Vijaya Laxmi Pandit
| Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit | |
|---|---|
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit in the Netherlands in 1965
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| President of the United Nations General Assembly | |
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In office 15 September 1953 – 21 September 1954 |
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| Preceded by | Lester B. Pearson |
| Succeeded by | Eelco N. van Kleffens |
| 7th Governor of Maharashtra | |
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In office 28 November 1962 – 18 October 1964 |
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| Preceded by | P. Subbarayan |
| Succeeded by | P. V. Cherian |
| Member of Parliament | |
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In office 1967–1971 |
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| Preceded by | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Succeeded by | V. P. Singh |
| Constituency | Phulpur |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
18 August 1900 Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, North-Western Provinces, British Raj |
| Died | 1 December 1990 (aged 90) Dehradun, Uttar Pradesh, India |
| Political party | Indian National Congress |
| Spouse(s) | Ranjit Sitaram Pandit |
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (18 August 1900- 1 December 1990) was an Indian diplomat and politician, the sister of Jawaharlal Nehru, the aunt of Indira Gandhi and the grand-aunt of Rajiv Gandhi, each of whom served as Prime Minister of India. Pandit was sent to London, as India's most important diplomat, after serving as Nehru’s envoy to the Soviet Union, the USA and the United Nations. Her time in London offers insights into the wider context of changes in Indo–British relations. Her High-Commissionership was a microcosm of inter-governmental relations.
Vijaya Lakshmi's father, Motilal Nehru (1861–1931), a wealthy barrister who belonged to the Kashmiri Pandit community, served twice as President of the Indian National Congress during the Independence Struggle. Her mother, Swaruprani Thussu (1868–1938), who came from a well-known Kashmiri Brahmin family settled in Lahore, was Motilal's second wife, the first having died in child birth. She was the second of three children; Jawaharlal was eleven years her senior (b. 1889), while her younger sister Krishna Hutheesing (b. 1907) became a noted writer and authored several books on their brother.
In 1921 she married Ranjit Sitaram Pandit (1893-1944), a successful Maharashtrian barrister from Kathiawad and classical scholar who translated Kalhana's epic history Rajatarangini into English from Sanskrit. He was arrested for his support of Indian independence and died in Lucknow prison in 1944, leaving behind his wife and their three daughters Chandralekha Mehta, Nayantara Sehgal and Rita Dar. She died in the year 1990. Her daughter Nayantara Sahgal, who later settled in her mother's house in Dehradun, is a well-known novelist.
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