Kanu Gandhi, Gandhiji’s grandson and ex-Nasa scientist, dies

Kanu was famous as the boy who walked ahead of Mahatma Gandhi holding one end of his stick on the beaches of Gujarat’s Dandi village during the historic Salt Satyagraha of March-April 1930.

Kanu Ramdas Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and a former NASA scientist, breathed his last at a private hospital here on Monday evening, an aide said.

Mahatma Gandhi with grandson Kanu on the beaches of Gujarat’s Dandi village during the historic Salt Satyagraha of March-April 1930. (Vithalbhai Jhaveri/Dinodia Pho)

Kanu was 87 and is survived by his wife Shivalaxmi.

Kanu was famous as the boy who walked ahead of Mahatma Gandhi holding one end of his stick on the beaches of Gujarat’s Dandi village during the historic Salt Satyagraha of March-April 1930.

On October 22, he suffered a heart attack and brain haemorrhage which left his body paralysed. He lapsed into a coma, from which he never recovered, Dhimant Badhia, an old friend, told IANS.

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