![]() ![]() On the night of May 21st in the southern town of Sriperumbudur, this dynamism was suddenly stopped by a woman who bent down to touch his feet (an expression of respect among Indians) and detonated herself. Rajiv Gandhi and at least 14 other people were killed. In 1991, he was back on the campaign trail, after fracturing the coalition government - his second such attempt in as many years. He was a skillful orator, a masterful charmer, and after his fall from grace in 1989 in the aftermath of a corruption scandal, a political spoiler and kingmaker. ![]() Rajiv Gandhi tried to modernize and deregulate the Nehruvian state, intervened in Maldives and Sri Lanka, and placed Punjab under martial law for “terrorism”. A younger brother and Indira’s preferred heir, Sanjay, had met a tragic death earlier too, in a plane crash. First scion and then head of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that ruled India for 32 of previous 37 years, Rajiv Gandhi became India’s prime minister in 1984, following the assassination of his mother, Indira. He was a prince of Machiavellian proportions. ![]() Last Two Frames: You can see the woman in orange and green approaching ![]()
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