25 Facts About Maneka Gandhi

1.

Maneka Sanjay Gandhi was born on 26 August 1956 and is an Indian politician, animal rights activist, and environmentalist.

2.

Maneka Gandhi is a member of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

3.

Maneka Gandhi is the widow of Indian politician Sanjay Gandhi.

4.

Maneka Gandhi has been a minister in four governments, most recently in Narendra Modi's government from May 2014 to May 2019.

5.

Maneka Gandhi authored a number of books in the areas of etymology, law and animal welfare.

6.

Maneka Gandhi Anand was born on 26 August 1956 in Delhi, India into a Sikh family.

7.

Maneka Gandhi was educated at The Lawrence School, Sanawar and later at Lady Shri Ram College for Women.

8.

Maneka Gandhi subsequently studied German at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

9.

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.

10.

Maneka 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.

11.

In 1980, Maneka Gandhi gave birth to a son, Feroze, named after his paternal grandfather.

12.

Maneka Gandhi was just twenty-three years old, and her son just 100 days old, when her husband died in an air crash.

13.

Maneka's relationship with Indira Gandhi gradually disintegrated after Sanjay's death and they would continually argue with one another.

14.

Maneka Gandhi was eventually forced out of 1, Safdarjung Road, the prime minister's residence, after a fallout with Indira.

15.

Maneka Gandhi published The Complete Book of Muslim and Parsi Names, in recognition of her husband's Zoroastrian faith.

16.

Maneka Gandhi later published The Penguin Book of Hindu Names for Boys.

17.

Maneka Gandhi contested the Amethi constituency from Uttar Pradesh for the 1984 general election for the Lok Sabha, but lost to Rajiv Maneka Gandhi.

18.

Maneka Gandhi is an environmentalist and animal rights leader in India.

19.

Maneka Gandhi was appointed chairwoman of the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals in 1995.

20.

Maneka Gandhi has filed Public Interest Litigations that have achieved the replacement of the municipal killing of homeless dogs with a sterilisation programme, the unregulated sale of airguns and a ban on mobile or travelling zoos.

21.

Maneka Gandhi is a member of the Eurosolar Board and the Wuppertal Institute, Germany.

22.

Maneka Gandhi anchored the weekly television program Heads and Tails, highlighting the suffering meted out to animals due to their commercial exploitation.

23.

Maneka Gandhi has authored a book under the same title.

24.

Maneka Gandhi is a cast member for the documentary A Delicate Balance.

25.

Maneka Gandhi was charged with adding communal color to an animal-related issue that would otherwise be constrained within the Department of Forests.