Sanjay Gandhi

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Sanjay Gandhi
Constituency	Amethi, Uttar Pradesh
Personal details
Born	14 June 1948 New Delhi, India
Died	23 June 1980 (aged 32) New Delhi, India
Political party	Indian National Congress
Spouse(s)	Maneka Gandhi
Relations	Indira Gandhi (mother) Feroze Gandhi (father) Rajiv Gandhi (brother) Sonia Gandhi (sister-in-law) Jawaharlal Nehru (maternal grandfather)
Children	Varun Gandhi
Residence	Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
Religion	Hinduism
Member of Nehru–Gandhi family

Sanjay Gandhi (14 June 1948 – 23 June 1980) was an Indian politician. He was a member of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. During his lifetime he was widely expected to succeed his mother as head of the Indian National Congress, but following his early death in a plane crash his older brother Rajivbecame their mother's political heir, and succeeded her as Prime Minister of India after her death. Sanjay's widow Maneka Gandhi and son Varun Gandhi are also politicians from BJP.

Early life and education [edit]

Sanjay was born in New Delhi, on 14 June 1948, as the younger son of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Feroze Gandhi. Sanjay studied Grades 7 and half of Grade 8 at the Doon School and the remainder of Grade 8 through Grade 11 at St. Columba's School, Delhi. Sanjay never attended college, but took up an apprenticeship with Rolls-Royce in Crewe, England.^[1] He was very interested in sports cars, and also obtained a pilot's license. While he was building a career as an airline pilot independent of politics, Sanjay still chose to remain close to his mother.

Maruti Udyog, India controversy [edit]

In 1971, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's Cabinet proposed the production of a "People's car"—an efficient indigenous automobile that middle-class Indians could afford. While Sanjay had no experience, design proposals or tie-ins with any corporation, he was awarded the contract and the exclusive production license. The criticism that followed this decision was mostly directed at Indira, but the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War and victory over Pakistan drowned out the issue. Indira's victory and the Congress's landslide victory in the 1971 Indian general election only left Indira Gandhi more powerful.

Maruti Udyog, today India's premier automobile manufacturing corporation, was founded by Sanjay Gandhi, but the company did not produce any vehicles during his lifetime. A test model put out as a showpiece of progress was criticized. Public perception turned against Sanjay Gandhi, and many began to speculate of growing corruption. Sanjay Gandhi then contacted Volkswagen AG from West Germany for a possible collaboration, transfer of technology and joint production of the Indian version of the "People's Car", to emulate Volkswagen's worldwide success with the Beetle.

The Japanese company Suzuki was also contacted to present the design and feasibility of their car to be manufactured in India. When Suzuki came to know that the Government of India had contacted Volkswagen as well, it did everything to pip the German company in the race to produce India's first People's Car (Maruti 800).^{[citation needed]} It provided the Government a feasible Design of their 'Model 796' (another big hit in Japan and East Asian countries)