Feroze Gandhi

Feroze Gandhi (12 August 1912 - 8 September 1960) was an Indian politician and journalist. He was the husband of Indira Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India and daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Indian Prime Minister. He was educated at the City Anglo-Vernacular High School and Ewing Christian College, followed by the London School of Economics. He abandoned his studies in 1930 to join the struggle for Indian independence.

Related Topics:
12 August - 1912 - 8 September - 1960 - Indira Gandhi - Prime Minister of India - Jawaharlal Nehru - Ewing Christian College - London School of Economics - 1930

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Feroze grew close to the Nehru family, especially Indira's mother Kamala Nehru and Indira herself. Feroze helped nurse the ailing Kamala, and briefly traveled with Nehru, Kamala and Indira to Europe. Even before Kamala's death, Indira and Feroze had begun falling in love. There is some evidence (see Reference book) that Kamala herself opposed the match, and although Nehru was personally averse to Feroze, he did not involve himself in opposing it. Indira and Feroze grew more close to each other in England. They married in 1942.

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Arrested and jailed during the Quit India Movement less than six months after their marriage, he was imprisoned for a year in Allahabad's Naini Central Prison. Indira was also imprisoned. In 1944, she gave birth to Rajiv Gandhi, a future Prime Minister. In 1946, Sanjay Gandhi, a major political influence on his mother when she was PM, was born. Indira and Feroze settled in Allahabad with their two young children, and Feroze became editor of The National Herald, a newspaper founded by his father-in-law.

Related Topics:
Quit India Movement - Allahabad - Naini Central Prison - Rajiv Gandhi - Sanjay Gandhi

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Feroze Gandhi contested elections to the Parliament of India in 1952, independent India's first general elections. His wife served as his campaign organizer, and Gandhi won. But Feroze soon became a prominent force in his own right, criticizing the Government of his father-in-law and beginning a tirade against corruption. His exposure of a scandal involving major insurance companies and the Finance Minister T.T. Krishnamurthy caused the latter to resign, and Nehru major embarassment. Feroze began building his own reputation and small coterie of supporters and advisors, and continued challenging the government. He was re-elected in 1957. It should be noted that Indira did not envisage a personal future for herself in politics until the death of her husband.

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The marriage of Feroze and Indira was tumultuous, as Indira began living with her father, who was alone, and cared for him personally and often as a private secretary. When he became an MP, Feroze took his own hosue in Delhi, away from his father-in-law and wife. This unwilling separation embittered Feroze, and it is speculated that he was having extra-marital affairs as a way of getting back on Indira.

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Indira and Feroze were re-united in 1958, when Feroze suffered his first heart attack. Indira took him to recuperate in Kashmir, where with their young boys, they were together again. However, Feroze died in 1960 of a second heart attack.

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