- Standing at exactly 6 feet(1.83 meters), he's till date the tallest elected Prime Minister of India. [2022].
- Was not much fluent in Hindi owing to majority of life before politics spent outside India and therefore had trouble communicating with subjects of his otherwise rural constituency of Amethi.
- The eldest son of Indira Gandhi and the grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru.
- Prime Minister of India 1984-1989.
- Father of Rahul Gandhi
- At 40, he was the youngest Prime Minster of India and possibly the youngest elected head of any country.
- Second Indian Prime Minister to never complete college. He dropped out of Trinity School as well as Oxford after failing to clear exams in the institutes. The first happened to be his mother Indira Gandhi.
- As per an RTI application, there are over 450 institutions and atleast 232 awards and schemes named after him.
- In the aftermath of his mother and India's incumbent Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination which led to anti-Sikh riots all over India, Rajiv Gandhi is said to have controversially commented "When a giant tree falls, the earth around it shakes".
- His wife Sonia is the longest serving head of the Indian National Congress and was chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance which ruled over India from 2004 till 2014. His son Rahul is the current president of the INC.
- Escaped an assassination attempt whilst inspecting a guard of honor by the Sri Lankan Army in 1987 when a soldier tried to hit him with the butt of his rifle.
- Was classmates and good friends with future Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan. There are also rumours that it was Rajiv who recommended Bachchan to his mother who in turn recommended Bachchan to producers. Prior to this, Bachchan was more involved in voiceover for film and documentary narrations. However, Bachchan distanced himself from Gandhi after the latter's revelations of involvement in the Bofors Scandal into which Bachchan's name too was dragged for no reason.
- Despite his tarnished reputation as a result of revealed corruption scandals in his cabinet and his own high level involvement in them, Rajiv was posthumously bestowed upon with India's highest civilian honour, Bharat Ratna, as a mark of sympathy to his assassination.
- Appointed senior executive of Indian origin at McKinsey, Sam Pitroda his chief scientific advisor to enhance his government's objective of expanding India's domestic telecommunications grid.
- Like his mother, Rajiv too was vary of Soviet presence in Afghanistan. Therefore, he started approaching the United States via back channel diplomacy whilst continuing to maintain friendly relations with the USSR.
- In the Indian General Elections of 1984, the Congress, riding on a wave of sympathy amidst Indira Gandhi's assassination and Rajiv Gandhi as their front candidate, won 413 out of 540 seats in the lower house of the Indian Parliament. This is as of date the largest majority achieved by any single Indian political party at Union level and till the 2014 general elections was the last time a single organization alone grabbed the required 273 seats or above to form a government on its own without any coalition partners or outside support.
- Was sworn in as Prime Minister on 1st November, 1984 after his mother Indira succumbed to her wounds, despite merely being the general secretary of the AICC and member of parliament from Amethi. As per chain of succession, a caretaker Prime Minister in such circumstances has to be a crucial portfolio holder such as Home Affairs, Finance or Defense.
- Gandhi and Chandrashekhar are the only Prime Ministers of India to have never held any political office previously. Whilst Chandrashekhar had been a parliamentarian for over 20 years including his stint as president and conveyor of the Janata Party led government, Gandhi joined active politics only in 1980 following his brother Sanjay's death.
- Unconstitutionally reversed the Supreme Court verdict on the Shah Bano case to placate hard-line muslim votaries of the Congress. Is also said to have rigged the 1987 Jammu & Kashmir state elections to ensure his allies in the National Conference gained power, leading to National Conference opponent Ghulam Shah siding with separatists which ultimately led to excessive militancy and the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley.
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