Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit Nehru August 18, 1900 to
December 1, 1990 was an
Indian diplomat and
politician, sister of
Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. She was the first
Indian woman to hold a
ministerial post. She held the latter post until
1939 and again from
1946 to
1947.
In India, she has served as governor of Maharashtra 1962 to 1964, when she was elected to the Indian Lok Sabha from Phulpur, her brother, former constituency. Pandit was a strong critic of her niece, Indira Gandhi after Gandhi became prime minister in 1966, and she withdrew from active politics after their relationship soured.
Her daughter Nayantara Sahgal, who later settled in her mother's house in Dehradun, is a famous writer. Gita Sahgal, a writer and journalist on issues related to feminism, fundamentalism and racism, director of award-winning documentaries and human rights activist, is her grandson.