Rajiv Gandhi Assassinated by Suicide Bomber

Context

Rajiv Gandhi entered politics reluctantly after the 1982 death of his brother Sanjay and the 1984 assassination of his mother, Indira Gandhi, which propelled him to the prime ministership as leader of the Indian National Congress. His government pursued the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, deploying the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka in an effort to disarm militant groups and stabilize the island’s civil conflict. The operation quickly soured as the IPKF clashed with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), turning the once-supported rebels into bitter adversaries.

By late 1989 Gandhi’s Congress Party had lost its parliamentary majority, ending his term. In opposition he signaled in a 1990 magazine interview that, if returned to power, he would again send Indian forces to disarm the LTTE. The remark hardened the group’s resolve against him. As the 1991 general election approached, Gandhi campaigned across southern India, including Tamil Nadu, a region with longstanding LTTE networks and sympathy for the Sri Lankan Tamil cause.

What Happened

On the evening of 21 May 1991, Rajiv Gandhi arrived by motorcade in Sriperumbudur, a town near Madras (now Chennai), to address a Congress campaign rally. After greeting crowds and receiving garlands, he walked toward the dais accompanied by local party workers and security personnel. Among the well-wishers was Kalaivani Rajaratnam, a 22-year-old Sri Lankan Tamil woman known within the LTTE as Thenmozhi or Dhanu, who had positioned herself in the throng.

As Gandhi paused, she bent forward in the traditional gesture of touching his feet and triggered the RDX explosive concealed in a belt beneath her clothing. The blast at approximately 10:20 p.m. killed Gandhi instantly, along with the bomber and at least fourteen others, including police officers, party workers, and bystanders; dozens more were wounded. A local photographer, Haribabu, who had been part of the conspiracy, also died, but his camera survived and recorded the moments leading up to the detonation.

Aftermath

Gandhi’s body was flown to New Delhi for a state funeral on 24 May 1991 attended by leaders from more than sixty countries. The Chandra Shekhar government immediately assigned the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation, whose special team confirmed LTTE responsibility and identified the broader conspiracy. The findings prompted official inquiries into security lapses, revealing that local Congress organizers had disrupted planned protective arrangements.

The assassination intensified national mourning and accelerated the electoral process, with the Congress Party rallying under new interim leadership while the LTTE faced renewed international isolation.

Legacy

The killing underscored how regional insurgencies could directly shape national politics and foreign policy, prompting lasting upgrades in the protection of Indian political figures and a more cautious approach to involvement in neighboring conflicts. It also contributed to the eventual downfall of one later government when inquiry reports on the conspiracy were made public.

In historical memory the event remains a pivotal moment that linked India’s domestic electoral drama with the wider Sri Lankan civil war, shaping perceptions of the LTTE as a transnational threat and influencing the trajectory of the Nehru-Gandhi family’s continued role in Congress politics.