Param Vir Chakra: Somnath Sharma
Rajesh Pilot - Hindi
Rama Pilot
Rajesh Pilot rose in the political scene of the 1980s — when Indira Gandhi and later Rajiv Gandhi helmed the country. This is his incredible story. A farmer, he first came to Delhi to work as a milk-man in his uncle’s dairy. But young Rajeshwar Prasad was ambitious. He put himself through flying school and became a pilot in the Indian Air Force. Years later, in 1979, he met the then Congress president Indira Gandhi and told her that he wanted to fight elections. On a whim, Mrs Gandhi gave him a ticket. Pilot quit the Air Force and contested elections, winning first from Bharatpur and then from Dausa. At various points, he also served as minister for Telecommunications, Internal Security and Environment. An energetic and ever-smiling member of the Congress Party, he was always at the centre of every happening.
Born in Western Uttar Pradesh and educated in Delhi, Rama Pilot married Rajesh Pilot while she was in college, pursuing a master’s degree. She was a member of the Youth Congress and was nominated by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as an executive member of All India Congress Committee (in B.C. Cell). A former member of parliament from Dausa, she represented the constituency after her husband’s death in June 2000.
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