Rajiv Gandhi

Indian statesman and prime minister (1984-9), born in Mumbai (Bombay), W India, the eldest son of Indira Gandhi and the grandson of Nehru. He studied at Cambridge University, and became a pilot with Indian Airlines (1968). Following the death of his brother Sanjay Gandhi (1946-80) in an air crash, he was elected to his brother's Amethi parliamentary seat (1981) and appointed a general secretary of the Congress Party (1983). After the assassination of Indira Gandhi (1984), he became prime minister, and secured a record majority in the parliamentary elections later that year. He attempted to cleanse and rejuvenate the Congress, inducting new technocrats, and introducing a freer market economic programme. He resigned as premier after his party was defeated in the general election of November 1989, and was assassinated 18 months later while campaigning for the Congress Party. His Italian-born widow, Sonia, became Congress president in 1998, and was elected to parliament in 1999, becoming leader of the Opposition.