(This article was originally published July 2017. It has been updated and republished from The Quint's archives to mark Rajiv Gandhi's death anniversary.)
The last Gandhi to be Prime Minister, Rajiv won the biggest mandate in Indian electoral history after his mother Indira Gandhi’s assassination in October 1984. And he put it to good use.
In 1991, Indians finally got colour TVs, computers and imported automobiles thanks to his government taking the first step in liberalising the Indian economy when it was at its lowest ebb. By easing up restrictions on pricing, his government jumpstarted the Indian economy. He even managed to bring the Left and the Right parties together to bring about the IT revolution in India. What’s more, the cellphones that we use today are thanks to his government’s measures to take mobile telephony from the classes to the masses.
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