Swedish author Bertil Falk claims Feroze Gandhi was marginalised not only by his family but also by the Congress party in the past
Giving a fresh twist to the Gandhi family history, Bertil Falk, who has authored the most detailed account on Feroze Gandhi’s life and times, has said his wife Indira Gandhi and son Sanjay rubbished all that Feroze stood for.
“Indira and Sanjay Gandhi threw everything that Feroze Gandhi stood for in the dustbin,” he said at the Nehru Memorial Wednesday.
Not just that, Falk went on to say it was because of Feroze’s efforts in Rae Bareli that the family continues to retain the seat till date. “Only because of Feroze Gandhi did Rae Bareli go to Congress, otherwise they would have lost completely in UP.”
When asked whether the Gandhi family has completely forgotten Feroze, just like the way he has titled his book ‘The Forgotten Gandhi’ that hit the stands last year, the Swedish journalist-turned-writer, said: “The Gandhi family may not have totally removed him from memory, but have not also moved towards his politics.”
Falk’s remarks come at a time when the current generation of Gandhi siblings — Rahul, Priyanka and even Varun — are going through a rough patch in their political career. Varun’s rift with the BJP is quite apparent given the fact that his name did not figure in the BJP star campaigners’ list ahead of the UP assembly elections.
Falk, however, appreciated the efforts of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in strengthening the party. “Rahul Gandhi is working very hard in an extremely difficult situation,” he said.
According to Falk, Feroze was marginalised not only by his family but also by the Congress party in the past.
Falk claims Feroze was always overshadowed by his wife Indira. “Feroze Gandhi was the pain in the back for his wife and Nehru.”
While Indira and Feroze were both nationalist and socialist, Falk said she was more authoritarian. “Feroze Gandhi even called her a fascist when she dismissed the communist government in Kerala,” Falk wrote in his book.
Despite these political differences, Indira reportedly confessed that of all the people closest to her, Feroze Gandhi’s death affected her the most, said Falk, who helped Katherine Frank in her research before she started writing the biography of Indira Gandhi.
He was delivering a lecture on “The Democratic Parliamentarian” at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library Wednesday.