Accidental politician RAJIV GANDHI AUGUST 20, 1944 — MAY 21, 1991

Even as he lay dead, identifiable only by his white Lottos, it was difficult to shake off the impression that Rajiv Gandhi was an accidental traveller in politics. Six years after he won and lost power, within knocking distance of high office again, he was dealt a heavy hand by fate.
On the night of May 21, 1991, Rajiv’s comeback journey was brutally ended by an LTTE suicide bomber at an election rally in Sriperumbudur. Loyalists insist he had matured and would have fared better in a second term. We’ll never know.
For much of his youth, Rajiv stayed resolutely in the shadows. The only time one heard of him was through newspaper snippets tracking his steady career growth as a pilot. His brother’s untimely death saw him being propelled into politics, his mother’s led to his becoming PM — over the vehement protests of his wife, who feared, prophetically, that he too would meet a violent end. But initially, all went well. He led Congress to its biggest win ever. For a while, it seemed as if Camelot had come to New Delhi.
Rajiv was young, handsome, and spoke of taking India into the 21st century. The future seemed to beckon as tech whizzes like Sam Pitroda unrolled the telecom revolution. Rajiv also gave Indian diplomacy a new direction, wowing the sceptical American establishment during a US visit, even as he made sure to maintain warm ties with the Soviet Union.
Then things started going wrong. His attempt to bring peace to Punjab faltered. And the IPKF venture in Sri Lanka, while well-intentioned, was doomed from the start. His honeymoon with the middle-class — which reached its peak when he famously lashed out at his party’s culture of power brokers — collapsed in the face of the Bofors scam even as the same Congress culture sucked him in.
Still, he earned much goodwill for his dignified exit after the 1989 polls. Before long, he was back on the campaign trail. His assassination deprived him of a second chance as PM. But it gave his party another five years in power — and paved the way for India’s reforms.