Rajiv Gandhi becomes India's sixth Prime Minister in 1984, succeeding his mother Indira Gandhi, who was killed.
Mr. Rajiv Gandhi was the youngest Prime Minister of India, and possibly one of the world's youngest elected heads of government, at the age of 40. His mother, Smt. Indira Gandhi, was eight years his senior when she became Prime Minister for the first time in 1966. His renowned grandfather, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, was 58 when he began his 17-year tenure as free India's first Prime Minister. In more terrible and agonizing conditions than Shri Gandhi experienced in the aftermath of his mother's horrific death on October 31, 1984. But he handled the enormous burdens of personal anguish and national duty with grace, dignity, and moderation.
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