Articles
Feroze The Forgotten Gandhi *
Dt:19/8/26
Feroze
The Forgotten
Gandhi *
(b.12-9-1912 d. 8-09-1960)
Dr T H Chowdary*
The greatest name-theft :
There has been talk of “Chanda-Chori” referring to alleged theft or misappropriation of the donations of cash and kind by some functionaries engaged by the organizers of the construction of the greatest temple for Rama in Ayodhya. But there is even a more dishonourable, if not scandalous theft of a great name, the name “Gandhi” who was a Mahatma. This theft is by the descendants of Indira Priyadarshini Nehru. Indira ji, the daughter of the famed Jawaharlal Nehru married the Parsi, Feroze Jahangir Gandhi in 1942. For the first few years of marriage till Rajiv and Sanjay were born, the marriage functioned. But thereafter from 1946 Sept when Jawaharlal Nehru became the Prime Minister in the Interim government under Lord Wavel , the Governor General and Vice Roy of India things changed. Nehru lived in the official palatial building and Indiraji moved there with her two children . Feroze Gandhi was only an invitee at the breakfast time everyday when only he could see his two children and Indiraji .
2. Sri Feroze Jahangir Gandhi was a Parsi, became a Zoroastrian through the obligatory Navjot (baptism) ceremony. He was born in Mumbai (12 -9-1912) but grew up in Allahabad among relatives and became an Allahabadi; an Uttarapradeshi. As an young man, he was drawn to India’s freedom movement and so, to the Anand Bhawan the home of Nehrus. Acquaintship led to
(*The title of the biographical book by Bertil Falk (1933-2023) a well-respected Swedish newspaper and TV journalist who spent more than 10 years of his life in India, England and United states)
friendship and marriage with Indira (Priyadarshini Nehru) in 1942 with the consent of elders from both sides. The couple had two children Rajiv ( b 20-08-1944) and Sanjay ( 14-12-1946) both with the appellation of Gandhi ( which was Mahatma Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s name) also and so making innocent Indians to think that they are related to Mahatma Gandhi. Indira Gandhi lived in her father Nehru’s house, Feroze lived in MP’s quarters in Delhi separately and was invited to breakfast everyday with children and Indira.
3. Feroze Gandhi crowned his career as a Giant Killer when his speech in the Lok Sabha led to the resignation of the Finance Minister T T Krishanamachri on 16 Dec 1957. “Mr. Speaker, there is going to be some sharp shooting and hard hitting in the House today, because when I hit , I hit hard and expect to be hit harder”.
4. Feroze Gandhi entered the debate and at the end of the day he proved that contrary to TTK’s statement that the investments had been made not in the stock market , they had actually been made on a day, when the stock exchanges of both the Calcutta and Bombay were closed . The price paid for the purchase of the Mundra shares in his Angelo Brothers , Osier Lab Manufacturing and British India Corporation by the stated-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (Life Inco) at the instance of Sri T T Krishnamachary the then Finance Minister was far above the prices traded in the stock exchanges. “I am left much against my will to the sad conclusion that this was a device to help Sri Mundhra who happened to be in financial difficulties at that time”, said Feroze Gandhi. Mundra made a financial contribution to the Congress party. The corrupt transaction was exposed by Feroze Gandhi, the son-in-law of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister in the latter’s presence boldly and triumphantly and irrefutably . It is for this great bold deed that Feroze Gandhi is to be saluted and celebrated. Feroze Gandhi died of second heart attack on 8 Sept 1960.
5. The late Sri Babu Jagjeevan Ram, the illustrious Congress leader had this to say, “Feroze Gandhi was one of those who was wedded to the soil of this country, he was a great parliamentarian, a great politician and a fearless champion of the poor people of the country. There were occasions in his life when he had to quarrel with the Prime Minister. Not an easy task. He was not only a Prime Minister, he was his faither-in-law also. And my respect for Feroze increased, when he criticized me as a Railway Minister very vehemently. But I should praise him for his hard work. To prepare the debate on the Railways, he strained his eyes to such an extent that he required glasses after that. Feroze passing away has been personal loss to me . It has been a great national loss because he guarded the rights of the members of Parliament and the sovereignty of Parliament and even brought legislation for that. ….
6. A Feroze Gandhi Smarak Samithi was set up in 1961 by fellow MPs, Sri Harish Chandra Heda (Nizamabad Telangana) and Jagdish Kodesia , MP from Delhi with Lal Bahadur Sastry as Chairman . For 20 years, the Samithi not only organized these lectures but published them . Lal Bahadur Sastry ji was the President till his death. Speakers included T.T Krishnamachari in 1962, Chester Bowles, US Ambassador to India in 1963, K D Malavya in 1972, Dr Karan Singh in 1974 and P N Haksar in 1976. The first was held on 8 Sept 1961. The speaker was Sir Paul Gore Booth, UK High Commissioner in India . ( talk’s title was: “ MPs and Civil Servants”) . The Smarak Samithi’s talks ceased with the declaration of Emergency by Indira Gandhi , husband of Feroze Gandhi in 1975. Indira Gandhi has succeeded consciously or unconsciously in stopping the memorialization of her husband.
7. Commemorative postal stamps had been brought out by the government of India in memory of Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, Rameswari Nehru, Kamala Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, all of one dynasty and Feroze’s friends Lal Bahadur Sastry, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, Govind Vallabh Pant and Subhadra Joshi. No such honour is there for Feroze Gandhi. In contrast, in 2012 the hundredth birth anniversary of Feroze Gandhi went unnoticed. Gandhi part of his name adorns the names of Sonia and her children inorder to inherit Mahatma Gandhi’s name and fame, to impress innocent Indians to think that the Sonia brood descends from Mahatma Gandhi.
8. The conspicuous omission is Feroze Gandhi (1912-1960), the husband of Indira (Priyadarsini Nehru) Gandhi; the father of Rajiv and Sanjay and the grandfather of Rahul and Priyanka and from whom these people are known as “Gandhis’, leading the ignorant to think, they are related to Mahatma Gandhi. There are only two memorials to Feroze Gandhi: a college and a Polytechnic in Raebareli from where he was elected as an MP to the Lok Sabha in 1952 and 1957.
9. Firoze Gandhi’s grave in Allahabad has this inscription :
In loving memory of
Feroze Jahangir Gandhi
Born: 12-9-1912
Died: 8-9-1960
He is not dead
Who lifts thy glorious mind on high
To live in hearts
We leave behind is not to die
10. Mrs. Sonia Gandhi and her Indo-Italian progeny (Rahul, Priyanka ….) have unpersonned and obliterated the brave, indomitable Feroze Jahangir Gandhi, retaining Gandhi only from his name. They don’t recall or celebrate his birth day (Jayanthi) or recall his passing away (Vardhanthi). This is most abharatiya ( un-Indian) .
11. We believe that Sri Feroze Jahangir Gandhi, should be celebrated as a patriot , a politician who stood for uprightness, probity in public life and dared to expose corruption in the Jawaharlal Nehru’s (his father-in-law’s) cabinet minister. (1,220 words)
Vande Mataram: Jai Hind
END