'Rajiv Gandhi had modern vision for changing India'

Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was a pragmatic leader who looked at things from a modern viewpoint and with the aim of modernising the country, Vice President Hamid Ansari said here today.
The most remarkable thing that Gandhi did was to go to United Nations in 1988 and put on the table a detailed step-by -step plan for nuclear disarmament, Ansari said, hailing the former prime minister's efforts at global peace.
"To this date, it remains the only plan on the table. People talk about nuclear disarmament, (but) they don't want to do it," Ansari said.
The Vice President was speaking at the launch of the book, 'Resurgent India: Glimpses of Rajiv Gandhi's Vision of India', authored by former Lok Sabha Secretary General, PDT Achary.

Commenting on the work, Ansari said that to write about all aspects of Gandhi's work as Prime Minister could not have been an easy job.
Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily, who recently assumed additional charge as Environment Minister, hailed the policy decisions taken by Gandhi to protect the environment and forests in the country.

"I think, it was Gandhi who thought it appropriate to bring out the environment law ( Environment Protection Act, 1986) which is still a model for the entire world," Moily said at the event.
Speaking about the book, Achary said, "Gandhi is perhaps one of the most misunderstood prime ministers in Indian history.

"It is important to first understand the heart and mind of one of the nation's most influential leaders in order to be able to understand his ambitious policies in their entirety," he said.