August 20 marks the 75th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The Congress observes this day as ‘Sadbhavna Diwas’ as a mark of respect
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 75th birth anniversary on Tuesday (August 20).
"Tributes to our former PM Shri Rajiv Gandhi on his birth anniversary," PM Modi tweeted.
Rajiv was born on August 20 in 1944 in Mumbai. The Congress observes the day as 'Sadbhavna Divas'. 'Sadbhavna' in the English language translates to goodwill and bonafide.
Tributes to our former PM Shri Rajiv Gandhi on his birth anniversary.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi)This day is observed to encourage the national integration, peace, affection and communal harmony among the Indian people of all religions.
Senior Congress party members pay homage to Rajiv by laying down garlands on Veer Bhoomi, where he was cremated, every year.
Rajiv was 40 when he became the prime minister. His thought process was different and much ahead of his time.
Today we celebrate the 75th birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi ji, a patriot & a visionary, whose far sighted policies helped build India.
To me, he was a loving father who taught me never to hate, to forgive & to love all beings. pic.twitter.com/gaozH8h06r
After the assassination of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv became the prime minister. He had served from 1984 to 89.
He contributed greatly to the development of the country and announced a National Policy on Education in 1986 to modernise and expand higher education programmes across India.
He founded a Central government based institution namely Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya System in 1986 for the upliftment of the rural section of the society providing them free residential education from sixth till class 12.
Due to his efforts, MTNL was established in 1986 and also created public call offices (PCOs) for spreading telephones in rural areas.
He was busy campaigning for the Congress for the general election as the party president when he was assassinated in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, in May, 1991. His death anniversary is also observed as Anti-Terrorism day.
Seven persons were convicted for their role in the assassination of Rajiv.
Three of them were on death row and had their sentences commuted to life sentence by the Supreme Court.
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