India: Rajiv Takes Charge

He gently scattered his slain mother's ashes into the thin Himalayan air from the open hatch of an Indian air force transport plane. Then Rajiv Gandhi, 40, returned to New Delhi last week and boldly took Indira Gandhi's place in the oak-paneled Prime Minister's office. His first official act was to assure his fellow citizens, via nationwide radio and television, that he would honor his mother's democratic, nonaligned policies. Rajiv then confidently called parliamentary elections for Dec. 24. One opposition candidate: Maneka Gandhi, 28, the widow of his younger brother Sanjay. The...

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