Maneka Gandhi - Early Life

Early Life

Maneka Gandhi was born in a Sikh family to Lt. Col. Tarlochan Singh Anand and Amteshwar Anand. She was born in Delhi and educated at the Lawrence School, Sanawar and later at Lady Shri Ram College for Women in New Delhi where she earned an ISC. Subsequently, she studied German at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Maneka married Sanjay Gandhi, the son of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 23 September 1974.

Sanjay and Maneka lived with Indira Gandhi and Sanjay grew increasingly involved in Indian politics as part of the Youth Congress. Maneka often accompanied him on his travels. She was also the Founder Editor of Surya, a political news monthly. When the Congress party was defeated in 1977, Maneka turned the magazine into a platform to promote and defend the Congress party, her husband and mother-in-law. Surya magazine carried regular interviews with Indira Gandhi, and was instrumental in refurbishing her image. Maneka accompanied Indira Gandhi to Chikmagalur from where Indira was re-elected. Dom Moraes who covered that visit remarked on the junior Mrs Gandhi’s lively intelligence and charisma. Khushwant Singh once likened Maneka to +‘Durga’.

During the period between 1977–1980, Sanjay was ruthlessly hounded and often jailed by the new Government. It even sought to impound Maneka’s passport against which she went to court and won a landmark decision on personal liberty. In the case of Maneka Gandhi v Union of India, of 1979, the court found that "Democracy is based essentially on free debate and open discussion, for that is the only corrective of government action in a democratic setup."

With Maneka by his side, Sanjay led the Congress party back to power within just three years. A son was born to the couple that same year, 1980. Sanjay named the child Feroze after his own father. Indira added the name Varun. Maneka was just 23 years and her son, just 100 days old, when Sanjay died in an air crash. In March 1983,after falling out with her mother-in-law, Maneka founded her own political party, the Rashtriya Sanjay Manch which focused on youth empowerment and employment. The Manch won 4 out of the first 5 seats it contested—in the state elections of Andhra Pradesh.

Maneka filed her own nomination from her husband’s seat, Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, and the election campaign of 1984 was in full swing when her mother in law, Indira was assassinated by her own bodyguards. Maneka condemned the assassination as a "frightening act of violence".She called for an independent commission to probe the assassination composed of "eminent persons with a reputation for honesty and fearlessness who have no political connection".

Riding the massive sympathy wave in the ensuing elections, Rajiv Gandhi defeated Maneka in Amethi and became Prime Minister.

In 1988, Maneka merged the Rashtriya Sanjay Manch with the main opposition party, the Janata Dal and became its General Secretary. The party won the general elections and at 33, Maneka Gandhi became India’s youngest Minister. As Minister of Environment & Forests in two successive governments, Maneka introduced a number of historic legislations including the Coastal Zone Regulation Act and The Public Liability Act for Hazardous Chemicals. She also created the National Zoo Authority to regulate zoos, set up Environmental Tribunals, notified protection for old monuments as Heritage sites, introduced testing and controls for vehicular pollution, devised the comparative testing scheme Eco-Mark for environmentally friendly products, formed the Vivisection Regulatory Committee to eliminate duplicative animal research, and set up the Animal Welfare Board of India. She negotiated the Montreal Protocol on behalf of the Government of India and introduced the ‘polluter pays’ concept.

Contesting as an Independent candidate from Pilibhit, Maneka was re-elected in 1996 and again in 1998 with among the highest margins of victory in the country.

She was the Minister for Environment and Forests from 1989-91, and the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment from 1998-99. In 1999, Maneka lent support to the BJP India’s leading opposition party led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The party was elected to power and Maneka became Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment. Here she played a historic role in the Indian pension reforms effort, through the early phase of Project OASIS. OASIS is an acronym for Old Age Social and Income Security. Maneka Gandhi played a key role in the initiation and early thinking on this scheme, going up to the point where it was transferred to the Ministry of Finance for implementation. This went on to become the celebrated New Pension System (NPS) which was implemented for new recruits into the central government from 2004 onwards. She also restructured the Rehabilitation Council of India, simplified the adoption laws, initiated a helpline for street children, funded the first disability hospitals in the country, initiated a national network of outlets for tribal products, funded training facilities for retired armed forces personnel and put together an $11 million rehabilitation programme for the disabled.

She was instrumental in creating India’s Animal Welfare Ministry—a first in the world, and serving as its first Minister. As Minister for Animal Welfare, she banned the use of bears, primates and big cats in public performances, designed an Animal Welfare Institute to impart training in the field, and made it mandatory for food and cosmetics to be labeled veg and non veg (green and brown dots) depending on their ingredients.

Maneka Gandhi was subsequently Minister for Culture and Minister for Programme Implementation.

In 2004, Maneka joined the BJP and again contested and won from Pilibhit. She has won 5 out of the 6 times she has contested from Pilibhit. This is a measure of her enormous personal popularity in the region attributed to her assiduously nurturing the constituency.

In 2009, Maneka fought and won from neighbouring Aonla while her son, Varun Gandhi fought and won from Pilibhit.

As a six term Member of Parliament, Maneka Gandhi is among the most senior legislators of India. She is currently Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Govt. Assurances.