Quick Facts
Biography
Piloo Mody (14 November 1926 – 29 January 1983) was an Indian architect and politician and one of the founding members of the Swatantra Party. Elected to the 4th and 5th Lok Sabhas, he served in the Rajya Sabha from 1978 until his death.
Life
A member of the Parsi community Piloo Mody was one of the sons of Sir Homi Mody. He was educated at The Doon School, Dehradun, and at the University of California, Berkeley, from where he graduated with a Master's degree in architecture. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who went on to become Prime Minister of Pakistan in the 1970s, was his college room-mate and the two were close friends.
In political life Mody was an advocate of liberalism and freedom. At the 1967 general election he was elected to the 4th Lok Sabha, representing the Godhra constituency in Gujarat. In 1971 he was re-elected and served in the 5th Lok Sabha until March 1977. In 1972 he was instrumental in promoting the Architects' Act. In 1975, at the time of the Emergency in India, Mody was arrested on the orders of the Indira Gandhi government, using the controversial powers granted by the Maintenance of Internal Security Act.
After an absence of a year from parliament, on 10 April 1978 Mody joined the Rajya Sabha and served there until his death in 1983.
He was married to an American, Lavina Colgan Mody, who was a fellow architect student at Berkley. The Piloo Mody College of Architecture, at Cuttack, Orissa, and a FIDE chess tournament are named in his honour. His brother, Russi Mody is a former chairman of the Tata Iron and Steel company Limited.
Works
- Zulfi, My Friend (1973)
- Democracy Means Brerd Freedom (1979)