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Tushar Gandhi

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Tushar Gandhi
તુષાર ગાંધી
Gandhi in 2014
Born
Tushar Arun Gandhi

(1960-01-17) 17 January 1960 (age 64)
Akola, Vidarbha, Maharashtra, India
NationalityIndian
EducationMithibai College
Board member ofManaging Trustee, Mahatma Gandhi Foundation
Spouse
Sonal Desai
​
(m. 1985)​
Children2 [1]
Parent(s)Arun Manilal Gandhi
Sunanda Gandhi
RelativesManilal Gandhi (grandfather)
Sushila Mashruwala (grandmother)
Mahatma Gandhi (great-grandfather)[2]

Tushar Arun Gandhi (born 17 January 1960) is an Indian author and son of Arun Manilal Gandhi, thus great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.[3] In March 2005, he led the 75th anniversary re-enactment of the Dandi March.[4] From 2007 to 2012, he was the Goodwill Ambassador of the CISRI-ISP Intergovernmental Institution for the use of Micro-algae Spirulina Against Malnutrition.

Early life

Tushar Arun Gandhi was born on 17 January 1960, in Akola, Maharashtra, to Arun and Surnanda Gandhi. His father was an actor and his mother was a researcher. Tushar was raised in the Mumbai suburb of Santacruz.[4] He studied at Adarsh Vinay Mandir, a local Gujarati-medium school. He holds a diploma in printing from the Government Institute of Printing Technology, Mumbai.

Personal life

Gandhi resides in Mumbai. In 1985, he married Sonal Desai.[1] Together, they had 2 children. A son Vivan Gandhi and daughter Kasturi Gandhi. Kasturi was so named after Kasturba Gandhi.

Career

Tushar Gandhi is best known for having established in 1998 in Vadodara, Gujarat the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation. It is now located in Mumbai (and he is still its President). Since 1996 he has served as President of the Lok Seva Trust, an NGO which a nephew of Mahatma Gandhi had establish in central Bombay in the mid-1950s for the welfare to textile-mill labourers. In 2000, Tushar Gandhi portrayed himself in a fictional Tamil - Hindi movie directed by Kamal Hassan, "Hey Ram," and in 2009 he did likewise in a semi-fictional movie, "Road to Sangam," based on an episode in his own life. A nonfiction book by him, Let's Kill Gandhi, was published in 2007 and became for a few weeks a best seller in India. In 2008 he was appointed Chairman of the Australian Indian Rural Development Foundation (AIRDF). He is trustee at Maharashtra Gandhi Smarak Nidhi since 2014.[5] In 2018 he played a significant role in petitioning successfully the Supreme Court of India to direct the states and Union Territories to comply with its orders to curb cow-vigilante lynch mobs. In 2019 he became a Director of the Gandhi Research Foundation, Jalgaon, Maharashtra.

Controversy

Cancelation of advertisement deal

In 2001, Tushar Gandhi negotiated with American marketing firm CMG Worldwide the use of the Mahatma’s image in an advertisement (aimed at university students) for a credit card company.[4] This perceived betrayal of Gandhian ideals was followed by a public outcry causing him to cancel the deal.[6]

Accusations against Brahmins

It was alleged that Tushar in his book Let’s Kill Gandhi, he actually became the killer of Gandhi in the year of 1904. He then blamed Brahmins in general for assassinating Mahatma Gandhi. Critics claimed that the book defamed all Brahmins. Tushar has said that his claims relate only to "a certain group of Brahmins from Pune [who] were continuously attempting on the life of my great grandfather", rather than to Brahmins in general.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b "A Rare Glimpse Into Four Generations Of Mahatma Gandhi Family". Mere Pix. March 2013.
  2. ^ "Bring Bapu's belongings home". The Times of India. 19 August 2012. Archived from the original on 16 January 2014.
  3. ^ "Tushar Gandhi to bid for Bapu's belongings". The Times of India. 18 February 2009. Archived from the original on 29 June 2013.
  4. ^ a b c "Busy branding Bapu". The Hindustan Times. 3 February 2007. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012.
  5. ^ "Board – Maharashtra Gandhi Smarak Nidhi". Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  6. ^ Marketing the Mahatma[usurped], Frontline Magazine
  7. ^ "'I was misquoted,' says Tushar Gandhi", Yahoo! India News
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