###Rajiv Gandhi Was a Visionary Leader Who Understood the Pain of Tribal India: Laxminarayan Pandya
A Visit to Dhanol Village Inspired Several Historic Welfare Schemes for Rural India
Udaipur. Paying tribute to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary, senior Congress leader and former Up zila pramukh Laxminarayan Pandya said that Rajiv Gandhi was not just a Prime Minister, but a sensitive and visionary leader who deeply understood the struggles of rural India, tribal communities, and the poor. He stated that many of the foundations of rural development, communication revolution, Panchayati Raj, and welfare initiatives seen in India today were laid by Rajiv Gandhi.
Pandya recalled that in 1985, Rajiv Gandhi, accompanied by Sonia Gandhi, visited Dhanol village in the tribal region of Kherwara in Udaipur district. The visit was not a routine political tour, but an effort to understand the real conditions of tribal life. He said Rajiv Gandhi personally took seriously a telegram sent by a villager requesting him to visit the area and witness the hardships faced by tribal families.
Pandya said that at the time, there was no proper road leading to the village. During the rainy season, Rajiv Gandhi walked nearly three kilometres through muddy and waterlogged paths to reach the tribal settlement. Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Haridev Joshi, Sheila Kaul, and other senior leaders accompanied him during the visit. When Rajiv Gandhi met an elderly tribal woman named Dhanubai living in a small hut on a hilltop, he became emotional. After being told that “Indira Gandhi’s son” had come to meet her, tears welled up in the woman’s eyes. Instead of making any demands, she simply requested that he be taken back safely. The emotional moment left everyone present deeply moved.
Laxminarayan Pandya further said that Rajiv Gandhi observed that the family could not even afford wheat bread and survived mainly on coarse grains. Moved by their condition, he later initiated the subsidised food grain scheme to provide affordable wheat to poor families. Similarly, after witnessing the leaking and fragile huts in which tribal families lived, he conceptualised the Indira Awas Yojana to provide permanent housing to the rural poor.
He added that although electric lines passed near the village, poor families could not afford electricity connections due to installation and deposit costs. Understanding this hardship, Rajiv Gandhi introduced schemes providing free electricity connections and basic lighting support for economically weaker families. Likewise, after noticing the lack of irrigation facilities, the Jeevandhara Well Scheme was introduced to assist poor farmers in digging wells for agriculture.
Pandya said Rajiv Gandhi also played a historic role in strengthening the Panchayati Raj system. He invited sarpanches from across India to Delhi to understand grassroots issues and later introduced direct financial transfers to village panchayats. For the first time, development funds were sent directly from Delhi to gram panchayat accounts, helping accelerate rural development. The roads, drainage systems, electrification, schools, and other facilities now visible in villages reflect Rajiv Gandhi’s far-sighted vision for rural empowerment.
He said Rajiv Gandhi firmly believed that India could only become strong if its villages became strong. With this vision, he launched several initiatives aimed at empowering rural communities and ensuring development reached the last person in society. Even today, millions of people continue to benefit from the policies and ideas introduced during his leadership.
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