Lakshadweep’s development bears imprint of Rajiv Gandhi’s visit in 1988 | The Indian Express

Lakshadweep’s development bears imprint of Rajiv Gandhi’s visit in 1988 | The Indian Express

Written by Wajahat Habibullah |Updated: May 15, 2019 7:33:09 am

The writer is a former chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities

Lakshadweep’s development bears imprint of Rajiv Gandhi’s visit in 1988

And Lakshadweep today has no poor. This was Rajiv’s enduring gift to the islanders.

Rajiv Gandhi on board INS Viraat. (Express Archives)

In a letter to me, dated August 4, 1987, as I left the PMO to take up an assignment in Lakshadweep, classified by the MHA as a “punishment posting”, Rajiv Gandhi wrote: “Thank you… for your hard work and cheerful assistance over the last five years, first with my mother and then with me. We shall miss you, especially in our forays into the countryside. You are going to an important assignment. I look forward to seeing you in Lakshadweep at the winter meeting of the Island Development Authority.”