Born on April 22, 1946, Gopalkrishna Gandhi is the grandson of Father of Indian Nation Mahatama Gandhi. He is a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and diplomat, who was the 22nd Governor of West Bengal, serving from 2004 to 2009. As a former IAS officer, he served as Secretary to the President of India and as High Commissioner to South Africa and Sri Lanka.
Gandhi graduated with a Master’s degree in English literature from St Stephen’s College of Delhi University. In 1992, he became Minister (Culture) in High Commission of India in the United Kingdom and Director, 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 South Africa and Lesotho (1996), Secretary to President of India (1997-2000), High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka (2000), and Ambassador of India to Norway, and Iceland (2002), before his retirement from IAS in 2003.
On December 14, 2004, he was appointed Governor of West Bengal following the expiry of the term of office of incumbent Viren J Shah. 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.
He was the chairman of governing body of Indian Institute of Advanced Study, and became President of its society on March 5, 2012 and served until May 2014. Gandhi teaches at Ashoka University, where he is a Professor of History and Politics.
In an open letter he wrote to then Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi in May 2014, Gandhi asked him to be the leader of 69 per cent of India’s population who did not vote for Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
As Governor of West Bengal, Gandhi was known to take secret trips to gauge the mood of the people. He has been credited with bringing to negotiating table Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee and then Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to find a solution to the Singur crisis. Gandhi and wife Tara Gandhi have two daughters.
— Karuna Madan,
Correspondent
