Ela Gandhi

Ela Gandhi Biography

Ela Gandhi is a peace activist and a former Member of Parliament in South Africa from 1994 to 2004, associated with African National Congress. She is the granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba, born to Gandhi’s second son, Manilal Gandhi. Similar to her, her brother Arun Manilal is also a social-political activist. In 2007, she was conferred the Padma Bhushan award from the Government of India. Community of Christ International Peace Award in 2002, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman and Umkhonto we Sizwe – both given in 2014 are the major honours received by her. She founded the Gandhi Development Trust, serves as a member of the Religious Affairs Committee.

She was born on July 1, 1940 in Durban, South Africa and grew up in an ashram there. Her childhood and teens were spent in South Africa where she completed her education. She graduated from Natal University and later started her career as a social worker. She worked with Verulam Child and Family Welfare Society for 15 years followed by Durban Indian Child and Family Welfare Society for next five years. Since its inception in 1991, she became an executive member of Natal Organisations of Women. Active with African National Congress, she was banned in 1975 from political activism and she was on home arrest for long 9 years.

She is the niece of Hiralal, Ramdas and Devdas Gandhi. Her uncle Devdas Gandhi was married to Lakshmi, the daughter of C. Rajagopalachari. Her cousins - Rajmohan Gandhi is an eminent historian, biographer and former Rajya Sabha member; Gopalkrishna Gandhi is a famous diplomat and administrator; Ramchandra Gandhi – a Philosopher and Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee, currently serves as the Vice-Chairperson of Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti and Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust.

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Updated: March 06, 2016