Gopalkrishna Gandhi to get 24th Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Award
Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Award, instituted to commemorate the lasting contribution made by late Rajiv Gandhi former Indian Prime Minister to promote peace, communal harmony and fight against violence and carries a citation and cash award of ₹10 lakh, will be awarded in its 24th edition this year in 2018 to Gopalkrishna Gandhi, for his outstanding contribution towards the promotion of communal harmony, peace and goodwill, as decided by its advisory committee in its meeting held on 28th July, 2018, and will be presented on August 20, 2018 the 74th birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi.
Gopalkrishna Gandhi or Gopalkrishna Devdas Gandhi, now Distinguished Professor in History and Politics, Ashoka University, is a retired IAS officer and diplomat, had been the High Commissioner of South Africa and Sri Lanka. He was also the 22nd Governor of West Bengal during the period 2004 to 2009.
Gopalkrishna Gandhi was nominee of United Progressive Alliance for elections for the post of Vice President of India in 2017 and lost with 244 votes against National Democratic Alliance candidate Venkaiah Naidu, who got 516 votes.
He is grandson of Mahatma Gandhi (Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi) on paternal side and Rajajji (Chakravarti Rajagopalachari or C. R.) on maternal side. He was born on April 22, 1945 to Lakshmi Gandhi and Devadas Gandhi. Gopalkrishna Gandhi is the younger brother Rajmohan Gandhi, Ramchandra Gandhi and Smt. Tara Bhattacharjee (Gandhi). He graduated with a master’s degree in English literature from St. Stephens College of Delhi University.
Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award was instituted by by All India Congress Committee in 1992 and is given on 20 August, the birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, which is celebrated as Sadbhavna Diwas ((Communal Harmony). Rajiv Gandhi was born in Bombay on August 20, 1944 to Indira and Feroze Gandhi.
Mother Teresa, Ustad Bismillah Khan, Mohammed Yunus, Lata Mangeshkar, Sunil Dutt, Dilip Kumar, Jagan Nath Kaul, Dr (Smt) Kapila Vatsyayan, K.R. Narayanan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Muzaffar Ali, Shubha Mudgal, SN Subbarao,. Nirmala Deshpande, Hem Dutta, Dr N Radhakrishnan, Gautam Bhai, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, SPIC MACAY, and DR Mehta _ individually; and Hiteswar Saikia and Subhadra Joshi (jointly), Teesta Setalvad and Harsh Mander (jointly), Swami Agnivesh and Shri Madari Moideen (jointly) – are former recipients of the award.