Lest we Forget Feroze Gandhi – Joy Paul Puthussery
( Sri Puthussery writes interesting facts about Feroze Gandhi an unsung, unremembered hero of Indian politics whose birth centenary was not celebrated in India. Jk)
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Sonia's Government splurged Rs 7.25 crore on the birth anniversaries of Indira and Rajiv, but nothing on Feroze’s birth centenary. Can u believe this??The Forgotten Legacy. 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 corruptions. The most extraordinary aspect of Feroze Gandhi’s 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 money for their own company, which lead 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 doing these all for Tata’s, as bother parsis, next came against Tata.Feroze exposed Telco for charging more than double for an engine to railways, which lead to exit for Tata and formation of locomotive workshops in public sector. Mahatma Gandhi is said to have told Feroze’s 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 for cremation, Nehru said : “I did not know that Feroze was so popular” The Forgotten Legacy.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. |
