Hyderabad, May 21 -- Venkat Parsa

May 21, 2021, marks three decades since the tragic assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, 1991, in the midst of the campaign during the General Election in 1991. Significantly, Rajiv Gandhi made his electoral debut on May 12, 1981, by filing his nomination papers for the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh, in the by-election necessitated by the tragic demise of his younger brother Sanjay Gandhi on June 23, 1980. On May 21, 1991, Rajiv Gandhi attained Martyrdom.

Rajiv Gandhi had addressed the last public meeting in Odisha on May 21, 1991. Later in the day, he visited Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh for a roadshow for Congress Lok Sabha Candidate Uma Gajapati Raju. That...