It was almost exactly 40 years ago that Rajiv Gandhi – whose 81st birth anniversary is today – met President Ronald Reagan in the White House and brought about a transformation in the Indo-US relationship. It was this visit that led to the establishment of the R&D centre of Texas Instruments in Bengaluru, said Jairam Ramesh in a post on X.

“It was also Rajiv Gandhi’s truly historic visit to China in December 1988 that completely changed the relationship between the two countries. The path set by him and the Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping was destroyed unilaterally by China in May-June 2020 – for which, disastrously for us, it was given a clean chit on June 19, 2020 by Prime Minister Modi,” Ramesh added.

Paying tribute to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his birth anniversary, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi said the nation had inherited from him “the religion of compassion, love, and patriotism,” vowing that this path would be followed unwaveringly despite any obstacles.

Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal said, “The Bharat Ratna leader had shaped India’s economy with his vision of modernity, technology, and inclusivity.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also paid tribute to former PM Rajiv Gandhi on his birth anniversary, posting: “On his birth anniversary today, my tributes to Shri Rajiv Gandhi ji.”

With IANS inputs