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{{Short description|Indian independence activist, politician and journalist}}

{{lead rewrite|date=April 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Feroze Gandhi
| image = Feroze Gandhi before 1950s.jpg
| caption = Gandhi before 1950
| constituency_MP = [[Pratapgarh (Lok Sabha constituency)|Pratapgarh District (west)]]-[[Rae Bareli (Lok Sabha constituency)|Rae Bareli District (east)]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/lok01/alpha/01lsg.htm |title=Biographical Sketch of First Lok Sabha|publisher=Parliament of India|access-date=16 April 2009| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090126203758/http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/lok01/alpha/01lsg.htm| archive-date=26 January 2009}}</ref>
| parliament = Indian
| majority =
| term_start = 17 April 1952
| term_end = 4 April 1957
| constituency_MP2 = [[Rae Bareli (Lok Sabha constituency)|Rae Bareli]]<ref>{{cite web |url= http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/lok02/alpha/02lsg.htm|title=Biographical Sketch of Second Lok Sabha|publisher=Parliament of India| access-date=16 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060518182809/http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/lok02/alpha/02lsg.htm| archive-date=18 May 2006}}</ref>
| parliament2 = Indian
| majority2 =
| term_start2 = 5 May 1957
| term_end2 = 8 September 1960
| successor2 = Baij Nath Kureel
| birth_name = Feroze Jehangir Ghandy
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1912|9|12|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Bombay]], [[Bombay Presidency]], [[British Raj|British India]] <br /> (now [[Mumbai]], [[Maharashtra]], India)
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1960|9|8|1912|9|12|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[New Delhi]], India
| death_cause = Heart attack
| restingplace = Parsi cemetery, [[Allahabad]]
| party = [[Indian National Congress]]
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Indira Gandhi]]|26 March 1942}}
| relations = See [[Nehru–Gandhi family]]
| children = {{hlist|[[Rajiv Gandhi]]|[[Sanjay Gandhi]]}}
| alma_mater = [[Ewing Christian College]]
| image name =
}}

'''Feroze Gandhi''' (born '''Feroze Jehangir Ghandy''';<ref name="Guha">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8FKepYC6wzwC&pg=PA33|title=India after Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy|last=Guha|first=Ramachandra|publisher=Pan Macmillan|year=2011|isbn=978-0330540209|at=p. 33, footnote 2 (chapter 14)}}: "Feroze Gandhi was also from the Nehrus' home town, Allahabad. A Parsi by faith, he at first spelt his surname 'Ghandy'. However, after he joined the national movement as a young man, he changed the spelling to bring it in line with that of Mahatma Gandhi."
</ref>
12 September 1912 – 8 September 1960) was an Indian [[freedom fighter]], politician and journalist.

Gandhi published the newspapers ''[[The National Herald (India)|The National Herald]]'' and ''[[Navjivan (newspaper)|The Navjivan]]''. He served as a member of the provincial parliament between 1950 and 1952, and later a member of the [[Lok Sabha]], the Lower House of India's [[Parliament of India|parliament]].

Gandhi's wife, [[Indira Gandhi|Indira Nehru]] (daughter of [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], the first Prime Minister of India), and their elder son [[Rajiv Gandhi|Rajiv]] were both [[List of prime ministers of India|prime ministers of India]].<ref>{{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20030414192506/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mag/2002/10/20/stories/2002102000110500.htm A forgotten patriot: Feroze Gandhi made a mark in politics at a comparatively young age..]}} [[The Hindu]], 20 October 2002.</ref>

==Early life==
Feroze Jehangir Ghandy was born on 12 September 1912 to a [[Parsi]] family at the [[Parsi Lying-in Hospital|Tehmulji Nariman Hospital]] in the [[Fort (Mumbai precinct)|Fort]] district of [[Mumbai|Bombay]]; his parents, Jehangir Faredoon Ghandy and Ratimai (née Commissariat), lived in Nauroji Natakwala Bhawan in Khetwadi Mohalla in Bombay. His father Jahangir was a marine engineer working for Killick Nixon and was later promoted as a warrant engineer.{{sfn|Bhushan|2008|p=8}}<ref>{{harvnb|Frank|2002|p=[https://archive.org/details/indiralifeofindi00fran/page/93 93]: [He was] the youngest child of a marine engineer named Jehangir Faredoon Gandhi and his wife Rattimai.}}</ref> Feroze was the youngest of the five children with two brothers Dorab and Faridun Jehangir,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/82389/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120908073054/http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/82389/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 September 2012 |title=Sonia assures help for father-in-law's grave |work=The Indian Express|date=21 November 2005 |access-date=29 November 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/78998/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130126040941/http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/78998/|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 January 2013|title=This Mrs Gandhi only wants her pension|work=The Indian Express|date=28 September 2005|access-date=29 November 2012}}</ref> and two sisters, Tehmina Kershashp and Aloo Dastur. The family had migrated to Bombay from [[Bharuch]] (now in South [[Gujarat]]) where their ancestral home, which belonged to his grandfather, still exists in Kotpariwad.<ref>{{cite book|author=Minhaz Merchant|author-link=Minhaz Merchant|title=Rajiv Gandhi, the end of a dream|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2hNuAAAAMAAJ|year=1991|publisher=Viking|isbn=9780670844104}}</ref>

In the early 1920s, after the death of his father, Feroze and his mother moved to [[Allahabad]] to live with his unmarried maternal aunt, Shirin Commissariat, a surgeon at the city's Lady Dufferin Hospital. He attended the Vidya Mandir High School and then graduated from the British-staffed [[Ewing Christian College]].<ref>{{harvnb|Frank|2002|page=[https://archive.org/details/indiralifeofindi00fran/page/94 94]}}: Feroze was a student at Bidya Mandir High School and Ewing Christian College.</ref>

==Family and career==
In 1930, the wing of Congress Freedom fighters, the ''Vanar Sena'' was formed. Feroze met [[Kamala Nehru]] and [[Indira Gandhi|Indira]] among the women demonstrators picketing outside Ewing Christian College. Kamala fainted with the heat of the sun and Feroze went to comfort her. The next day, he abandoned his studies to join the [[Indian independence movement]]. Being inspired by [[Mahatma Gandhi]], Feroze changed the spelling of his surname from "Ghandy" to "Gandhi" after joining the Independence movement.<ref name=Guha/><ref name="Ghandy">{{cite book|title=Idea Exchange: Opinion Makers, Critical Issues, Interesting Times|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mkjhctAvaRAC&pg=PA87|last=Vishnu|first=Uma|publisher=Penguin Books India|year=2010|isbn=978-0670084890|page=87}}
</ref>{{efn|Thus, he was not related to [[Mahatma Gandhi]].<ref>Lyon, Peter (2008) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=vLwOck15eboC&pg=PA64 Conflict Between India and Pakistan: An Encyclopedia]''. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. p. 64. {{ISBN|978-1576077122}}. "Feroze Gandhi was no relation of Mahatma Gandhi."</ref>}} He was imprisoned in 1930, along with [[Lal Bahadur Shastri]] (the 2nd Prime Minister of India), head of Allahabad District Congress Committee, and lodged in [[Faizabad]] Jail for nineteen months. Soon after his release, he was involved with the agrarian no-rent campaign in the [[United Province]] (now Uttar Pradesh) and was imprisoned twice, in 1932 and 1933, while working closely with Nehru.{{sfn|Frank|2002|page=[https://archive.org/details/indiralifeofindi00fran/page/94 94]}}

[[File:The marriage ceremony of Feroze Gandhi and Indira Gandhi, March 26, 1942 at Anand Bhawan, Allahabad.jpg|thumb| The marriage ceremony of Feroze Gandhi and Indira Nehru at Anand Bhavan, on 26 March 1942. In 1984, a photograph of the wedding was used in court to show that the ceremony followed [[Hindu]], and not [[Parsi]], rituals.<ref name="new"/>]]

Feroze first proposed to Indira in 1933, but she and her mother rejected it, putting forward that she was too young, only 16.{{sfn|Frank|2002|page=[https://archive.org/details/indiralifeofindi00fran/page/81 81]}} He grew close to the Nehru family, especially to Indira's mother Kamala Nehru, accompanying her to the TB sanatorium at [[Bhowali]] in 1934, helping arrange her trip to Europe when her condition worsened in April 1935, and visiting her at the sanitarium at Badenweiler and finally at Lausanne, where he was at her bedside when she died on 28 February 1936.{{sfn|Frank|2002|pp=[https://archive.org/details/indiralifeofindi00fran/page/92 92,99,110–111,113]}} In the following years, Indira and Feroze grew closer to each other while in England. They married in March 1942 according to [[Hindu]] rituals.<ref name="new">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/02/world/around-the-world-mrs-gandhi-not-hindu-daughter-in-law-says.html|title=Mrs. Gandhi Not Hindu, Daughter-in-Law Says|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=29 March 2009|date=2 May 1984}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The wonder of Indira|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?211281|publisher=outlook}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Indira Nehru - Feroze Gandhi Wedding (in page 4 bottom/right) |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=P9oYG7HA76QC&dat=19420327&printsec=frontpage&hl=en |work=The Indian Express|date=27 March 1942}}</ref>

[[File:Rajiv, Feroze, Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru at Anand Bhawan after Jawaharlal Nehru’s release from detention.jpg|220px|thumb|Rajiv, Feroze, Indira Gandhi and Nehru at Anand Bhawan, 1945]]
Indira's father [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] opposed her marriage and approached [[Mahatma Gandhi]] to dissuade the young couple, but to no avail. 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]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OOmK1lPWq80C&pg=PA189|title=Mother India: A Political Biography of Indira Gandhi|last=Gupte|first=Pranay|date=2012-02-15|publisher=Penguin Books India|isbn=9780143068266|pages=189–205|language=en}}</ref> The following five years were of comfortable domestic life and the couple had two sons, [[Rajiv Gandhi|Rajiv]] and [[Sanjay Gandhi|Sanjay]], 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 (India)|The National Herald]]'', a newspaper founded by his father-in-law, Jawaharlal Nehru.

After being a member of the provincial parliament (1950–1952), Feroze won independent India's first general elections in 1952, from [[Rae Bareli (Lok Sabha constituency)|Rae Bareli]] constituency in [[Uttar Pradesh]]. Indira came down from Delhi and worked as his campaign organizer. Feroze soon became a prominent force in his own right, criticizing the government of his father-in-law and beginning a fight against corruption.

In the years after independence, many Indian business houses had become close to the political leaders, and some of them started various financial irregularities. In a case exposed by Feroze in December 1955,<ref name=book>{{cite book|title=Feroze Gandhy: A political Biography|author=Shashi Bhushan, M.P.|publisher=Progressive People's Sector Publications, New Delhi|year=1977}} pp. 166, 179. See these [http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/~amit/books/bhushan-1977-feroze-gandhi-political.html excerpts]</ref> 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]]
and started transferring money illegally from [[public company|publicly held]] companies for personal benefit.

In 1957, he was re-elected from [[Rae Bareli (Lok Sabha constituency)|Rae Bareli]]. In the parliament in 1958, he raised the [[Haridas Mundhra]] scandal involving the government controlled [[Life Insurance Corporation of India|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 [[TATA Engineering and Locomotive Company]] (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.<ref name=book/>

==Death and legacy==
Feroze suffered a heart attack in 1958. Indira, who stayed with her father at [[Teen Murti House]], the official residence of the prime minister, was at that time away on a state visit to [[Bhutan]]. She returned to look after him in [[Kashmir]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.samaylive.com/news/indira-gandhis-courage-was-an-inspiration/666400.html|title=Indira Gandhi's courage was an inspiration|publisher=Samay Live|date=7 November 2009}}</ref> Feroze died in 1960 at the [[Willingdon Hospital]], Delhi, after suffering a second heart attack. He was cremated and his ashes interred at the Parsi cemetery in [[Allahabad]].<ref>{{cite news|author=Kapoor, Comi |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/old/ie/daily/19980210/04150074.html |title=Dynasty keeps away from Feroze Gandhy's neglected tombstone |work=[[The Indian Express]] |date=10 February 1998 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100516145658/http://www.indianexpress.com/old/ie/daily/19980210/04150074.html |archive-date=16 May 2010 }}</ref>

His [[Rae Bareli (Lok Sabha constituency)|Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency]] seat was held by his wife, [[Indira Gandhi]] from 1967 to 1976. Also by his daughter-in-law, and wife of [[Rajiv Gandhi]], [[Sonia Gandhi]] since 2004.

A [[Feroze Gandhi College|school of higher education that he helped found]] was named after him in [[Raebareli|Rae Bareli]].<ref>
[[Feroze Gandhi College]]; http://fgc.edu.in</ref>

[[NTPC Limited]] renamed their Unchahar Thermal Power Station in [[Uttar Pradesh]] to [[Feroze Gandhi Unchahar Thermal Power Plant]].

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{citation |last=Bhushan |first=Shashi |author-link=Shashi Bhushan |title=Feroze Gandhi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XP37QveRKL4C |year=2008 |publisher=Frank Bros. & Co. |isbn=978-81-8409-494-7 }}
* {{citation|first=Katherine| last=Frank|author-link=Katherine Frank|title=Indira: The life of Indira Nehru Gandhi|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Co.|year=2002|isbn=0-395-73097-X| url=https://archive.org/details/indiralifeofindi00fran/}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gandhi, Feroze}}
[[Category:1912 births]]
[[Category:1960 deaths]]
[[Category:Parsi people]]
[[Category:Parsi people from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Indian newspaper editors]]
[[Category:Indian male journalists]]
[[Category:Nehru–Gandhi family]]
[[Category:Indian Zoroastrians]]
[[Category:Politicians from Allahabad]]
[[Category:India MPs 1952–1957]]
[[Category:India MPs 1957–1962]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of British India]]
[[Category:Members of the Constituent Assembly of India]]
[[Category:Spouses of prime ministers of India]]
[[Category:Politicians from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Lok Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian journalists]]
[[Category:Writers from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Journalists from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Journalists from Gujarat]]
[[Category:Writers from Allahabad]]

Feroze Gandhi - Revision history

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