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Feroze: The Forgotten Gandhi
Bertil Falk (b. 1933) is a highly respected Swedish newspaper and TV journalist, who spent more than ten years of his life in India, England and the United States. His love for writing started with a short science fiction story, published when he was 12, he then did a few radio programmes when he was 15 and got a mystery novel published when he was 20. Since then he has worked for different newspapers, primarily Kvällsposten (The Evening Post) and from the years 1987–1989 he was in the newsroom of the Swedish TV3 in London. After retirement he has written about 35 books (fiction and non-fiction) and besides translating many mystery writers into Swedish he also translated and edited into English two anthologies of short stories by Swedish mystery writers. He was the editor of the cultural magazine DAST for a few years and contributed until recently for fiction as well as non-fiction to the internet-zine Bewildering Stories. He also filmed and produced video documentaries in Africa. For the past ten years, until recently, he produced community radio programmes for Trelleborg Sjöormen Rotary Club, where he is a member.
320 pages, Hardcover
Published October 15, 2016
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183 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 1, 2016
Quite an illustrative account of an illustrious model for India (as per his political career) but never given his due..
July 24, 2020
My name is Feroze Jehangir Gandhi and this is my story :-
Feroze, the forgotten gandhi, is the story of a parsi boy, who was born in Bombay, but grew up with her aunt ( according to rumors she was her real mother) in allahabad.
For more information you can visit - https://dontbignorant.in/feroze-gandh...
Feroze, the forgotten gandhi, is the story of a parsi boy, who was born in Bombay, but grew up with her aunt ( according to rumors she was her real mother) in allahabad.
For more information you can visit - https://dontbignorant.in/feroze-gandh...
June 21, 2017
FEROZE THE FORGOTTEN GANDHI GANDHI by BERTIL FALK
Feroze Gandhi is known as the husband of Indira Gandhi, and the father of Rajiv and Sanjay. But he was so much more. Swedish journalist, Bertil Falk, after years of research on the former freedom fighter, uncovers nuggets of the man after talking to his contemporaries and piecing together the numerous dimensions of this popular man who was a fearless Congressman and an active parliamentarian. Falk presents the facts and builds the sketch of a man who loved life and took everything in his stride, his numerous stints in jail, the initial rejection of his proposal for marriage by his future wife, even his famous father-in-law's veiled contempt.
Feroze Gandhi is known as the husband of Indira Gandhi, and the father of Rajiv and Sanjay. But he was so much more. Swedish journalist, Bertil Falk, after years of research on the former freedom fighter, uncovers nuggets of the man after talking to his contemporaries and piecing together the numerous dimensions of this popular man who was a fearless Congressman and an active parliamentarian. Falk presents the facts and builds the sketch of a man who loved life and took everything in his stride, his numerous stints in jail, the initial rejection of his proposal for marriage by his future wife, even his famous father-in-law's veiled contempt.
November 22, 2017
Bertil Falk is a Swedish journalist and understand that he researched the book for 40 years and made innumerable visits to India to speak to people related to Feroze Gandhi and also the usual research in all the national archives.
Feroze Gandhi is one of the rare enigmas of Indian history. Air brushed out of history by the GOP as an inconvenient fact of history and an aberration of the blue blooded Nehru dynasty, we hardly have read any serious work on him.
Most references are innuendoes about his own paternity, his alleged ‘relationship’ with Kamala Nehru, or as an interloper who did social climbing by marrying into the Nehru family. In summary, life and history has dealt him a wrong card….and we never knew who the real Feroze Gandhi was.
Bertil Falk’s painstaking research is obvious as you read the book. He takes head-on the insinuations about his paternity and unfortunately does not provide us cogent answers and leaves us more confused.
For the first time, we get a chance to read about his early childhood, a normal mischievous boy growing up in Allahabad staying with an indulgent doctor aunt, his involvement in student politics, his role as a parliamentarian who scalped quite a few heads in Nehru’s government thru his painstaking research in exposing the financial peccadilloes of the Congress party ( think TTK / Mundhra scandals) ……this part of his life is something we have never read about.
There is more on his ‘serving’ the ailing Mrs Nehru, getting close to Indira Gandhi, their romance in London ( neither of them finally got any formal degrees for their ‘education’), the misgivings of the Nehru family, his role as a journalist and his adventures with National Herald, his rather listless relationship with his wife and later living separately as Mrs. Gandhi moved in with her widowed father to help manage the PM household.
Overall, the author seems very indulgent about his subject and possibly wanted to redeem the life of the most unknown Gandhi ever and present his perspective about the man, the husband, the politician and the friend.
You end up liking Feroze Gandhi after you complete the book. He was generous, fun loving, a doting father, a reasonable freedom fighter and later, an effective parliamentarian….and to complete the picture…he had a roving eye too.
My only complaint is with the presentation of the book …..it gets boring at times as interviews are quoted verbatim of long long acquaintances of Feroze Gandhi.The author seems to have crammed all the research that he did into the book. . It needs a good scrub by a ruthless editor You need a lot of patience to complete the book.
The life and times of Feroze Gandhi possibly deserved a better written book.
Feroze Gandhi is one of the rare enigmas of Indian history. Air brushed out of history by the GOP as an inconvenient fact of history and an aberration of the blue blooded Nehru dynasty, we hardly have read any serious work on him.
Most references are innuendoes about his own paternity, his alleged ‘relationship’ with Kamala Nehru, or as an interloper who did social climbing by marrying into the Nehru family. In summary, life and history has dealt him a wrong card….and we never knew who the real Feroze Gandhi was.
Bertil Falk’s painstaking research is obvious as you read the book. He takes head-on the insinuations about his paternity and unfortunately does not provide us cogent answers and leaves us more confused.
For the first time, we get a chance to read about his early childhood, a normal mischievous boy growing up in Allahabad staying with an indulgent doctor aunt, his involvement in student politics, his role as a parliamentarian who scalped quite a few heads in Nehru’s government thru his painstaking research in exposing the financial peccadilloes of the Congress party ( think TTK / Mundhra scandals) ……this part of his life is something we have never read about.
There is more on his ‘serving’ the ailing Mrs Nehru, getting close to Indira Gandhi, their romance in London ( neither of them finally got any formal degrees for their ‘education’), the misgivings of the Nehru family, his role as a journalist and his adventures with National Herald, his rather listless relationship with his wife and later living separately as Mrs. Gandhi moved in with her widowed father to help manage the PM household.
Overall, the author seems very indulgent about his subject and possibly wanted to redeem the life of the most unknown Gandhi ever and present his perspective about the man, the husband, the politician and the friend.
You end up liking Feroze Gandhi after you complete the book. He was generous, fun loving, a doting father, a reasonable freedom fighter and later, an effective parliamentarian….and to complete the picture…he had a roving eye too.
My only complaint is with the presentation of the book …..it gets boring at times as interviews are quoted verbatim of long long acquaintances of Feroze Gandhi.The author seems to have crammed all the research that he did into the book. . It needs a good scrub by a ruthless editor You need a lot of patience to complete the book.
The life and times of Feroze Gandhi possibly deserved a better written book.
March 6, 2020
Feroze Jahangir Gandhi deserves a special place in Indian politics, not only for his personal work as a freedom fighter and parliamentarian, but for also being the close relative of three Prime Ministers – the son-in-law of one, the husband of another and the father of yet another. As is expected from a man who entered into matrimony with a lady much higher than his station in life, Gandhi played second fiddle to Jawaharlal Nehru, his father-in-law and later to Indira, his wife, after she took over as the party president. But he came out of the shell in the last five years of life, locking horns with Nehru by exposing the widespread corruption in his cabinet. His well targeted allegations proved to be a real pain in the neck for Nehru that he had to sack his own trusted finance minister when it was proved that there is substance in the accusations raised by Feroze. His legacy was not so honoured during the Congress rule as the relations between Feroze and Indira had become strained in the last years and there was serious talk of trying for a divorce. This book is a biography of Feroze Gandhi that tries to clarify the real person underneath the political figure he grew into due to his high connections. Bertil Falk is a retired Swedish newspaper and TV journalist who became interested in India at the age of nine after reading a captivating story about an ordinary boy becoming a maharaja. This book is his personal narrative from four decades of research and one-on-one travels and interviews through political India.
The author tries to stir up controversy when he puts up Feroze Gandhi as some kind of mysterious figure whose both parentages are disputed. This is somewhat crude and plain uncharitable. He was born as the son of Jahangir Faredoon Gandhi and Rattimai Commissariat on September 12, 1912 at the Parsi lying-in hospital in the Fort area of Mumbai. He was later adopted by his maternal aunt, Shirin Commissariat, who was an unmarried doctor practicing at Allahabad. Falk searched for old records at the hospital, but turned up empty-handed. He then suggests that Feroze was indeed the biological son of his foster mother, born out of an amorous relationship with a reputed lawyer of Allahabad named Kamla Prasad Kakar. It is also noted that Kakar had arranged for Nehru's early release from jail in 1941 so that Feroze’s marriage with Indira could be solemnized with Nehru's blessings. But the author’s suggestion to do a DNA test of Feroze’s descendants comparing with those of Kakar’s to prove it beyond doubt is simply outrageous and a horrible invasion of individual privacy. He also opens up on another rumour that Nawab Khan, a Muslim liquor supplier, was his real father. However, he categorically refutes this one.
Falk was drawn to Feroze by his work in the last five years of his life. Remember, he died of a heart attack at the relatively young age of 48. During the last five years of his life, Feroze Gandhi forcibly came out with his own personal work on the political scene in the Lok Sabha by introducing ‘investigative journalism’ as a tool of parliamentary work. If he had died at 43 instead of 48, the author declares that he would not have bothered to write this biography. When India became independent, the British found it expedient to hand over power to the Congress party in the divided India because it had truly assimilated the British administrative principles and who were quite willing to play by the rules set by them. In effect, Congress could project an image of itself as the party that won Independence for India. During the first decade of parliamentary debates after the country turned a republic, the opposition failed to rally behind a cohesive principle or movement. The main opposition was the Communist party which was a distant second to Congress. The other opposition party was rightist, which ruled out any alliance or understanding with the left. The venal politicians and bureaucrats in Nehru's administration exploited this lack of effective opposition and unquestioned prominence to their advantage by indulging in rampant corruption. Feroze Gandhi, finding this unpardonable void, stepped into the shoes of the opposition leader. This book even suggests that Feroze’s leadership traits were immense though dormant, and there is even a hint that he would have succeeded Nehru or Lal Bahadur Shastri as prime minister had he been alive. This line of thought probably underestimates the vaulting ambitions of Indira and the author too discounts this hypothesis after a saner scrutiny.
Feroze was a part of the fabric and pattern that political success in India was made of. In spite of his matrimonial credentials, he was a man of ability and action and an individual with great potential. He served four jail terms and was as good a freedom fighter as anyone else. He had that experience of working among the rural folk, which, in the Congress, elites like Nehru could not claim. Feroze was elected on a Congress ticket from the Rae Bareli constituency. The author rules out nepotism in this case. He deserved the selection and if it was not for Nehru, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, a prominent Congress politician with whom Feroze was in close proximity, would have ensured a ticket for him nevertheless. Falk also highlights a streak of inconsistency in his character. Feroze had bitterly complained about the treatment meted out to him by the French police at Paris where he had gone to cover a labour strike as part of the journalistic team of the National Herald. His camera was confiscated and he was ill-treated. This book presents another instance when the same man turned the aggressor against a lady journalist for essentially repeating the same scenario. Margaret Bourke-White was an American photographer and journalist for the Life magazine. She surreptitiously took the photo of Mahatma Gandhi as his body was laid on the floor in preparation for lying in state. She did this in clear violation of instructions and Feroze Gandhi forcibly confiscated the camera and destroyed the film by exposing it to daylight.
The author follows parliamentary debates to offer details regarding the Mundhra Scam, which was one of the first corruption scandals that rocked Nehru’s boat. Feroze vehemently attacked the finance minister T T Krishnamachari’s involvement in instructing the Life Insurance Corporation of India to salvage Mundhra’s crumbling finances by buying large tranches of the shares of his companies at artificially inflated prices. Krishnamachari had to resign, but this shook Feroze’s confidence in the socialistic model as he was under the impression that capitalism alone fostered corruption.
The author has done a great deal of work in tracing the sources of information he shares with the readers. He has met all the personalities who were still alive and could contribute to the knowledge on Feroze Gandhi. Most of the ground work was done in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but he presumably then took nearly two decades to compile it and publish in book form. This delay is unexplainable though Falk claims that it was due to his desire to publish the biography on the occasion of the centenary of Feroze’s birth in 2012. This time gap eats away at the relevance of the book, especially after the year 2014 when the BJP- led government made it a policy not to let go of any opportunity to strike at the Nehru dynasty’s legacy. This book also includes a nice collection of photos.
The book is recommended.
The author tries to stir up controversy when he puts up Feroze Gandhi as some kind of mysterious figure whose both parentages are disputed. This is somewhat crude and plain uncharitable. He was born as the son of Jahangir Faredoon Gandhi and Rattimai Commissariat on September 12, 1912 at the Parsi lying-in hospital in the Fort area of Mumbai. He was later adopted by his maternal aunt, Shirin Commissariat, who was an unmarried doctor practicing at Allahabad. Falk searched for old records at the hospital, but turned up empty-handed. He then suggests that Feroze was indeed the biological son of his foster mother, born out of an amorous relationship with a reputed lawyer of Allahabad named Kamla Prasad Kakar. It is also noted that Kakar had arranged for Nehru's early release from jail in 1941 so that Feroze’s marriage with Indira could be solemnized with Nehru's blessings. But the author’s suggestion to do a DNA test of Feroze’s descendants comparing with those of Kakar’s to prove it beyond doubt is simply outrageous and a horrible invasion of individual privacy. He also opens up on another rumour that Nawab Khan, a Muslim liquor supplier, was his real father. However, he categorically refutes this one.
Falk was drawn to Feroze by his work in the last five years of his life. Remember, he died of a heart attack at the relatively young age of 48. During the last five years of his life, Feroze Gandhi forcibly came out with his own personal work on the political scene in the Lok Sabha by introducing ‘investigative journalism’ as a tool of parliamentary work. If he had died at 43 instead of 48, the author declares that he would not have bothered to write this biography. When India became independent, the British found it expedient to hand over power to the Congress party in the divided India because it had truly assimilated the British administrative principles and who were quite willing to play by the rules set by them. In effect, Congress could project an image of itself as the party that won Independence for India. During the first decade of parliamentary debates after the country turned a republic, the opposition failed to rally behind a cohesive principle or movement. The main opposition was the Communist party which was a distant second to Congress. The other opposition party was rightist, which ruled out any alliance or understanding with the left. The venal politicians and bureaucrats in Nehru's administration exploited this lack of effective opposition and unquestioned prominence to their advantage by indulging in rampant corruption. Feroze Gandhi, finding this unpardonable void, stepped into the shoes of the opposition leader. This book even suggests that Feroze’s leadership traits were immense though dormant, and there is even a hint that he would have succeeded Nehru or Lal Bahadur Shastri as prime minister had he been alive. This line of thought probably underestimates the vaulting ambitions of Indira and the author too discounts this hypothesis after a saner scrutiny.
Feroze was a part of the fabric and pattern that political success in India was made of. In spite of his matrimonial credentials, he was a man of ability and action and an individual with great potential. He served four jail terms and was as good a freedom fighter as anyone else. He had that experience of working among the rural folk, which, in the Congress, elites like Nehru could not claim. Feroze was elected on a Congress ticket from the Rae Bareli constituency. The author rules out nepotism in this case. He deserved the selection and if it was not for Nehru, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, a prominent Congress politician with whom Feroze was in close proximity, would have ensured a ticket for him nevertheless. Falk also highlights a streak of inconsistency in his character. Feroze had bitterly complained about the treatment meted out to him by the French police at Paris where he had gone to cover a labour strike as part of the journalistic team of the National Herald. His camera was confiscated and he was ill-treated. This book presents another instance when the same man turned the aggressor against a lady journalist for essentially repeating the same scenario. Margaret Bourke-White was an American photographer and journalist for the Life magazine. She surreptitiously took the photo of Mahatma Gandhi as his body was laid on the floor in preparation for lying in state. She did this in clear violation of instructions and Feroze Gandhi forcibly confiscated the camera and destroyed the film by exposing it to daylight.
The author follows parliamentary debates to offer details regarding the Mundhra Scam, which was one of the first corruption scandals that rocked Nehru’s boat. Feroze vehemently attacked the finance minister T T Krishnamachari’s involvement in instructing the Life Insurance Corporation of India to salvage Mundhra’s crumbling finances by buying large tranches of the shares of his companies at artificially inflated prices. Krishnamachari had to resign, but this shook Feroze’s confidence in the socialistic model as he was under the impression that capitalism alone fostered corruption.
The author has done a great deal of work in tracing the sources of information he shares with the readers. He has met all the personalities who were still alive and could contribute to the knowledge on Feroze Gandhi. Most of the ground work was done in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but he presumably then took nearly two decades to compile it and publish in book form. This delay is unexplainable though Falk claims that it was due to his desire to publish the biography on the occasion of the centenary of Feroze’s birth in 2012. This time gap eats away at the relevance of the book, especially after the year 2014 when the BJP- led government made it a policy not to let go of any opportunity to strike at the Nehru dynasty’s legacy. This book also includes a nice collection of photos.
The book is recommended.
January 8, 2017
The author needs to be complimented on his choice of subject , tenacity, passion and tremendous research and effort taken to write this biography. It required a European to write on the FORGOTTEN GANDHI. But for him marrying Indira gandhi India would have the descendants of Nehru be political Masters of India , but it if had been around longer maybe / possibly there would not have been a dynasty lording over Indian president political scene. I was enthralled reading about the forgotten Gandhi. And enjoyed the book and the narration
November 6, 2024
Phenomenal.
December 24, 2021
Note: Students of India - n history and politics
I'd like to express my profound gratitude to the author for his extremely thorough treatment of the subject. My best wishes to him for allowing us an enjoyable and enlightening read which will be a key resting place for students of Indian Politics and history.
Here's hoping Chote Gandhi will be remembered better in the coming days.
I'd like to express my profound gratitude to the author for his extremely thorough treatment of the subject. My best wishes to him for allowing us an enjoyable and enlightening read which will be a key resting place for students of Indian Politics and history.
Here's hoping Chote Gandhi will be remembered better in the coming days.
July 2, 2024
Never before has someone invested time and resources so deeply in order to learn and understand the lesser-known scions of the Gandhi-Nehru family.
This book also states FEROZE GANDHI's wayward life and affairs that cemented his downfall.
We also notice a different INDIRA GANDHI and the challenges she endured greatly while dealing with her father and husband respectively.
This book also states FEROZE GANDHI's wayward life and affairs that cemented his downfall.
We also notice a different INDIRA GANDHI and the challenges she endured greatly while dealing with her father and husband respectively.
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January 14, 2017Bit of a lost opportunity really. The appendices and extensive footnotes are a great addition. But in terms of specifically understanding Feroze Gandhi, the book does not contribute much.
December 17, 2016
The 83 year old author has done tremendous research work to unearth hitherto unknown facets of Firoz Gandhi. A picture of true parliamentarian emerges. Also that of a proponent of democratic values and an emancipator of the downtrodden. Great book
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews