Indian embassy clarifies

This is in answer to a letter by Mr. Ade R. titled Not Mahatma Gandhi's grandson appeared in The Jakarta Post on March 8, 2000.

We would like to offer the following clarification for the benefit of the readers.

Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India was son of Feroze Gandhi and Mrs. Indira Gandhi. Indira Gandhi was the only daughter of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. Nehru's family comes from Kashmiri Pandits, whereas the family of Feroze Gandhi were Gujarati Parsis. Therefore, Rajiv Gandhi was grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru and not grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.

Further Mr. Ade has quoted an article that appeared in Intisari magazine in April 1976 which stated that Mahatma Gandhi was an orthodox Hindu. Although Mahatma Gandhi was Hindu, he propounded that all religions are the same and should respect each other. In fact, Mahatma Gandhi strongly advocated religious unity particularly Hindu-Muslim brotherhood and gave up his life for this cause.

M. SUBBARAYUDU

Indian Embassy

Jakarta