Gandhi was bisexual, new book claims

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Mahatma Gandhi was bisexual and left his wife to live with a German-Jewish bodybuilder, a controversial biography has claimed. The leader of the Indian independence movement is said to have been deeply in love with Hermann Kallenbach. He allegedly told him: “How completely you have taken possession of my body. This is slavery with a vengeance.” Kallenbach was born in Germany but emigrated to South Africa where he became a wealthy architect. Gandhi was working there and Kallenbach became one of his closest disciples. He built a house in South Africa for Gandhi, which they shared between 1908 and 1910.

They pledged to give one another “more love, and yet more love, such love as they hope the world has not yet seen”, according to the biography by Joseph Lelyveld called Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi And His Struggle With India.

At the age of 13 Gandhi had been married to 14-year-old Kasturbai Makhanji, but after four children together they split in 1908 so he could be with Kallenbach, the book says.

They were separated in 1914 when Gandhi went back to India - Kallenbach was not allowed into India because of World War One. After the war they stayed in touch by letter.

The book claims that Gandhi encouraged his 17-year-old great-niece Manu to take off her clothes during their “nightly cuddles”. He also slept with many other young women but did not have sex with them. - Daily Mail