Name Gopalkrishna Gandhi Spouse Tara Gandhi | ||
Born 22 April 1945 (age 79) ( 1945-04-22 ) Siblings Rajmohan Gandhi, Ramchandra Gandhi, Tara Gandhi Bhattacharya Nieces Leela Gandhi, Supriya Gandhi Books Of a Certain Age: Twe, Refuge, Dara Shukoh: A Play, Saranam, Actors - Acting and Action: S Similar People | ||
Gopalkrishna gandhi india yesterday india today
Gopalkrishna Devdas Gandhi (born 22 April 1946) is a retired IAS officer and diplomat, who was the 22nd Governor of West Bengal serving from 2004 to 2009. He is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. As a former IAS officer he served as Secretary to the President of India and as High Commissioner to South Africa and Sri Lanka, among other administrative and diplomatic posts. He was the United Progressive Alliance nominee for Vice President of India 2017 elections. He obtained 244 votes against NDA candidate Venkaiah Naidu, who got 516 votes.
Contents
- Gopalkrishna gandhi india yesterday india today
- Shri gopalkrishna gandhi
- Early life and background
- Career
- Controversies
- Personal life
- References
Shri gopalkrishna gandhi
Early life and background
His paternal grandfather was Mahatma Gandhi and maternal grandfather was C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji). He is the son of Devadas Gandhi and Lakshmi Gandhi. Gopalkrishna Gandhi is the younger brother of Rajmohan Gandhi, and the late Ramchandra Gandhi, and Smt. Tara Bhattacharjee (Gandhi), all of whom are distinguished in their own right.
Gandhi graduated with a master's degree in English literature from St. Stephen's College of Delhi University.
Career
He joined IAS as an Officer in 1968 and served in Tamil Nadu state till 1985. Thereafter, he remained Secretary to Vice-President of India (1985 - 1987), Joint Secretary to President of India (1987 - 1992).
In 1992 he became Minister (Culture) in High Commission of India, UK and Director, The Nehru Centre, London, UK. This was followed by various diplomatic and administrative positions for the rest of his career including High Commissioner of India to South Africa and Lesotho (1996), Secretary to President of India (1997-2000), High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka (2000), and Ambassador of India to Norway, and Iceland (2002), before his retirement from IAS in 2003.
On 14 December 2004, he was appointed Governor of West Bengal following the expiry of the term of office of incumbent Viren J. Shah. He was succeeded by Devanand Konwar (the serving governor of Tripura), who was given additional charge of West Bengal. For a few months in 2006 he also took on additional duties as the Governor of Bihar.
He was the Chairman of Kalakshetra Foundation, Chennai from December 2011 to May 2014. He was the chairman of governing body of Indian Institute of Advanced Study, and president of its society on March 5, 2012 and served until May 2014.
Mr. Gandhi teaches at Ashoka University, where he is a Professor of History and Politics.
Controversies
While delivering the 15th D P Kohli Memorial Lecture for CBI on "Eclipse at Noon: Shadows Over India's Conscience" with nearly 3000 officers of the agency in the audience, Gandhi noted that "[The CBI] is seen as the government's hatchet, rather than honesty's ally. It is often called DDT — meaning not the dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane, the colourless, tasteless, odourless insecticide it should be, but the department of dirty tricks."
In 2015, he wrote a letter to the President of India, Dr. Pranab Mukherjee, to reconsider the rejection of the mercy plea of the 1993 Mumbai serial blast convict, Yakub Memon.
Personal life
Gopalkrishna Gandhi and his wife Tara Gandhi have two daughters.