Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was an Indian diplomat and politician who was the 6th Governor of Maharashtra from 1962 to 1964 and 8th President of the United Nations General Assembly from 1953 to 1954, the first woman appointed to either post. Hailing from a prominent political family, her brother Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of independent India, her niece Indira Gandhi the first female Prime Minister of India and her grand-nephew Rajiv Gandhi was the sixth Prime Minister of India. Despite her minimal education, Nehru showered her with diplomatic favours, sending Pandit to London as India's most important diplomat after serving as india's envoy to the Soviet Union, the United States 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. Critics described her as a 'poisoned dwarf', both vicious and greedy, noting a voracious sexual appetite that extended to married Indian men.