A renowned politician and environmentalist, Mainka Gandhi was born on August 26, 1956. She was educated at Lawrence School, Sanawar. She was married to Sanjay Gandhi, the younger son of Indira Gandhi. But her marital life did not last long as she became a widow when Sanjay Gandhi died in a plane crash.
Mainka Gandhi is a born politician. However, before joining politics, she was a magazine editor and columnist. But her passion to help animals and poor people brought her to politics. She was elected to Parliament in November 1989 and was appointed the Minister of State for Environment and Forests from 1989 to 1991. She returned to Parliament in 1998 as the Minister of Welfare and was appointed as the Chairperson of the Committee for the purpose of control and supervision of experiments on Animals. It was she, who persuaded the Coca Cola company to cancel its sponsorship of bullfights in Mexico.