Gopalkrishna Devadas Gandhi (born 22 April 1945) is a former administrator and diplomat who served as the 22nd Governor of West Bengal serving from 2004 to 2009. He is the grandson of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

and C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji). As a former IAS officer he served as Secretary to the

President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

and as High Commissioner to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, among other administrative and diplomatic posts.Gopal Gandhi
''outlookindia.com''. 23 Apr 2007. Retrieved 15 January 2014 He was the

United Progressive Alliance The United Progressive Alliance (UPA; Hindi: Saṁyukta Pragatiśīl Gaṭhabandhan) was a Political group, political alliance in India led by the Indian National Congress. It was formed after the 2004 Indian general election, 2004 general ele ...

nominee for Vice President of India 2017 elections and lost with 244 votes against NDA candidate Venkaiah Naidu, who got 516 votes.

Early life and background

Gopalkrishna Devadas Gandhi was born on 22 April 1945 in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

, to Devdas and Lakshmi Gandhi. His father was a journalist. Gandhi graduated with a master's degree in English literature from St. Stephen's College of

Delhi University The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

Career

He joined IAS as an officer in 1968 and served in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

state till 1985. Thereafter, he remained secretary to the

Vice President of India The vice president of India (ISO: ) is the deputy to the head of state of the Republic of India, i.e. the president of India. The office of vice president is the second-highest constitutional office after the president and ranks second in t ...

(1985–1987) and joint secretary to the

(1987–1992). In 1992, after retiring voluntarily from the IAS, he became minister (culture) in high commission of India, UK and director of The Nehru Centre, London, UK. This was followed by various diplomatic and administrative positions for the rest of his career, including high commissioner of India to

and

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

(1996), secretary to the president of India (1997–2000), high commissioner of India in Sri Lanka (2000), and ambassador of India to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, and

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

(2002). On 14 December 2004, he was appointed Governor of West Bengal following the expiry of the term of office of incumbent Viren J. Shah. He was succeeded by Devanand Konwar, who was given additional charge of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

. For a few months in 2006 he also took on additional duties as the Governor of Bihar. He was the chairman of Kalakshetra Foundation, Chennai from December 2011 to May 2014. In 2015, he translated the Tamil classic, the

Tirukkural The ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'' (), or shortly the ''Kural'' (), is a classic Tamil language text on commoner's morality consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or Kural (poetic form), kurals, of seven words each. The text is divided into three books wit ...

, into English. He was the chairman of governing body of Indian Institute of Advanced Study, and president of its society on 5 March 2012 and served until May 2014. Gandhi teaches at Ashoka University, where he is a professor of history and politics.

Controversies

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 called DDT — meaning not the dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane, the colourless, tasteless, odourless insecticide it should be, but the department of dirty tricks." In 2015, he wrote a letter to the then President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, to reconsider the rejection of the mercy plea of the 1993 Mumbai serial blast convict,

Yakub Memon Yakub Abdul Razzaq Memon (30 July 1962 – 30 July 2015) was an Indian terrorist over his financial involvements in the 1993 Bombay bombings, and the brother of one of the prime suspects in the bombings, Tiger Memon. After his appeals and petit ...

Personal life

His paternal grandfather was

and maternal grandfather was C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji). He is the son of Devadas Gandhi and Lakshmi Gandhi. Gopalkrishna Gandhi is the younger brother of Rajmohan Gandhi and Ramchandra Gandhi. He and his wife Tara have two daughters.

Bibliography

Hindi * ''Saranam'', translated as ''Refuge'' in English * ''Dara Shukoh'', a play in verse * ''Koi Acchha Sa Larka'' (translation into Hindustani of

Vikram Seth Vikram Seth (born 20 June 1952) is an Indian people, Indian novelist and poet. He has written several novels and poetry books. He has won several awards such as Padma Shri, Sahitya Akademi Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Awar ...

's '' A Suitable Boy'') English * ''Gandhi and South Africa'' * ''Gandhi and Sri Lanka'' * ''Nehru and Sri Lanka'' * ''India House, Colombo: Portrait of a Residence'' * ''Gandhi Is Gone. Who Will Guide Us Now?'' (edited) * ''A Frank Friendship/ Gandhi and Bengal: A Descriptive Chronology'' (compiled and edited). * ''Tiruvalluvar: The Tirukkural'' (translated from the Tamil original) (2015) * "Restless as Mercury : My Life As A Young Man" (ed. Aleph, 2021) * "Scorching Love : Letters from M.K.Gandhi to his son Devadas" (ed. with Tridip Suhrud, OUP, 2022)

Footnotes

References

External links

Gopalkrishna Gandhi Profile
of the Governor of Bihar website. , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Gandhi, Gopalakrishna 1945 births 21st-century Indian politicians Indian civil servants Governors of Bihar Governors of West Bengal Gujarati people Ambassadors of India to Iceland Ambassadors of India to Norway High commissioners of India to South Africa High commissioners of India to Sri Lanka High commissioners of India to Lesotho Living people Gopalkrishna St. Stephen's College, Delhi alumni Tamil–English translators Translators from English Translators to Hindi Translators of the Tirukkural into English People of the Sri Lankan civil war Indian Peace Keeping Force Modern School (New Delhi) alumni