I always wondered as to why there are no
institutions or monuments in the name of Feroz Gandhi, husband of Indira
gandhi and father of Rajiv Gandhi.
Recently I have received the following
mail on Feroz Gandhi ,which throws some light on his personality. It appears
that brave and honest people have always been sidetracked in Indian politics.
"Mundhra Case" was highly publicised in 50s, But not sure whether
Feroz Gandhi was behind it's exposure.
Over 50 years
ago, an elegant Parsi in the Lok Sabha spoke , better to say roared. He was exposing the first scam though he
belonged to the ruling party. His father
in law, Nehru was hearing his thundering words. Nothing prevented Feroze Gandhi
from exposing corruption. The most
extraordinary aspect of Feroze Gandhis
work was the forensic precision with which he collected facts and the manner in
which he marshaled his arguments.
He exposed the scam on the Life Insurance
Corporation by Haridas Mundhra.
Feroze exposed how Mundhra manipulated the LIC to
purchase shares in his little known companies. Bowing to pressure, the
Government
appointed a commission of inquiry headed by Chief Justice MC Chagla who upheld Feroze's contentions and said
that the Finance Minister should take responsibility . TTK resigned, Finance
Secretary was sacked and Mundhra jailed..
Feroze exposed corruption by Dalmia- Jain in the
take over of Bennett and Colman by siphoning the funds of public money in
Gwalior Bank and Bharat Insurance. They
were the directors of these banking and insurance companies and transferred the
moneyinto their own company, which led to the immediate collapse of these
public institutions.
Feroze
exposed Birlas, Goenka (not the one running a newspaper).
Such was his
impact that within two months the insurance industry was nationalised.
When some alleged that Feroze was doingall this for Tata's, as both are Parsis, next cameone against Tata. Feroze exposed Telco for charging more than
double for an engine tothe railways, which led to the exit of Tata
and formation of locomotive workshops in the public sector.
Mahatma Gandhi is said to have told Ferozes
mother Rattimai in Allahabad in 1931:
If I get seven persons like him, India
would be free in seven days.
Feroze the greatest campaigner against corruption
passed away in 1960 at the age of 48. Seeing the huge crowd assembled forhis cremation, Nehru said : " I did not know
that Feroze was so popular "
Son-in-law of
one Prime Minister, husband of another and father of a third, its unfortunate
that his daughter-in-law and grandson have forgotten his great legacy.
Can you believe that her Government splurged Rs 7.25 crore on the birth
anniversaries of Indira and Rajiv, but nothing on Feroze's birth centenary.?
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