Feroze Ghandi

Early Life

Feroze Gandhi was born on 12 September 1912 in Bombay. He was a student at Ewing Christian College. In 1930, he quit his studies to join the Indian freedom struggle. Later, in 1935, Gandhi went to London to complete his education at the London School of Economics and obtained a B.Sc. degree. In  London, he fully immersed himself in student politics.

Role in India’s Independence Movement

In the year 1930, Gandhi was imprisoned along with Lal Bahadur Shastri, when the British banned the Congress Party. After his release, he was imprisoned twice again in 1932 and 1933 while working with Jawaharlal Nehru on the agrarian no-rent campaign in erstwhile Uttar Pradesh.

As a student in England (1936- 1941) he actively participated in anti-fascism and pro-freedom struggle movements organised by Indian students. On returning to India, Gandhi was arrested and imprisoned for a year in 1942 at Allahabad for his involvement in the Quit India Movement.

Contribution to Constitution Making

Gandhi was elected to the Constituent Assembly from the United Provinces through a Congress ticket. He was not an active participant during the debates.

Later Contributions

He was a member of the Provincial Parliament (1950-1952). Gandhi won his first general election in the year 1952 from Rai Bareli, Uttar Pradesh.

After independence, in the year 1956, Feroze Gandhi introduced a private member’s bill to protect the freedom of the press. He believed that Indians had the right to know about Parliament’s day-to-day functioning. This bill led to the Parliamentary Proceedings (Protection of Publication) Act 1956 which allowed the media to report on Parliamentary proceedings.

In 1957 Gandhi was re-elected as a Member of the Parliament. He raised the issue of India’s first financial scam in the Lok Sabha and demanded an internal inquiry by an in-house committee. The investigation led to the resignation of the then finance minister, TT Krishnamachari.

Feroze Gandhi was married to Indira Gandhi, who became India’s first woman Prime Minister in 1966. 

He passed away on 8 September 1960.