Rajiv Goswami

Rajiv Goswami was a commerce student at the Deshbandhu College, Delhi University who came into prominence when he attempted self-immolation to protest against Prime Minister V.P. Singh's implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations for job reservations for backward castes in India. Goswami spearheaded a formidable movement against the Mandal Commission and his act of self-immolation led to larger protests and a series of self-immolations by college students throughout India. During Mandal commission agitation, the AIIMS intersection in Delhi was temporarily renamed by students to Rajiv Chowk in a celebration of his selfless act.

Subsequently he was elected to position of the Delhi University Students' Union president. He later gave up active politics due to health problems and started his own business. In the following years he was frequently in and out of hospitals because of severe health complications resulting from his self-immolation bid.

He was a resident of Gomti Apartments at Kalkaji in New Delhi. He died on February 24, 2004, at the age of 33 in Holy Family Hospital Okhla, New Delhi.

He is survived by his wife Aarti, daughter Simran and son Aditya, and his father Madan Goswami and mother Nandrani Goswami. His mother, Nandrani Goswami, was one of the speakers at anti reservation protests in 2006.

See also

• Mandal Commission protests of 1990

External links

• Rajiv Goswami attempting self immolation
• Obituary
• The man who sparked anti-Mandal agitation
• Pioneer of anti-Mandal stir dies
• Why India forgot a hero
• Young men at the barricades