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==Early life and education==
==Early life and education==
Feroze Gandhi was born in [[Mumbai]], to a [[Parsi]] family from Gujarat, Jehangir Faredun Gandhi, a marine engineer and Ratimai Gandhi, the youngest child in family of four siblings <ref>World Family Tree Volume 64, Tree 2015</ref><ref name=bop>{{Cite web|url=http://164.100.24.209/newls/biodata_1_12/713.htm|title=Member's Bioprofie|publisher=Government of India|accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref><ref name=new/><ref name=fare/>. His family had migrated to Bombay from [[Bharuch]] in South [[Gujarat]], where his ancestral home which belonged to his grandfather, still exists in Kotpariwad, city’s Parsi neighbourhood <ref>[http://parsikhabar.net/resurrecting-feroze-gandhi/ Resurrecting Feroze Gandhi] parsikhabar.net.</ref>.
Feroze Gandhi was born in [[Mumbai]], to a [[Parsi]] family from Gujarat, Jehangir Faredun Gandhi (Khan), a marine engineer and Ratimai Gandhi, the youngest child in family of four siblings.<ref>World Family Tree Volume 64, Tree 2015</ref><ref name=bop>{{Cite web|url=http://164.100.24.209/newls/biodata_1_12/713.htm|title=Member's Bioprofie|publisher=Government of India|accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref><ref name=new/><ref name=fare/> His family had migrated to Bombay from [[Bharuch]] in South [[Gujarat]], where his ancestral home which belonged to his grandfather, still exists in Kotpariwad, city’s Parsi neighbourhood <ref>[http://parsikhabar.net/resurrecting-feroze-gandhi/ Resurrecting Feroze Gandhi] parsikhabar.net.</ref>.


He was not related to [[Gandhi (surname)|Mahatma Gandhi family]], and though speculations abound that he changed his surname from Khan to [[Gandy (surname)|Gandy]] and later to [[Gandhi (surname)|Gandhi]] for political reasons which were supported by Mahatma Gandhi.<!-- <ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/2004/08/20/stories/2004082005290400.htm Petition against use of Gandhi surname dismissed]</ref> court dismissed this case and fined the petitioner--><ref>[http://www.india9.com/i9show/Feroz-Gandhi-44511.htm]</ref><ref>[http://www.vepachedu.org/Nehrudynasty.html Nehru Dynasty] vepachedu.org.</ref>
He was not related to [[Gandhi (surname)|Mahatma Gandhi family]], and though speculations abound that he changed his surname from Khan to [[Gandy (surname)|Gandy]] and later to [[Gandhi (surname)|Gandhi]] for political reasons which were supported by Mahatma Gandhi.<!-- <ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/2004/08/20/stories/2004082005290400.htm Petition against use of Gandhi surname dismissed]</ref> court dismissed this case and fined the petitioner--><ref>[http://www.india9.com/i9show/Feroz-Gandhi-44511.htm]</ref><ref>[http://www.vepachedu.org/Nehrudynasty.html Nehru Dynasty] vepachedu.org.</ref>

Revision as of 06:44, 2 December 2009

Feroze Gandhi
Member of the Indian Parliament
for Pratapgarh District (west) cum Rae Bareli District (east)[1]
In office
1952-04-17 – 1957-04-04
Member of the Indian Parliament
for Rae Bareli[2]
In office
1957-05-05 – 1960-09-08
Succeeded byBaij Nath Kureel
Personal details
Born(1912-09-12)12 September 1912
Mumbai
Died8 September 1960(1960-09-08) (aged 47)
Delhi
Resting placeParsi cemetery, Allahabad
NationalityIndian
Political partyIndian National Congress
SpouseIndira Gandhi
ChildrenSanjay Gandhi,
Rajiv Gandhi

Feroze Gandhi [3] (12 September 1912 – 8 September 1960) was an Indian politician and journalist, and publisher of the The National Herald and 'The Navjivan' newspapers from Lucknow.

He became the member of the provincial parliament (1950—52), and later a member of the Lok Sabha, the Lower House of India's parliament. In 1942 he married Indira Nehru (later Prime Minister of India) and they had two sons Rajiv Gandhi (also later a Prime Minister) and Sanjay Gandhi, and thus became part of the Nehru-Gandhi family [4][5].

Early life and education

Feroze Gandhi was born in Mumbai, to a Parsi family from Gujarat, Jehangir Faredun Gandhi (Khan), a marine engineer and Ratimai Gandhi, the youngest child in family of four siblings.[6][4][7][3] His family had migrated to Bombay from Bharuch in South Gujarat, where his ancestral home which belonged to his grandfather, still exists in Kotpariwad, city’s Parsi neighbourhood [8].

He was not related to Mahatma Gandhi family, and though speculations abound that he changed his surname from Khan to Gandy and later to Gandhi for political reasons which were supported by Mahatma Gandhi.[9][10]

In early 1920s, with his father Jehangir Gandhi dead, his mother, Rattimai Gandhi moved to Allahabad and then on lived with their unmarried aunt, Dr. Shirin Commissairiat, a well known surgeon at city's Lady Dufferin Hospital. Here he attended the Vidya Mandir High School, the City Anglo-Vernacular High School and later upon completion of his schooling at the British-staffed Ewing Christian College [3]. Later, he was to study at the London School of Economics.

Career

Portrait of Feroze and Indira Gandhi.

In March 1930, the youth wing of Congress Freedom fighters, the Vanar Sena was formed, subsequently Feroze first met Kamala Nehru and Indira at women demonstrators picketing outside his college, Ewing Christian College, Allahabad, it so happened that under the mid-day sun Kamala fainted and young Feroze who was watching the demonstrators along with his friends rushed to comfort her. The next day, he abandoned his studies in 1930 to join the Indian independence movement. He was imprisoned in 1930, along with Lal Bahadur Shastri, head of Allahabad District Congress Committee, and lodged in Faizabad Jail for nineteen moths. Soon after his release, he going agrarian no-rent campaign in the United Province (Uttar Pradesh) and thus was imprisoned twice in 1932 and 1933, while working closely with Nehru [3].

The Hindu marriage ceremony of Feroze Gandhi and Indira Gandhi, March 26, 1942 at Anand Bhawan, Allahabad

Feroze grew close to the Nehru family, especially Indira's mother Kamala Nehru and Indira herself. He even accompanied ailing Kamala Nehru to the TB Sanatorium at Bhowali in 1934 and was visited by both Indira and Nehru (from Almora Jail) in December, and seeing his devotion to Kamala, Nehru was deeply impressed. Feroze stayed with Kamala till she left Europe when her condition worsened in April 1935, never to return as she eventually died in 1936 in Laussane, Switzerland [3]. In the following years, Indira and Feroze grew further closer to each other while in England. They married in March 1942 according to Hindu rituals.[7].

His father-in-law was strongly opposed to his marriage with the young Indira and even approached Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to dissuade the young couple, but to no avail. However, over the years, father-in-law and son-in-law resolved their differences, especially with Feroze adopting Gandhiji's ideology. The couple were arrested and jailed in August 1942, during the Quit India Movement less than six months after their marriage, he was imprisoned for a year in Allahabad's Naini Central Prison. The coming five years were of comfortable domestic life and the couple had two sons, Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi, born in 1944 and 1946 respectively.

After independence, Jawaharlal became the first Prime Minister of India. Feroze and Indira settled in Allahabad with their two young children, and Feroze became Managing Director of The National Herald, a newspaper founded by his father-in-law. He was also the first chairman of Indian Oil Corporation Limited.

After remaining a member of the provincial parliament (1950—52), Feroze Gandhi contested independent India's first general elections in 1952, from Rae Bareli constituency in Uttar Pradesh. Indira came down from Delhi and worked as his campaign organizer, and he won. Feroze soon became a prominent force in his own right, criticizing the Government of his father-in-law and beginning a tirade against corruption.

In the years after independence, many Indian business houses had become close to the political leaders, and now some of them started various financial irregularities. In a case exposed by Feroze in Dec 1955[11], he revealed how Ram Kishan Dalmia, as chairman of a bank and an insurance company, used these companies to fund his takeover of Bennett and Coleman started transferring money illegally from publicly-held companies for their own benefit.

In 1957, he was re-elected from Rae Bareli. In the parliament in 1958, he raised the Haridas Mundhra scandal involving the government controlled LIC insurance company. This was a huge embarrassment to the clean image of Nehru's government and eventually led to the resignation of the Finance Minister T.T. Krishnamachari. His rift with Indira had also become public knowledge by then, and added to the media interest in the matter.

Feroze also initiated a number of nationalization drives, starting with the Life Insurance Corporation. At one point he also suggested that Telco be nationalized since they were charging nearly double the price of a Japanese Railway engine. This raised a stir in the Parsi community since the Tatas were also Parsi. He continued challenging the government on a number of other issues, and emerged as a parliamentarian well-respected on both sides of the bench[11].

Death

Feroze suffered his first heart attack in 1958. Indira who stayed with her father at Teen Murti House, the official Prime ministers residence, was away with her father on state visit to Bhutan rushed back and took him to recuperate in Kashmir, where with their young boys, they were together again [12]. However, Feroze died in 1960 of a second heart attack at the Willingdon Hospital, now Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Delhi. He was later cremated and his ashes interred at the Parsi cemetery at Allahabad, the town where his eldest brother Fardiun's son, Rustom Gandhi's family still lives [13].

His Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency seat, is now being held by his daughter-in-law, and wife of Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Biographical Sketch of First Lok Sabha". Retrieved 2009-04-16.
  2. ^ "Biographical Sketch of Second Lok Sabha". Retrieved 2009-04-16.
  3. ^ a b c d e Feroze Gandhi Indira: The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi by Katherine Frank. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002. ISBN 039573097X. p. 64, p. 72, p. 94."What a brick Feroze has been!...(Jail Diary)" - Nehru.
  4. ^ a b "Member's Bioprofie". Government of India. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
  5. ^ A forgotten patriot: Feroze Gandhi made a mark in politics at a comparatively young age.. The Hindu, Oct 20, 2002.
  6. ^ World Family Tree Volume 64, Tree 2015
  7. ^ a b "AROUND THE WORLD; Mrs. Gandhi Not Hindu, Daughter-in-Law Says". New York Times. May 2, 1984. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
  8. ^ Resurrecting Feroze Gandhi parsikhabar.net.
  9. ^ [1]
  10. ^ Nehru Dynasty vepachedu.org.
  11. ^ a b Shashi Bhushan, M.P. (1977). Feroze Gandhi: A political Biography. Progressive People's Sector Publications, New Delhi,.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)p.166, 179. See these excerpts
  12. ^ Indira Gandhi's courage was an inspiration Samay Live, 07 Nov 2009.
  13. ^ Dynasty keeps away from Feroze Gandhi's neglected tombstone Coomi Kapoor, The Indian Express, 10 February 1998.

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