Sanjay Gandhi

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sanjay Gandhi

• Did Sanjay Gandhi smoke: Not Known

• Did Sanjay Gandhi drink alcohol: Not Known

• Sanjay always had a soft spot for sports cars and aeroplanes.

• He did not attend any college but took automotive as his career field. He underwent an apprenticeship with Rolls-Royce in Crewe, England.

• Away from politics, he trained himself as a pilot but remained close to her mother.

• Sanjay married a girl who was 10 years younger than him.

• When “Kissa Kursi Ka,” a sarcastic film lampooning Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, directed by Amrit Nahata in 1975, was sent to censor board for verification, it was transferred to a seven-member revising committee and was further sent to the government. 51 objections were claimed by the government in the film. In response, the director said the characters are imaginary and that it is not to hurt anyone’s sentiments. Apparently, all the prints and the master print of the film were burned in Maruti’s factory in Gurgaon. A committee set up by the Indian government in 1997 found Sanjay Gandhi along with V. C. Shukla, the then Information and Broadcasting Minister, guilty of burning the same. In February 1979, Sanjay and Shukla were sentenced one month and two years imprisonment respectively and were denied bail. However, the verdict was later overturned.

• He was nearly finished when an unknown gunman fired at his car near south-east Delhi while he was campaigning for elections in March 1977.

• In June 1980, when he was flying a new aircraft of Delhi Flying Club, he lost control of it while attempting a manoeuvre which took his life.

• Sanjay was expected to succeed his mother as the head of Indian National Congress, but his early death in a fatal plane crash resulted in his brother becoming the future heir of the party.

• Soon after Sanjay’s death, Maneka Gandhi, his 23-year-old widow, and his son Varun who was barely 1 were evicted from the Prime Minister house. Maneka later started her own political party called Sanjay Vichar Manch and also served in a number of non-Congress opposition governments. She and her son later settled in Bhartiya Janata Party.