Maneka Gandhi, a member of the Lok Sabha, an animal rights activist and environmentalist turned 66 on Friday, August 26. Maneka is the MP from Sultanpur constituency on a BJP ticket, however, she belongs to the Nehru-Gandhi family. On the occasion of her birthday, let's recall the time when she first met and fell in love with Sanjay Gandhi. There is a popular saying, "Love knows no age", and it was proved once again when Sanjay and Maneka Gandhi fell in love with each other. The age difference between Maneka and Sanjay was 10 years. Let's take a look at how the couple first met in 1973, fell in love, married, supported each other and what caused the tragic end to their love story :
Sultanpur MP Maneka Gandhi's love story with Sanjay Gandhi is worth sharing. It was in 1973, when Sanjay Gandhi, son of former Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, first saw his ladylove in an advertisement. At that time, Maneka was in her college where she won a college beauty contest and started taking up modeling assignments.
Maneka’s first modeling advertisement assignment was with Bombay Dyeing. And after watching her advertisement, Sanjay fell in love with her. However, Sanjay and Maneka met each other for the first time in 1973 when Sanjay was invited to a cocktail party of Veenu Kapur-Sanjay's friend and Maneka's cousin.
Maneka was just 17 years old then, and Sanjay was around 27 years old. Both of them spent the evening together and later agreed to meet the next day.
Gradually, they started meeting each other, quite often. Subsequently, their meeting led to mutual liking but since Sanjay was a shy kind of person, they preferred to meet either in Maneka's house or at the PM's house.
They developed so much love for each other, that when Sanjay had to undergo a hernia operation. Maneka used to visit him everyday after college in the hospital.
The couple had a phase in their love story when Maneka's mother didn't like her daughter's relationship with Sanjay Gandhi and sent Maneka to her grandmother's home in Bhopal.
In July 1974, she returned and a formal engagement ceremony was organised at the Prime Minister’s house, where Indira Gandhi gifted her a Tanchoi saree and a gold set.
Later, on September 23, 1974, the wedding took place at Indira Gandhi’s close associate and family friend Mohammed Yunus’s residence. The ceremony was in a typical Indian style. She was welcomed by the Gandhi family with several expensive gifts including 21 sarees, two sets of gold jewellery, a lehenga, and most importantly, a khadi saree weaved by Jawaharlal Nehru in the jail.
In March 1980, the couple was blessed with a son, Varun and within 3 months the couple had to face a tragic end to their love story. On June 23, 1980, Sanjay died in a plane crash in Delhi.
Following Sanjay's death, the relationship between Maneka and Indira grew sour. Eventually, Maneka and Varun left the Prime Minister’s residence. At present, Maneka is the Member of Parliament from the Sultanpur constituency of Uttar Pradesh.
