I believe the press in India was quite uncharitable to Rajiv. Rajiv when he assumed office under tragic circumstances was to confront the large scale upsurge against Sikhs motivated by selfish party people. He initially justified the killings stating that when a big tree falls, earth shakes. He reclaimed sanity thereafter and tried his best to control the violence but not before innocent lives were claimed in mob orgy. Rajiv brought a whiff of fresh air in to murky Indian Politics, tried to make politicians accountable to people, groomed honest and efficient people. He called to end the era of power brokers within the Congress party. He was initially claimed to be Mr. Clean. Late JRD Tata wrote that now that India is in the hands of Rajiv, he could die a peaceful death. Rajiv believed in grass roots democracy. He advocated the full implementation of panchayati raj. It was a path breaking legislation. Not until the trecherous VPSingh stabbed him behind his back, employing an alien investigating agency Fairfax in to alleged wrong doings behind the Prime Minister's back, Rajiv was a hero for our media. Rajiv could not effectively handle the opposition to the alleged kickbacks in Bofors Gun Deal. Even when Harshad Mehta alleged together with Supreme Court lawyer Ram Jeth Malani with a signed affidavit that he paid Rs 1 crore to the then PM Narasimha Rao, the issue of corruption was not taken seriously with Rao repudiating the claims. Even when Supreme Court pronounced Rao guilty of corruption in the JMM Bribery scandal giving him immunity under Parliamentary law people never took serious notice of corruption. Not even when under Vajpayee Government through lobbying converted the licence regime of DoT licences to revenue sharing regime, there were talks of corruption. Not even coffin gate scandal, Centaur hotel privatisation, South African Arms supplier scandal surfaced, press was not that agitated as they were when allegations surfaced on pay off of a paltry 64 crores paid as winding up charges in Bofors deal. This is an irony of our time and a classic example of selective witch hunting. 

What to day we have achieved in the name of liberalisation and developed was initiated by Rajiv and carried forward by his unlikely successor Narasimha Rao later. 

I read the tributes paid to Rajiv in today's news paper, and I really feel sad that we miss one of the most dynamic leader of our times perhaps the best ever leader ever to have emerged out of the Nehru clan with genuine concern for the poor and downdtroden. May his memory last forever