Rahul Gandhi posts heartfelt message on ex-PM Rajiv Gandhi's birth anniversary: ‘Your dreams for India are my own’

Rahul Gandhi, the Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, on Tuesday paid tributes to former PM Rajiv Gandhi, his father, on the occasion of the latter's birth anniversary.

Taking to social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Rahul Gandhi stated, “A compassionate personality, an epitome of camaraderie and goodwill... Papa, your teachings are my inspiration, and your dreams for India are my own - I will fulfil them, taking your memories with me.”

Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who served as PM from 1984 to 1989, was born on August 20, 1944. The Rae Bareli MP praised the ex-PM for his compassionate personality, calling it the epitome of camaraderie and goodwill, and asserted that he'll fulfil Rajiv Gandhi's dreams for India.

Rahul Gandhi also visited Veer Bhumi and paid floral tributes.

Commemorating Rajiv Gandhi's contribution to India's political and technological landscape, Congress' Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh, in a post on X, stated, “Today is Rajiv Gandhi@80. His was a short but very consequential political life. The March 1985 Budget in which he played a key role heralded a new approach to economic policy.”

Recalling the late Prime Minister for his fine and caring nature, Jairam Ramesh suggested that the first direct steps to make India a software export powerhouse were taken during Rajiv Gandhi's tenure.

He added, “The manifesto for the 1991 Lok Sabha elections, on which he spent long hours a few weeks before his tragic assassination, provided the foundations for the Rao-Manmohan Singh reforms of June-July 1991.”

In 1984, Rajiv Gandhi took over the charge of the Congress after his mother and then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated. At 40 years of age, he became India's youngest Prime Minister.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) hatched a conspiracy to assassinate  Rajiv Gandhi in Tamil Nadu's Sriperumbudur, where he eventually died in a blast carried out by a suicide bomber on May 21, 1991. 

(With inputs from ANI)