Rajiv Gandhi killed in suicide bombing at Tamil Nadu election rally

Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a suicide bomber at an election rally in Sriperumbudur on 21 May 1991.

9 Nov 2026, 08:491 min read

This summary was written by AI to complete the context; it is not based on a current source.

On 21 May 1991, former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated while campaigning for the general election at Sriperumbudur, a town in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. A woman approached him at the rally and detonated explosives strapped to her body. Gandhi and a number of others, including police personnel and party workers, were killed.

Gandhi had led the Congress party and served as prime minister from 1984 to 1989, taking office after the assassination of his mother, Indira Gandhi. Indian investigators linked the attack to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the Sri Lankan militant group, amid anger over India's earlier military involvement in Sri Lanka.

The killing shook the country and changed the fortunes of the Congress party, which formed the government after the election under P. V. Narasimha Rao. It also reshaped the life of his widow, Sonia Gandhi, who had stayed out of public life. She later joined the party and, in 1998, became its president, a role that made her one of India's most prominent political figures.