Tushar Gandhi

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Tushar Arun Gandhi (born January 17, 1960) is a great-grandson of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the Indian who helped India gain independence. He is the son of US-based former journalist Arun Gandhi.

In 1985, Gandhi married Sonal Desai. They have one son, Vivian (born 1991), and one daughter, Kasturi. Gandhi promotes non-violence around the world.

In December 2001 he negotiated with the American marketing firm CMG Worldwide to use the Mahatma’s image in a film advertisement for a credit card company. The public outcry against commercialising the Mahatma made him cancel the deal. In March 2005, he led the 75th anniversary re-enactment of the Dandi March.

His book "Let’s Kill Gandhi" was released on January 30, 2007. He is said to have blamed Brahmins for assasinating the Mahatma:

"Gandhi's killing was not an assassination. It was a pre-meditated murder. Gandhi was targeted by Brahmins who wanted India should become a Hindu nation and they would remain a dominant community... Before he was eventually murdered, there were several attempts on his life and Poona was linked to all the attempts on his life" ^[1]

However he later clarified his stand:

"I have said or what I wrote in my book is based on police records or historical documents, and what I said was that a certain group of Brahmins from Pune were continuously attempting on the life of my great grandfather, and they finally succeeded on January 30, 1948"

Tushar Gandhi lives in Mumbai and runs the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation.

Unlike his great-grandfather, who was a proponent of vegetarianism, Tushar eats meat. He recalls an incident:

"..when I was joint candidate of the Samajwadi Party and Congress from Mumbai north-west constituency in 1997. The campaign was held sometime during Ramzan. There were lavish spreads of non-vegetarian food. Photographers would click pictures of me eating non-vegetarian food all the time. I wish they could understand I am a descendant of the Mahatma, not Mahatma myself. If being Mahatma was hereditary, there would be 54 living Mahatmas today!"^[2]