(This is the author's first article as a blogger and hence it would be nice of you, if you can write some suggestions, so that he can improve on the quality. Healthy debates and discussions are warmly welcome, either on emails/posts or over a coffee :D )
Few days back I had two interesting events finally drove me to write this article.
Event no.1: I was walking down to Adyar from IIT Madras, through Madhya Kailas and I was amazed to notice the name of the road towards Tidel park being named as, "Rajiv Gandhi Marg". In the land of Tamizh Nadu, this might be a rare sight, atleast as far as Mr.Rajiv Gandhi's name is concerned. (who is supposed to have opposed LTTE very strongly, which led one of the 'crucial' present ally of UPA to go against him publicly and criticize him.)
Event no.2: One of my friend's brother who stays in the present Congress ruled Andhrapradesh has asked me why Rajiv Khel Ratna is the highest honour for a sports person in India. An interesting question. Yes, the highest award for sports excellence is not Arjuna award, and it is named after our man, Rajiv Gandhi, although his contribution as a sports person, I am afraid, is near negligible. This award was named after him long back, but readers should pity me, as I could only notice this, just a few days back.
Ofcourse, there are a series of events these days apart from this. The Shamshabad airport, Hyderabad is named as Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. Recently, there was a launch of an Aviation academy which is named after him. All the names of so called welfare programs by State Government of Andhrapradesh, invariably begins with the mantra of Rajiv. Atleast, for a not-so-close observer of politics of the state, I can myself recall atleast a five of them on his name. We now have Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management (IIM) (OMG...how could I miss that..thanks to Vinay for reminding about that!), Rajiv Gandhi Central University, Rajiv Gandhi institute of Health Sciences, Rajiv Gandhi intitute of Law, Rajiv Gandhi Aviation Academy, Rajiv Gandhi institute of Bio-Technology, Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket stadium and the list goes on and on. The fact to be noticed here is that most of these institutes are either started in the past 3-4 years or rechristened on the 'honour' of Rajiv. I am afraid, our congress henchmen would now go behind the National Youth Day, which is presently celebrated on the honour of the great patriot saint, Swami Vivekananda.
Undoubtfully, Rajiv's contribution towards India is significant, albeit cannot be termed as immense or great. By immense or great, I mean here, when we consider the impact level and changes he caused as compared to the freedom fighters or the social workers. I was not even born when he entered politics, but looking back at that past of India through various sources, gives me a glimpse of what would have probably happened. True, India was mesmerised to see a young Prime minister of the age of 40. I am sure the generation of my father were exhilarated to see a 'Mr.Clean' coming into politics, to change the momentum of Indian economy. Dr.Manmohan Singh in Finance, Sam Pitroda in Telecom has contributed significantly during this term.
But, let me stop here. Ofcourse, let us not be too mean in making him solely responsible for the backfiring of Srilankan policy, though he does have his own part in it. The Vendetta on Sikhs which led to their mass murder in thousands (the falling of giant tree analogy), the Bofors case, the pseudo-secularist steps, do imply a lot. How can we forget all these just for a few initiatives he took as PM?
Coming to my own state of Andhra pradesh, I wouldnt go about on the lines of tirade by Mr.Raj Thackerey. However, there were people from Andhra pradesh who contributed immensely towards the well-being of the state, whose names can be generously used for the programs at the state level. Alluri Sita Rama Raju, Potti Sri Ramulu - the father of Andhra pradesh, Tanguturi Prakasham Pantulu, Viresalingam pantulu, Gurajada Appa Rao....does anyone think, our Rajiv deserves more accolades than them? At the national level, if we are looking for heroes, they are innumerable!
PS: Please note that I do admire Rajiv Gandhi to some extent. I hope, my article argues at a level which is not personal either towards Rajiv Gandhi or the National Congress party.
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