Gopalkrishna Devadas Gandhi (born 22 April 1945) is a former administrator and diplomat who served as the 22nd

Governor of West Bengal The Governor of West Bengal is the nominal head of state of the Indian state of West Bengal and a representative of the President of India. The governor is appointed by the president for a term of five years. His official residence is the Raj ...

serving from 2004 to 2009. He is the grandson of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

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

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) 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, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murm ...

and as High Commissioner to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

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

United Progressive Alliance United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a centre-left political alliance of predominantly left-leaning political parties in India. It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single pa ...

nominee for Vice President of India 2017 elections and lost with 244 votes against NDA candidate

Venkaiah Naidu Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu (born 1 July 1949) is an Indian politician who served as the 13th vice president of India from 2017 to 2022. He is the first Indian vice president born in independent India. He has also served as the minister of Hous ...

, 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, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

, to

Devdas ''Devdas'' ( bn, দেবদাস, transliterated as ''Debdās'') is a Bengali romance novel written by Sarat Chandra Chatterjee. The story pivots a tragic triangle linking Devdas, an archetypal lover in viraha (separation); Paro, his forbidd ...

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 Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...

Career

He joined IAS as an Officer in 1968 and served in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

state till 1985. Thereafter, he remained Secretary to Vice-President of India (1985–1987), Joint Secretary to

(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 ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked as an enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the highest mountains in Southern Africa. It has an area of over and has a population ...

(1996), Secretary to 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 in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

, and

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

(2002). On 14 December 2004, he was appointed

following the expiry of the term of office of incumbent

Viren J. Shah Viren J. Shah (12 May 1926 – 9 March 2013) was an Indian politician and 17th Governor of West Bengal. Shah was a member of Lok Sabha from 1967 to 1970 and of Rajya Sabha during 1975–1981 and 1990–1996. He had served as treasurer of ...

. He was succeeded by

Devanand Konwar Devanand Konwar (1934 – 25 April 2020) was a senior congressman from Assam who served as the Governor of the Indian states of Tripura, Bihar and West Bengal. Career Konwar began his career as a lecturer in the English Department of Cotton ...

(the serving governor of

Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the ea ...

), who was given additional charge of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

. 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'' ( ta, திருக்குறள், lit=sacred verses), or shortly the ''Kural'' ( ta, குறள்), is a classic Tamil language text consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or kurals, of seven words each. The tex ...

, into English. He was the chairman of governing body of

Indian Institute of Advanced Study The Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) is a research institute located in Shimla, India. It was set up by the Ministry of Education, Government of India in 1964 and started functioning from 20 October 1965. History and establishment The ...

, and president of its society on 5 March 2012 and served until May 2014. Mr. Gandhi teaches at

Ashoka University Ashoka University is a philanthropy-driven private university located in the National Capital Region (NCR), India, focusing on a liberal education in the Humanities, the Social Sciences, and the Sciences. The university is on a mission to ...

, 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 President of India,

Pranab Mukherjee Dr. Pranab Mukherjee (11 December 193531 August 2020) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 13th president of India from 2012 until 2017. In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the Indi ...

, to reconsider the rejection of the mercy plea of the 1993 Mumbai serial blast convict, Yakub Memon.

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, Ramchandra Gandhi, and Smt. Tara Bhattacharjee (Gandhi). Gopalkrishna Gandhi 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's ''

A Suitable Boy ''A Suitable Boy'' is a novel by Vikram Seth, published in 1993. With 1,349 pages (1,488 pages in paperback), the English-language book is one of the longest novels published in a single volume. ''A Suitable Boy'' is set in a newly post-inde ...

'') 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)

Notes

External links

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