Maneka Gandhi is an Indian politician, author, and animal rights activist who is best known for being the wife of late. politician Sanjay Gandhi and mother to politician Varun Gandhi. Maneka is a member of the Bhartiya Janata Party. She was also the former “Minister of Women and Child Development” until May 2019. On the contrary, Maneka has a huge social media fan base with more than 300k followers on Twitter and more than 250k followers on Facebook.
Born Name
Maneka Anand
Nick Name
Maneka
Maneka Gandhi as seen in a picture taken with her book Gaushala in Delhi in February 2018 (Maneka Gandhi / Instagram)
Sun Sign
Virgo
Born Place
New Delhi, India
Residence
New Delhi, India
Nationality
Education
Maneka attended the Lawrence School before joining Lady Shri Ram College for Women.
Thereafter, she joined the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi where she studied German.
Occupation
Politician, Author, Animal Rights Activist
Family
Father – Lt. Col. Tarlochan Singh Anand
Mother – Amteshwar Anand
Siblings – Ambika Shukla (Sister) (Animal Rights Activist)
Sanjay Gandhi (1973-1980) – Maneka and Sanjay met one another for the first time at a party in 1973 and a year later, on September 23, 1974, the two tied the knot. They have a son named, Varun Gandhi (b. March 13, 1980). Initially, she had named her son Feroze after her father-in-law. However, his name was changed to Varun by her mother-in-law.
Maneka Gandhi as seen in a picture with her granddaughter Anasuya Gandhi in May 2017 (Maneka Gandhi / Instagram )
Race / Ethnicity
Asian (Indian)
Hair Color
Dark Brown
Eye Color
Dark Brown
Sexual Orientation
Straight
Maneka Gandhi as seen in a picture taken at the Trailer launch of ‘It’s Entertainment’ on May 20, 2014 (Bollywood Hungama / Wikimedia / CC BY 3.0)
Distinctive Features
Oval face shape
Big ears
Parts her hair in the center
Maneka Gandhi as seen in a picture that was taken at Wildlife SOS in the past (Maneka Gandhi / Instagram)
Maneka Gandhi Facts
She was raised in a family of Sikh heritage in New Delhi.
Her father Tarlochan served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Indian Army.
She served as a member of the Janata Dal for a decade before going on stand independently.
After getting married to Sanjay, she worked side by side with him and helped him in his campaigns as well.
In 1995, Maneka was appointed on to the “Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals.”
She is the founder of the magazine, Surya.
Maneka’s son was 100 days old and she was 23 when Sanjay’s plane crashed after he lost control over it while doing an aerobatic maneuver near the Safdarjung Airport in New Delhi.
After Sanjay died, Maneka was forced to leave the house of her mother-in-law after repeated confrontations. There onwards, Maneka formed a party of her own under the moniker “Rashtriya Sanjay Manch” with a politician Akbar Ahmad.
As of 2018, Maneka’s sister Ambika worked as the director at the Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Centre.
From 1989 till 2019, Maneka has been elected as a Member of Lok Sabha 8 times, 6 times from Pilibhit, whereas, once from Aonla and once from Sultanpur.
Besides being a politician, she is also a dedicated animal rights activist who has earned critical acclaim for her contribution to shelters.
In the past, she worked as the anchor of the Heads and Tails weekly program.
She is the founder and chairman of the People For Animals foundation.
