Indian politician and activist
Maneka Sanjay Gandhi (also spelled Menaka; née Anand) (born 26 August 1956) is an Indian politician, animal rights activist, and environmentalist. She is a member of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She is the widow of Indian politician Sanjay Gandhi. She has been a minister in four governments, most recently in Narendra Modi's government from May 2014 to May 2019.
She also authored a number of books in the areas of etymology, law and animal welfare.
Personal life
Maneka Anand was born on 26 August 1956 in Delhi, India into a Sikh family. Her father was Indian Army officer Lt. Col. Tarlochan Singh Anand and her mother was Amardeep Kaur Anand, daughter of Sir Datar Singh. She was educated at The Lawrence School, Sanawar[1] and later at Lady Shri Ram College for Women.[2][3] She subsequently studied German at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.[4]
Maneka first met Sanjay Gandhi in 1973 at a cocktail party thrown by her uncle, Major-General Kapur, to celebrate the forthcoming marriage of his son. Maneka married Gandhi, the son of the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, one year later on 23 September 1974.[5]
The Emergency of 1975–77 saw the rise of Sanjay into politics and Maneka was seen with him almost every time on his tours as she helped him in campaigns. It is often said that during the Emergency, Sanjay had total control over his mother (Indira) and that the government was run by the PMH (Prime Minister House) rather than the PMO (Prime Minister Office).[6][7][8]
Maneka Gandhi founded the news magazine Surya which later played a key role in promotion of the Congress party after its defeat in the 1977 election following the Emergency.
Gandhi went to court to fight an attempt by the government in power at the time to confiscate her passport and won a landmark decision on personal liberty. In the case of Maneka Gandhi v Union of India,[9] 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."
In 1980, Gandhi gave birth to a son, Feroze, named after his paternal grandfather. Her mother-in-law added the name Varun. Gandhi was just twenty-three years old, and her son just 100 days old, when her husband died in an air crash.[10]
Early life and career
Maneka's relationship with Indira Gandhi gradually disintegrated after Sanjay's death and they would continually argue with one another. Maneka was eventually forced out of 1, Safdarjung Road, the prime minister's residence, after a fallout with Indira.[3] On 3 April 1983, she founded the Rashtriya Sanjay Manch along with Akbar Ahmad.[11] The party primarily focused on youth empowerment and employment. It won four out of five seats in the Elections in Andhra Pradesh.
Gandhi published The Complete Book of Muslim and Parsi Names, in recognition of her husband's Zoroastrian faith.[12][13]
She later published The Penguin Book of Hindu Names for Boys.[14]
Gandhi contested the Amethi constituency from Uttar Pradesh for the 1984 general election for the Lok Sabha, but lost to Rajiv Gandhi. In 1988, she joined V. P. Singh's Janata Dal Party and became the General Secretary. In the 1989 Indian general election, Gandhi won her first election to Parliament and became a Minister of State as the Minister for Environment.[15]
Activism
Gandhi is an environmentalist and animal rights leader in India.[16] She has earned international awards and acclaim.[17] She was appointed chairwoman of the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) in 1995. Under her direction, CPCSEA members carried unannounced inspections of laboratories where animals are used for scientific research were conducted.[18]
In 1996, Gandhi protested the opening of the first McDonald's restaurant in India. Justifying her protest, she stated that "we don't need cow killers in India".[19]
Gandhi has filed Public Interest Litigations that have achieved the replacement of the municipal killing of homeless dogs with a sterilisation programme (Animal Birth Control programs, commonly abbreviated as ABCs), the unregulated sale of airguns and a ban on mobile or travelling zoos. She currently chairs the Jury of International Energy Globe Foundation which meets annually in Austria to award the best environmental innovations of the year. She is a member of the Eurosolar Board and the Wuppertal Institute, Germany.
Gandhi started the organisation People for Animals[20] in 1992 and it is the largest organisation for animal rights/welfare in India. Gandhi is also a patron of International Animal Rescue. While she is not a vegan,[21] she has advocated this lifestyle on ethical and health grounds. She also anchored the weekly television program Heads and Tails, highlighting the suffering meted out to animals due to their commercial exploitation. She has also authored a book under the same title. Her other books were about Indian people names. She is a cast member for the documentary A Delicate Balance.[22]
Criticism
Gandhi has often been criticized for her comments.
- Threatening a veterinarian over phone
In June 2021, she called a veterinarian, threatening to cancel his license for am allegedly botched up amputation surgery of a dog. Despite a veterinarian was trying to make her aware of the situation that he has exercised all due care during surgery and it was a ferocious dog which had torn-up bandages and surgical wounds after surgery, she hurled abusive and unparliamentary words. The call was recorded and was made viral on social media. All veterinary associations have condemned and protested her behavior.[23]
- Male Suicide Views
In June 2017, during a Facebook Live session, she commented that men do not commit suicide. She received negative responses to the comment and spent the rest of the chat answering questions related to this, with chatters pointing out that 68% of the suicide cases reported in India were committed by men.[24]
- False Harassment Threat
In January 2021, Deepika Narayan Bharadwaj came forward with an audio tape where Maneka Gandhi was allegedly berating a man for hitting a dog, and was threatening to file sexual harassment cases against him. The man on the tape claimed that it was in self defense, as the dog had bitten his daughter.[25][26]
- Curfew for Women
In March 2017, she said that an early curfew for girls in hostels helped young women control their "hormonal outbursts" and received a backlash for the comment.[27]
- Views on Marital Rape
In 2016, she stated that she was against the criminalization of marital rape and received a heavy backlash for the comment.[28][29]
- Alleged spread of hatred against Muslims
Police in Kerala booked Gandhi the basis of complaints against her for promoting hatred by levelling accusations coated with communal overtones for a death of a pregnant elephant, against residents in the Muslim-majority district of Malappuram in June 2020. While the elephant died in Mannarcad, Palakkad district, nearly 90 km from Malappuram, BJP leaders including Gandhi targeted the only Muslim-majority district of Kerala.[30][31] She said: “It’s a murder. Malappuram is famous for such incidents, it’s India’s most violent district. For instance, they throw poison on roads so that 300–400 birds & dogs die at one time”.[32][33] The incident was used by many right-wingers to proliferate anti-Muslim resentment and to demonize the community. A multitude of hateful messages towards Malappuram and its people accompanied her remarks, triggering enraged responses.[34] She was charged with adding communal color to an animal-related issue that would otherwise be constrained within the Department of Forests.[35] A group calling themselves Kerala Cyber Warriors briefly hacked Maneka Gandhi's website, People for Animals, India.[36][37]
In popular culture
Gandhi hosted Maneka's Ark, an environmental talk show which aired on the Indian national public broadcaster Doorarshan's DD National channel in the 1990s.[38][39] She had earlier hosted Heads & Tails, an animal rights show, on the same channel.[39]
