Rajiv: PM who first visualised India could be a global power

The task before us begins in our region. We have maintained peace on our borders, promoted peace in our region and created an ambience of cordiality and cooperation as has not existed with China for a generation”. These words in 1989, of the then President R. Venkataraman capture the essence of only one aspect of the Rajiv Gandhi government: its extremely successful foreign policy. Three decades later, as India remembered Rajiv Gandhi on the occasion of his 73rd birth anniversary yesterday, it may be worth recalling the overall performance of India’s youngest Prime Minister in both internal and external affairs.

Rajiv Gandhi took over as the Prime Minister on October 31, 1984 under the most tragic, and trying, circumstances. His mother Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was shot dead that morning by her won security guards which was followed by a wave of seething anger that resulted in the massacre of Sikh in Delhi and some other parts of north India. Setting aside his personal grief Rajiv, soon after being sworn in, began visiting areas affected by communal violence. Eminent journalist Khushwant Singh wrote later: “Rajiv Gandhi rose to supreme heights when confronted with the situation created by the assassination of his mother —— And no sooner had he lit his mother’s funeral pyre than he was out in the streets of Delhi to personally supervise the restoration of law and order in the city. If there had been a handful of others like him in the echelons of power, the shameful carnage of innocent Sikhs in cities of northern India might well have been prevented.

Complex problems in Punjab, Assam, Mizoram, Darjeeling (WB) and J&K had defied solution for many years. Rajiv Gandhi set in motion a process that culminated in various domestic accords within a period of less than two years. The Rajiv Gandhi-Longowal accord didn’t solve the Punjab problem immediately, as Longowal was assassinated as soon as he signed the accord, it became a big stepping stone for ultimately solving the Punjab problem and bringing peace and tranquility to a state where extremism and terrorism were threatening the very unity and integrity of the country. Similarly, the Assam accord brought peace and democratic process to the state which had seen enormous bloodshed in the previous decade. Underground violence activities in the state of Mizoram came to a halt with the Mizoram accord under which the Congress chief minister Lal Thanhawla stepped down to make way for the rebel Mizo National Front leader Laldenga and Mizoram, till then a union territory, was given full statehood.

The Darjeeling problem was solved by grant of a semi-autonomous Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council under Subhash Gheising, a militant leader who had been demanding a separate state of Gorkhaland. The Rajiv-Farooq accord in early 1987 restarted the democratic process and brought peace to the Kashmir Valley even though it was short-lived mainly due to activities from across the border which were to rise rapidly in the post-Rajiv period.

Rajiv Gandhi identified six areas of under-development which he felt can only be developed with the application of science and technology. These target- oriented projects were designated as “technology missions”. The areas identified were:
(a) drinking water mission for all villages
(b) literacy mission aimed at nearly 60 per cent illiterate population
(c) immunisation of children and pregnant women
(d) white revolution for increasing milk production and improve bovine health
(e) increasing production of edible oils
(f) telecom mission to provide tele connectivity to each village.

All the six technology missions were eminently successful with the professional advice provided by Sam Pitroda, a young telecom expert from the US. A big push was given to India’s computerisation programme despite stiff opposition from some political parties which argued against utility of computers in a labour-surplus society. Ushering in the computer and IT revolution, in fact, stands out as an outstanding achievement of the Rajiv era which has enabled India to emerge as a leading scientific and economic power.

In the third year of Rajiv’s prime ministership, the country faced its worst ever drought in 100 years. Besides touring all the drought-affected areas spread over a dozen states, the Prime Minister established a cabinet committee on drought to provide relief for which a huge sum of Rs 14,000 crores was sanctioned. Not a single death occurred due to the efficient relief work in which farmers, youth and women were actively involved. Despite the severe drought food production went up from 145.5 to 173 million tonnes. The Rajiv Gandhi government introduced a National Perspective Plan for Women, which proposed 33 per cent reservation for women in all elected bodies and a new education policy under which Jawahar Navodya Vidyalayas (residence schools for poor students) were set up in each district of the country. The voting age of youth was brought down from 21 to 18 and a five-day week introduced in all Central government offices and institutions.

The crowning achievement of the Rajiv Gandhi era was perhaps the Panchayti Raj and Nagar Palika Bills aimed at ushering in grassroot democracy as envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi before independence. The bills, passed in the Lok Sabha comfortably, however were stalled by the Opposition in Rajya Sabha. However, in 1993, two years after Rajiv, these were passed as Constitution 73rd and 74th Amendment Bills.

Defence and foreign policy received Rajiv Gandhi’s top priority even while he was preoccupied with political and economic affairs. The modernisation of the armed forces was taken up with great zeal and defence expenditure more than doubled with purchase of submarines, aircraft carrier, fighter aircraft and howitzers. Trishul, Prithvi and Agni missiles were successfully tested and added to the defence arsenal. The peace initiatives of Rajiv Gandhi like Action Plan on Nuclear Disarmament and visits to the US, Russian (then USSR), the UK, France, Germany, Australia and Japan enhanced the image of India abroad. But it was his visit to China (the first after Jawaharlal Nehru) two visits to Pakistan and sending IPKF to Sri Lanka that ensured a peaceful neighbourhood. Though the Sri Lankan imbroglio was to cost him his life Rajiv knew that he was acting in national interest for which no price was too high. No person could put it better than late Vasant Sathe: “He paid for it and that was the courage of the man. A man stands for his conviction for what he thinks is right in the national interest.” That sums up both Rajiv Gandhi’s character and contribution.

The writer is an ex Member National Commission for Minorities and a political analyst