INDIRA’S FAMILY WAS OPPOSED TO HER MARRIAGE
Indira Gandhi’s marriage to Feroze Gandhi was not liked by the Nehru family. Jawahar Lal Nehru’s Special Assistant, MO Mathai, has mentioned this fact in his book Reminiscences of the Nehru Age. According to him: “All members of the Nehru family were also against the marriage. Neither they nor Nehru could reconcile themselves to the idea of Indira marrying the son of a local liquor and provision merchant. And, what was worse, the boy was not qualified to enter any worthwhile profession and earn a livelihood.”
Indira too has spoken about opposition to her marriage in her autobiographical writing My Truth.She says: “In marrying him (Feroze) I was breaking age-old traditions. It was an intercommunity and interreligion marriage. And it did raise a storm……There is no doubt that many people, including my own family, were very upset.”
Mathai also mentions an interesting fact about Indira’s marriage. Her marriage he says was performed according to Vedic rites in 1942. At that time an intercaste and interreligious marriage under Vedic rites was not valid in law. “To be legal, it had to be a civil marriage. So, strictly under the law, Indira was only a ‘concubine’ and her children are ‘bastards’.”
Indira Gandhi’s marriage to Feroze Gandhi was not liked by the Nehru family. Jawahar Lal Nehru’s Special Assistant, MO Mathai, has mentioned this fact in his book Reminiscences of the Nehru Age. According to him: “All members of the Nehru family were also against the marriage. Neither they nor Nehru could reconcile themselves to the idea of Indira marrying the son of a local liquor and provision merchant. And, what was worse, the boy was not qualified to enter any worthwhile profession and earn a livelihood.”
Indira too has spoken about opposition to her marriage in her autobiographical writing My Truth.She says: “In marrying him (Feroze) I was breaking age-old traditions. It was an intercommunity and interreligion marriage. And it did raise a storm……There is no doubt that many people, including my own family, were very upset.”
Mathai also mentions an interesting fact about Indira’s marriage. Her marriage he says was performed according to Vedic rites in 1942. At that time an intercaste and interreligious marriage under Vedic rites was not valid in law. “To be legal, it had to be a civil marriage. So, strictly under the law, Indira was only a ‘concubine’ and her children are ‘bastards’.”
(The above photo shows Indira's marriage being solemnised at the Anand Bhawan, the ancestral house of the Nehrus)
No comments:
Post a Comment