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The "Gandhi" in India's "Gandhi dynasty"

This is a rare biography of a man who fathered India's ruling dynasty, yet he
is is hardly acknowledged in the family publiic discourse.  The father of
Rajiv and Sanjay Gandhi, he is the man from whom Indira Gandhi and the
dynasty gets its name (not from Mohandas!)

A fierce idealist, he worked long and underwent many jail terms fighting for
India's independence.  As a parliamentarian, he was respected across party
lines.  So how come the family isn't keen to name any airports and city
centers after him?

The answer lies in the complex tensions that fueled the lives of Indira and
Feroze in the decades after their inter-caste love marriage in 1942.
The two sons, Rajiv and Sanjay, were born two years and four years after the
marriage, during a period when Feroze, and occasionally Indira, were often in
British jails.

Feroze, Indira, and Jawaharlal

After independence, Feroze became the editor of the Lucknow based Pioneer
newspaper.  Indira gradually started helping Jawaharlal in his Prime
Ministerial role, particularly in managing the palatial Teen Murti house and
hosting guests etc.  She often commuted to Lucknow, but after the sons joined
school, he started going to Delhi to see them.  On these occasions, as Tariq
Ali says (see these excerpts):

	Jawaharlal always treated him correctly, but there was and unspoken
	tension, which was, in the case of Feroze, soon to reach the point of
	explosion.

Tensions rose partly due to small unspoken matters like Feroze's noisier
dining manners and his occasional off-colour jokes.  In 1952 however, Indira
worked for Feroze's election to Parliament from Rae Bareilly.  He was
re-elected from this constituency in 1957; later, Indira came here as his
widow, and the district has now become a strongold of the Gandhi family.

After the election, he moved to Delhi where he was allotted an MP's flat.
Although Indira and his two sons were in Delhi, they continued to live in
the relatively luxurious Teen Murti house, thus  "putting the final seal on
the separation" (Ali 1991, p.134).

In 1958 Feroze raised the Haridas Mundhra scandal in Parliament, embarrassing
Jawaharlal's government and leading to the resignation of the powerful
Finance minister.  This did not help endear him to the Nehrus.  In 1957 he
was re-elected from Rae Bareilly.

In 1958, after Feroze had a stroke, Indira again came by to help him
recuperate.  But he died in 1960, of another stroke, while she was travelling
abroad with her father.
--

Sashi Bhushan clearly admires FG immensely, particularly his independent and
fearless following of his own conscience, which is what led him, he says, to
oppose Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy for president (opposing the party line).  But
the book suffers from just poor English, and a slightly hagiographical
writing style; SB acknowledges that his greatest difficulty in writing was
his "being emotional.  I have been nursing great respect for him and his
family." p.15

Aside: Early scams in Independent India

Immediately after Indian independence, several businessmen, who had grown
close to the Congress party, started abusing their new-found access to
power.  Ram Kishan Dalmia, one of India's wealthiest business barons, used
funds from a publicly traded bank and a Life Insurance company, of which he
was the chairman, to fund
the acquisition of Bennett and Coleman in 1946.   The
bank went bankrupt within a year, and auditors for the insurance company
did not approve of these
transactions.  Their objections came to the
attention of Feroze Gandhi who, raised the matter in parliament in December
1955.   He documented
extensively the various fund transfers and intermediaries through which the
deal had been struck, and Dalmia was investigated by the Vivian Bose
Commission of Inquiry.  Dalmia had to mortgage Bennett and Coleman to
his son-in-law to repay the money, but in the end, he was sentenced to
Tihar jail.  However, Ram Kishan was a colouful character, and he appears to
have bribed a doctor (with the gift of a car, it is alleged) and spent the
time at hospital, returning soon to his newly married sixth wife.

The next year, Feroze Gandhi argued in Parliament for the nationalization of the
Insurance companies, and 245 firms were nationalized under the Life Insurance
of India Act and the LIC was born.

Immediately, the pitfalls of public ownership raised its ugly head.  In 1957,
the Calcutta-based businessman Haridas Mundhra got the LIC to invest Rs. 1.24
crores in the shares of six troubled companies belonging to Mundhra:
Richardson Cruddas, Jessops & Company, Smith Stanistreet, Osler Lamps, Agnelo
Brothers and British India Corporation. The investment was done under
governmental pressure and bypassed the LIC’s investment committee, which was
informed of this decision only after the deal had gone through. In the event,
LIC lost most of the money.

Despite the wishes of Nehru to softpedal the issue, Feroze went ahead and
raised it in parliament:
     Parliament must exercise vigilance and control over the biggest and most
     powerful financial institution it has created, the Life Insurance
     Corporation of India, whose misapplication of public funds we shall
     scrutinise today." p. 75, Speech in Parliament, December 16, 1957

In the end, with the event caused considerable loss of face for the fresh, clean
Nehru government.  His trusted Finance minister had to resign, and Mundhra
went to Tihar jail.  The Finance secretary and one other bureaucrat was also
charged in the matter.

Excerpts

In his maiden speech in parliament, 1955, he questioned Ram Krishan Dalmia's
corrupt running of the insurance business, which was eventually
nationalized, and Dalmia jailed. - intro by Rajni Patel, who had been with FG
in London

[However, SB clearly admires FG immensely, and also his independent and
fearless following of his own conscience, which is what led him, he says, to
oppose Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy for president.  But the book suffers from an
unbalanced, hagiographical writing style; acknowledges his greatest
difficulty in writing was his "being emotional.  I have been nursing great
respect for him and his family." p.15
]

In 1941, Feroze [and Indira] returned to India by the sea route. 53

Though Feroze & Indira knew each other for many yars, the contact was
mainly social and political... they had never visualised that one day they
would be married.  The circumstances created by the historical events took
such a turn that both were united in matrimony. 54

  [this seriously underplays Feroze's strong interest in Indira; he would
  talk to her mother of this, and Indira perhaps was not too happy with
  it.  See Tariq Ali for more on this.

[After the Mundhra episode] Parliament has made itself felt ; prestige has
risen high and I think collectively we have demonstrated the terrific
striking power of democracy. 75

Parliament must exercise vigilance and control over the biggest and most
powerful financial institution it has created, the Life Insurance Corporation
of India, whose misapplication of public funds we shall scrutinise
today. [Dec 16, 1957] 76

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." [dec 16 speech,
on LIC Mundhra deal.] p. 88