Gopalkrishna Gandhi | |
|---|---|
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| 17thGovernor of West Bengal | |
| In office 14 December 2004 – 14 December 2009 | |
| Chief Minister | Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee |
| Preceded by | Viren J. Shah |
| Succeeded by | Devanand Konwar(additional charge) |
| Governor of Bihar (additional charge) | |
| In office 31 January 2006 – 21 June 2006 | |
| Chief Minister | Nitish Kumar |
| Preceded by | Buta Singh |
| Succeeded by | R. S. Gavai |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Gopalkrishna Devadas Gandhi (1945-04-22)22 April 1945 (age 80) Delhi, British India |
| Party | Independent |
| Spouse | Tara Gandhi |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent |
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| Relatives | Ramchandra Gandhi (brother) Rajmohan Gandhi (brother) Mahatma Gandhi (paternal grandfather) Kasturba Gandhi (paternal grandmother) C. Rajagopalachari (maternal grandfather) |
| Alma mater | St. Stephen's College, Delhi |
| Occupation | Professor of History and Politics atAshoka University |
Gopalkrishna Devadas Gandhi[a] (born 22 April 1945) is a former administrator and diplomat who served as the 22ndGovernor of West Bengal from 2004 to 2009.[1] He is the grandson ofMahatma Gandhi andC. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji).[2] As a formerIAS officer he served as Secretary to thePresident of India and asHigh Commissioner toSouth Africa andSri Lanka, among other administrative and diplomatic posts.[2] He was theUnited Progressive Alliance nominee forVice President of India in the2017 vice-presidential elections[3] and lost with 244 votes against NDA candidateVenkaiah Naidu, who got 516 votes.
Gopalkrishna Devadas Gandhi was born on 22 April 1945 inDelhi, toDevdas and Lakshmi Gandhi. His father was a journalist. Gandhi graduated with a master's degree in English literature fromSt. Stephen's College.[4]
He joinedIAS as an officer in 1968 and served inTamil Nadu state till 1985. Thereafter, he remained secretary to theVice President of India (1985–1987) and joint secretary to thePresident of India (1987–1992).
In 1992, after retiring voluntarily from the IAS, he became minister (culture) inhigh commission of India, UK and director ofThe Nehru Centre, London, UK. This was followed by various diplomatic and administrative positions for the rest of his career, including high commissioner of India toSouth Africa andLesotho (1996),secretary to the president of India (1997–2000),high commissioner of India in Sri Lanka (2000), and ambassador of India toNorway, andIceland (2002).[5]
On 14 December 2004, he was appointedGovernor of West Bengal following the expiry of the term of office of incumbentViren J. Shah. He was succeeded byDevanand Konwar, who was given additional charge ofWest Bengal. For a few months in 2006 he also took on additional duties as theGovernor of Bihar.[6]
He was the chairman ofKalakshetra Foundation, Chennai from December 2011 to May 2014.[7] In 2015, he translated theTamil classic, theTirukkural, into English.[8] He was the chairman of governing body ofIndian Institute of Advanced Study, and president of its society on 5 March 2012 and served until May 2014.[5][9]
Gandhi teaches atAshoka University, where he is a professor of history and politics.[10]
While delivering the 15th D P Kohli Memorial Lecture for CBI on "Eclipse at Noon: Shadows Over India's Conscience" with nearly 3000 officers of the agency in the audience, Gandhi noted that "The CBI is seen as the government's hatchet, rather than honesty's ally. It is often calledDDT — meaning not the dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane, the colourless, tasteless, odourless insecticide it should be, but the department of dirty tricks."[11]
In 2015, he wrote a letter to the then President of India,Pranab Mukherjee, to reconsider the rejection of the mercy plea of the1993 Mumbai serial blast convict,Yakub Memon.[12][13]
His paternal grandfather wasMahatma Gandhi and maternal grandfather wasC. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji).[2] He is the son ofDevadas Gandhi and Lakshmi Gandhi. Gopalkrishna Gandhi is the younger brother ofRajmohan Gandhi andRamchandra Gandhi. He and his wife Tara have two daughters.[citation needed]
Hindi
English
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| Preceded by | Governor of West Bengal 2004–2009 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of Bihar 2006 | Succeeded by |
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