An Interview with Rajiv Gandhi

"Democracy Has Reached Deep into the Average Indian"

In the year since Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was gunned down in her garden by two Sikh bodyguards, her son and successor Rajiv has demonstrated that he inherited more than just a name from the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has ruled India for all but five years since independence in 1947. A former pilot who once shunned politics, the young Gandhi, 41, has displayed a deft touch in guiding both foreign and domestic policy. His most recent triumph came in the troubled state of Punjab, where voters endorsed parties that supported a settlement Gandhi had negotiated with moderate Sikh leaders.

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