On 27 April 1942, Indira Gandhi reached Dehradun to meet her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, in jail. She had earlier travelled to Sevagram to seek Mahatma Gandhi’s consent for her intention to marry Feroze Gandhi, as per her promise to her “Papu”. During those hours with her father in the Dehradun jail, she firmly told about it. Her biographer and a closed friend, Pupul Jayakar, quotes : “Indira did not yield: she told her father that she wanted anonymity and a life free of turmoil. She wanted to marry, have children, care for her children and her husband in a home filled with books, music and friends.” Though Nehru was stunned, he gave consent for her marriage to Feroze, who not only “belonged to a very different background and class but had no money”. The love blossomed in England during their student days, Feroze, being at London School of Economics (LSE) and Indira at Oxford, both returned to India together in April 1941 without earning degrees. Her German teacher at Shantiniketan, Frank Oberdorf, was madly in love with her but Indira wrote to him on 13 October 1936 that “she did not love him.”
The Mahatma dissuade both Indira and Feroze to marry but when found that she was adamant, he gave in. Of course, Indira was furious with the Mahatma suggesting newly married couples to be celibate. She bluntly told Gandhiji : “You ask the couple not to get married- that makes sense to me. But when they are just married, to ask them to live a life of celibacy, makes no sense. It can result only bitterness and unhappiness.”
“If you love him you can live with him, but why marriage?” was the question shot at Indu by her aunt, Vijayalakshmi Pandit in presence of her another aunt, Krishna at Anand Bhawan, Allahabad. Krishna who initially opposed her plans to marry a Parsi gave up arguments in her support. Both sisters of Jawahar could not digest Feroze who took care of Indira’s ailing mother, Kamala, before her death was to become the son-in-law of a wealthy Kashmiri Pandit family. Even Rajeshwari Kaul, Kamala’s mother, spent many hours discussing her plans to marry Feroze. She told her : “You have been brought up in luxury, in large house with servants. Feroze has no money and we do not know how his family will view the marriage. Will it be possible for you to adjust to this entirely new situation?” Stating that organized religion counted very little in both their lives, Indira replied: “Like my mother I am an austere woman, very frugal and although I lived in Anand Bhawan, I will be equally happy in a peasant’s hut.” Everybody gave up arguing with Indira and they all were set for the marriage with Vedic tradition on Ramnavami day, on 16 March 1942. The marriage was attended by her father and aunts apart from relatives of Feroze including his mother. Both went to Kashmir for two month long honeymoon to be followed by her imprisonment during “Quit India”.
Feroze is said to have born on 12 September 1912 at the Tehmulji Nariman Parsi Hospital at Fort, Mumbai, was the last and fifth child of a marine engineer, Jahangir Fardoon Gandhi(Gandhy) from Bharuch and his wife, Rattimai Gandhi, nee Commissariat, from Surat. He was brought up by his unmarried aunt, Dr. Shirin Commissariat, who was head of Lady Dufferin Hospital at Allahabad. In a well researched biography published in 2016, “Feroze the forgotten Gandhi”, the Swedish journalist, Bertil Falk, hints at Feroze being the “love child” of Dr. Shirin and Raj Bahadur Kamla Prasad Kakkar stating : “Only DNA would lay this controversy to rest once and for all.” The Swedish writer has not come across any documentation backing the rumour about his Muslim origin or Mahatma Gandhi helping him change the surname or supporting an alleged secret Muslim marriage ceremony.
Feroze always was known for his roving eye. His friend from London days, Bhupesh Gupta, a Marxist leader, had asked Feroze in presence of Indira before their marriage : “Will you be faithful?” He proved to be right. Most of his friends conceded Feroze to be a womanizer. When he was given the charge of the National Herald and he stayed at Lucknow, he got involved with a woman from one of the prominent Muslim landed families. Feroze even talked about getting married to the lady. Nehru managed to get him appointed in Indian Express at Delhi, requesting the proprietor, Ram Nath Goenka. Feroze was elected to the Lok Sabha from Rae Bareilly in 1952. Even when he came to stay at Teen Murti, “in the evenings would be the Diwan-e-Khas(special audience) where Feroze met his special friends, among them a number of women. Feroze sought solace away from his wife. They were now rarely seen together,” records Pupul. With her children in boarding-school and she busy attending her Prime Minister father, distance was widening. In 1954, Feroze targeted his father-in-law’s government in his maiden speech regarding the Mundhra Deal leading to the resignation of the Finance Minister, T. T. Krishnamachari (TTK).
Three issues created hell in the married life of Indira and Feroze: First, being the first lady her status was above that of her husband at PM House. Second, when she was appointed the Congress President and started getting attention, he was feeling humiliated. Third, when she managed to get the first Communist govt in Kerala dismissed in 1959, he called her “fascist and anti-democratic”. Of course, even in September 1958, Feroze was spreading all sort of stories about Indira’s affairs. She had told Pupul : “Before you hear from gossip circles in Delhi, let me tell you that I am divorcing Feroze.” Indira wrote to her friend, Dorothy Norman : “A veritable sea of trouble is engulfing me. On the domestic front, Feroze has always resented my very existence, but since I have become President ( of the Congress Party), he exudes hostility that it seems to poison the air.” Unfortunately, Feroze died of second heart attack in Delhi hospital on 8 September 1960 at an early age of forty eight when she was away to Kerala. She felt “ I am alone in the midst of the unending sandy water.” After spending years in jail in British India, Nehru became first Prime Minister. His daughter, Indira Gandhi, too became PM for the longest period and was shot dead by her Sikh security guards.
Her son, Rajiv, also became PM and was blasted off by LTTE human bombs. What a sad story of the first family of India!
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( The writer is a Socio-political Historian. E-mail : [email protected] )
