Rajiv Gandhi was born on 20th August 1944. Here, by writing this post we are wishing him a tribute on his 71st birth Anniversary.

About Rajiv Gandhi:

• He was the seventh Prime Minister of India.
• He served the nation from 1984 to 1989.
• He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, Indira Gandhi and became the youngest Indian Prime Minister.
• he belonged to  Indian National Congress.
• Gandhi attended college in the United Kingdom.
• He returned to India in 1966 and became a professional pilot for the state-owned Indian Airlines.
• Gandhi was born in Mumbai on 20 August 1944 to Indira and Feroze Gandhi.
• He has named Rajiv after his maternal grandmother, Kamala Nehru; “Kamala” refers to Lakshmi and “Rajiv” means lotus; the name was kept because lotus is used to worship the goddess.
• Rajiv Gandhi’s last public meeting was on 21 May 1991.

Death:

• He was campaigning for the Sriperumbudur Lok Sabha Congress candidate at Sriperumbudur, a village approximately 40 km (25 mi) from Chennai.
• At 10:10 pm, a woman later identified as Thenmozhi Rajaratnam, approached Gandhi in public and greeted him.
• She then bent down to touch his feet and detonated a belt laden with 700 g (1.5 lb) of RDX explosives tucked under her dress.
• The explosion killed Gandhi, Rajaratnam, and at least 25 other people.
• The assassination was captured by a local photographer, whose camera and film were found at the site.

Funeral:

• A state funeral was held for Gandhi on 24 May 1991
• it was telecast live and was attended by dignitaries from over 60 countries.
•  He was cremated on the banks of the riverYamuna near the shrines of his mother, brother, grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru, and Mahatma Gandhi.
• Today, the site of Gandhi’s cremation is known as Vir Bhumi.

Case:

The Supreme Court judge, Judge Thomas, confirmed that Gandhi was killed because of personal animosity by the LTTE chief Prabhakaran arising from his sending the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka and the alleged IPKF atrocities against Sri Lankan Tamils.

Nalini Sriharan, the only surviving member of the five-member squad behind the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, is serving life imprisonment. Arrested on 14 June 1991, she and 25 others was sentenced to death by a special court on 28 January 1998. The court confirmed the death sentences of four of the convicts, including Nalini, on 11 May 1999.

In August 2011, the President of India rejected the clemency pleas of Murugan and two others on death row—Suthendraraja alias Santhan and Perarivalan alias Arivu. Nalini had petitioned the Madras High Court seeking release because she had served more than 20 years in prison. She argued that even life convicts were released after 14 years. The state government rejected her request.

On 19 February 2014 Tamil Nadu government decided to release all seven convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, including A G Perarivalan and Nalini.

There are thousands of Institutions named after Rajiv Gnadhi:

• Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium at Hyderabad, Telangana.
• Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Aizawl at Aizawl, Mizoram.
• Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Hyderabad, Telangana.
• Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, at Patiala, Punjab.
• Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, at Bangalore, Karnataka.
• Rajiv Gandhi Technical University, at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
• Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
• Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology, at Kottayam, Kerala.
• Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology, at Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh.
• Rajiv Gandhi Combined Cycle Power Project, at Alappuzha district, Kerala.
• Rajiv Gandhi University, at Doimukh, Arunachal Pradesh.
• Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Intellectual Property Management.
• Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, at Chennai, Tamil Nadu.The hospital is considered the only government facility in the region to handle emergencies.
• Rajiv Gandhi Container Terminal, at Kochi, Kerala.

Source: Wikipedia