajiv Gandhi – Life History | Achievements | Death

Moments after Indira Gandhi was assassinated, the senior Leader of the Indian National Congress Sardar Buta Singh urged Rajiv Gandhi to take the reins into his own hands and steer the country forward as the next Prime Minister of the country. Following which he made his controversial statement at the Boat Club sealing the fact that Congress were the sole perpetrators of the violent 1984 Sikh riots. Rajiv Gandhi was the crowned as the 6^th Prime Minister of India, post which he requested the then President Gyani Zail Singh to conduct fresh elections and completely dissolve the Parliament. Many known personalities in the political domain questioned the Prime Minister if he was indeed the right person to govern this country as he has only about 3 years of experience into active politics. But Rajiv Gandhi was there to prove his detractors wrong with the way he had laid out his plans for the party and for the country.

Policies & Laws

There were many policies and laws which came into action soon after he was sworn in as the Prime Minister; some of them are as follows.

1985’s Anti Defection Law

This was the first course of action which Rajiv Gandhi took as the Prime Minister of India. As per the stated law, any member of the Parliament who is a current member of the party would not be able to join the opposition until the following election takes place. After his statements about the Anti-Sikh riots, many party members had joined the opposition, and the law prevented any kind of future defections.

Economic Policies

Rajiv Gandhi had mentioned anything about improving the economic policies of the country, but he kept that in mind whilst joining office as the PM. He started providing monetary incentives so that the private productions would not suffer, corporate firms were provided with a set amount of subsidies to increase the production, decrease the maximum retail rates and also make their lives easier. Rajiv Gandhi also laid prime emphasis on development through science and technology as he believed that it is the key to the future and the country needs to monetize and benefit from that.

Foreign Policies

Rajiv Gandhi had a vision on improving the foreign policy of the country by mapping India to the world. His policies were focused on making India a strong, reliable and an independent economy and a nation that would one day make its mark in front of the world. He was requested by the then President of Seychelles, France-Albert Rene to protect him from an alleged coup, the operation was successful as they were able to stop the coup on time. Another coup was to be conducted this time on Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, and Rajiv Gandhi provided help on that as well. He also met the then Pakistani President Zia-ul-Haq and they discussed about strengthening their borders and maintaining peace between both the countries. He also signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord in 1987 in the presence of the then Lankan President, J.R. Jayawardene enabling to protect the interests of the Tamil people and ensuring a long term peace in Sri Lanka.