Gopalkrishna Gandhi to be honoured with Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award

The Congress party announced that the the 24th Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award will go to former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi “for his outstanding contribution towards the promotion of communal harmony, peace and goodwill”.

The Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award is awarded on the occasion of the birth anniversary of late former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. It was instituted to commemorate the lasting contribution made by him to promote peace, communal harmony and fight against violence. It carries a citation and cash award of ₹10 lakh.

Former recipients of the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award include Mother Teresa, Ustad Bismillah Khan, Mohd. Yunus, Hiteswar Saikia and Subhadra Joshi (jointly), Lata Mangeshkar, Sunil Dutt, Jagan Nath Kaul, Dilip Kumar, Dr (Smt) Kapila Vatsyayan, Teesta Setalvad and Harsh Mander (jointly), SN Subbarao, Swami Agnivesh and Shri Madari Moideen (jointly), KR Narayanan, . Nirmala Deshpande, Hem Dutta, Dr N Radhakrishnan, Gautam Bhai, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, SPIC MACAY, DR Mehta, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Muzaffar Ali and Shubha Mudgal.

This year’s award will be presented to Gopalkrishna Gandhi at a special ceremony on Monday, August 20 in Delhi.

According to a biography of Gopalkrishna Gandhi, he was on born April 22, 1945. He is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and son of Devadas Gandhi and Lakshmi Gandhi. His maternal grandfather was C Rajagopalachari (Rajaji).

As a former IAS officer, Gandhi has also served as High Commissioner to South Africa and Sri Lanka, among other diplomatic posts. Most notably he served as Governor of West Bengal from 2004 to 2009.

He was the joint Opposition candidate for President of India in the last Presidential election.