PM Modi, LS Speaker OM Birla pay tribute to Rajiv Gandhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha  Speaker OM Birla and several other noted personalities paid tributes to Rajiv Gandhi on the occasion of his 76th birth anniversary on Thursday, August 20. Rajiv Gandhi was the 6th Prime Minister of India who served the nation from 1984 to 1989. Every year on August 20, his birth anniversary is celebrated in the form of Sadbhavana Diwas. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to become the youngest Indian Prime Minister at the age of 40. Rahul Gandhi recalls his assassinated father as a man with a tremendous vision, far ahead of his times. But above all else, he was a compassionate and loving human being. I am incredibly lucky and proud to have him as my father, he writes on twitter. In 1968, Rajiv Gandhi married Edvige Antonia Albina Maino. Antonia Maino changed her name to Sonia Gandhi and chose India as her home. In 1970, the couple gave birth to a son and named him Rahul Gandhi. In 1972, the couple gave birth to a daughter Priyanka Gandhi. On May 21, 1991, Rajiv Gandhi attended his last public at Sriperumbudur village in Tamil Nadu, where he was assassinated. Rajiv was campaigning for the Sriperumbudur Lok Sabha Congress candidate at that time. Around 10:00 pm, a woman greeted Rajiv Gandhi and bent down to touch his feet and detonated a belt laden with 700 g of RDX explosives tucked under her dress.