Feroze Gandhi (English: Feroze Gandhi, born: 12 September 1912, Mumbai; died – 8 September 1960, Delhi) was a famous freedom fighter and an influential member of the Lok Sabha. He was the husband of India’s first woman Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In August 1942, Feroze Gandhi was arrested after remaining underground for some time during the ‘Quit India Movement’.
After his release in 1946, he took over the post of Managing Director of Lucknow’s daily newspaper ‘National Herald’. Freedom fighter Feroze Gandhi was born on 12 September 1912 in a hospital in Mumbai in a Parsi family. His father’s name was Jahangir and mother’s name was Ratimai. In 1915, he came with his mother to a relative working in Allahabad. Thus, his early education took place in Allahabad. Allahabad was the center of freedom struggle activities in those days. Young Feroze Gandhi came under its influence and also came in contact with the Nehru family. He participated in the boycott of the Simon Commission in 1928 and served jail sentence in the movement of 1930-1932. Feroze Gandhi went to London for further studies in 1935 and received a bachelor’s degree in international law from the ‘School of Economics’.
Feroze Gandhi took great care of his wife Indira Gandhi’s mother Kamala Nehru who was suffering from tuberculosis in hospitals in India and Germany. At the same time, he and Indira came in contact and both got married in Allahabad in March 1942. In August 1942, Feroze Gandhi was arrested during the ‘Quit India Movement’ after remaining underground for some time. After his release, in 1946, he took over the post of Managing Director of Lucknow’s daily newspaper ‘National Herald’. In the first general election of 1952, he was elected a member of the Lok Sabha. After this, he left Lucknow. For a few years, he and Indira lived with Nehru ji. Indira ji spent most of her time under the care of her father, the Prime Minister. In 1956, Feroze Gandhi stopped living in the Prime Minister’s residence and started living alone in an ordinary house of an MP.
In 1957, he was again elected as a member of the Lok Sabha. This time he raised many cases of corruption in the Parliament. Due to these, Finance Minister T.T. Krishnamachari had to resign from his post. He used to criticize many policies of the Prime Minister, especially industrial policies, without caring about his relations with the Nehru family. He was a very popular MP, but in the last years of his personal life, he became very lonely. Both his sons Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi also lived with their mother in the Prime Minister’s residence. Feroze Gandhi suffered a heart attack in 1960. Indira Gandhi had gone to Kerala at that time to participate in a women’s conference. On receiving the information, she immediately came to Delhi and Feroze Gandhi died on 8 September 1960.
