Oxford Dictionary of Political Biography:
Jawaharlal Nehru
(b. Allahabad, 14 Nov. 1889; d. 27 May 1964) Indian; President of Indian National Congress 1951 – 4, Prime Minister 1947 – 64 Son of a Kashmiri Brahmin lawyer, Nehru was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. He later qualified as a barrister at the Inner Temple. On returning to India he became involved in the Congress. The Jallianwala massacre left a deep impression on Nehru, who subsequently participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement (1919 – 22), which enabled him to become a popular leader, especially in Uttar Pradesh. He was imprisoned in 1921 and was to spend long periods in jail before 1947. Between the end of 1931 and September 1935 he was free for only six months.
The failure of the Non-Cooperation Movement led Nehru to move closer to socialism. During 1926 – 7 he visited Europe and was impressed by meetings with socialists and concerned by the rise of Fascism. His move to the left became permanent and he maintained his anti-Fascism throughout the 1930s.
In 1936 – 7 he steered the Congress to victories in the provincial elections and subsequently participated in the Quit India Movement (1942). In September 1946 Nehru was made the head of the Interim Government and Vice-President of the Governor-General's Executive Council. As Congress's chief spokesman in negotiations with the Muslim League and the colonial government, Nehru was a poor match for M. A. Jinnah and squandered the opportunity to evolve a scheme for united India. Given his consistent opposition to the partition of India, his acceptance of the 3 June 1947 Plan, which created modern India and Pakistan, produced the outcome that he least desired.
After 15 August 1947, Nehru became the Prime Minister of India, a position he was to occupy until 27 May 1947. He was to lead the Congress to three successive general election victories (1952, 1957, and 1962) and following the death of Patel (1950) became the undisputed leader of the party.
Nehru was a prolific writer. He wrote extensively during spells in prison. Among his more prominent works are Glimpses of World History (1935), Autobiography (1936), and the Discovery of India (1946). Although influenced by Gandhian ideas, he was a modernizer who believed that the future of India lay with industry, science, technology, and state-led industrialization. Nehru was strongly influenced by the Soviet model of centralized planning and established the Planning Commission (1950) which oversaw the development and the implementation of Five-Year Plans. Centralized planning, however, was adapted to operate within the framework of a liberal democracy. The success of many of the elements of planning were made contingent upon the democratic mobilization of the poor, especially the rural poor.
During his tenure as Prime Minister Nehru also held the office of Foreign Minister. In 1954 he agreed a Panch Shila pact with China which asserted principles of peaceful coexistence and mutual non-aggression. Nehru's efforts to steer clear of the Cold War between the USA and Soviet Union led him to ally with other Third World leaders in a similar position. In 1955 he played a pre-eminent role at the Bandung Conference in Indonesia at which the Non-Aligned Movement was born. The following year Nehru visited USSR, followed by Khrushchev's visit to India which established strong economic ties between the two countries. These initiatives, however, could not prevent growing border tension between India and China which eventually erupted into a full-scale war in October 1962.
In domestic politics Nehru nurtured political development by acting as a tutor to chief ministers. He wrote to them on a regular basis about issues of general and political concern. Following the defeat of Tandon (1951), Nehru became the President of Congress, a position he held until 1954. Nehru is accredited with establishing the "Congress System" — a system of one-party dominance that combined democratic governance with the needs of political development. A particularly notable feature of the "Congress System" was the high degree of autonomy given to provincial party bosses and the role of Nehru as national leader and mediator. This system worked well in the 1950s and managed the tensions generated for the linguistic reorganization of states and the imposition of Hindi as a national language.
In 1955 Nehru committed the Congress to a "socialist pattern of society". To further this aim the Second Five-Year Plan (1957 – 62) was formulated with the aim of collectivizing agriculture but this move was defeated at the annual conference of the Congress Party (1958). Nehru also suffered reversals with the dismissal of the Communist government in Kerala (1959) and increasing corruption within the party. His efforts to revive the Congress through the Kamaraj Plan (1963), which required leading Cabinet colleagues to return to the provinces, was widely interpreted as a move to prepare his daughter, Indira Gandhi, for the succession.
Nehru was a towering personality who shaped the image of modern India. An intellectual statesman, he was ill at ease with the harsh realities of political life, either at home or abroad. His indecisions, romanticism, and patrician detachment led to fatal miscalculations that were best illustrated by the humiliation suffered by the Indian forces during the Indo-China war. Yet despite these limitations, Nehru provided stable leadership during dangerous years after the partition of India and established institutional structures that provided the basis of economic development.
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/jawaharlal-nehru#ixzz1FdGmuDiv
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) was a great Indian nationalist leader who worked for independence and social reform. He became first prime minister of independent India, a position he retained until his death. He initiated India's nonalignment policy in foreign affairs.
Jawaharlal Nehru was born on Nov. 14, 1889, in Allahabad into a proud, learned Kashmiri Brahmin family. His father, Motilal Nehru, was a wealthy barrister and influential politician. Jawaharlal was an only child until the age of 11, after which two sisters were born. The atmosphere in the Nehru home was more English than Indian; English was spoken. It was also a luxurious home, with an impressive stable and two swimming pools. Jawaharlal was educated at home by tutors, most of them English or Scottish. Under the influence of a tutor Nehru joined the Theosophical Society at 13.
At the age of 15 Nehru left for England, where he studied at Harrow and Cambridge and then for the bar in London. He was called to the bar in 1912. His English experience reinforced his elegant and cosmopolitan tastes. As Nehru said of himself at Cambridge, "In my likes and dislikes I was perhaps more an Englishman than an Indian." In London he was attracted by Fabian ideas; nationalism and socialism from this time on provided his intellectual motive force.
Early Political Moves
Back in India, Nehru began to practice law with his father. It was not until 1917 that Nehru was stirred by a political issue, the imprisonment of Annie Besant, an Irish theosophist devoted to Indian freedom. As a result, Nehru became active in the Home Rule League. His involvement in the nationalist movement gradually replaced his legal practice. In 1916 Nehru was married to Kamala Kaul, of an orthodox Kashmiri Brahmin family. They had one daughter (later Indira Gandhi, third prime minister of independent India).
Apart from his father and Besant, the greatest influence on Nehru politically was Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi had been educated much like Nehru but, unlike him, remained basically untouched, essentially Indian. A second issue which fired Nehru's nationalism and led him to join Gandhi was the Amritsar massacre of 1919, in which some 400 Indians were shot on orders of a British officer.
The year 1920 marked Nehru's first contact with the Indian kisan, the peasant majority. Nehru was "filled with shame and sorrow … at the degradation and overwhelming poverty of India." This experience aroused a sympathy for the underdog which characterized many of Nehru's later political moves. The plight of the peasant was a challenge to his socialist convictions, and he attempted to persuade the peasants to organize. From this time on Nehru's concerns were Indian. He began to read the Bhagavad Gita and practiced vegetarianism briefly. Most of his life he practiced yoga daily.
In 1921 Nehru followed Gandhi in sympathy with the Khilafat cause of the Moslems. Nehru was drawn into the first civil disobedience campaign as general secretary of the United Provinces Congress Committee. Nehru remarked, "I took to the crowd, and the crowd took to me, and yet I never lost myself in it." Nehru here articulated two of his most distinctive traits throughout his career: his involvement with the people and his aloof and lonely detachment. The year 1921 also witnessed the first of Nehru's many imprisonments. In prison his political philosophy matured, and he said that he learned patience and adaptability. Imprisonment was also a criterion of political success.
International Influences
In 1926-1927 Nehru took his wife to Europe for her health. This experience became a turning point for Nehru. It was an intellectual sojourn, highlighted by an antiimperialist conference in Brussels. Here Nehru first encountered Communists, Socialists, and radical nationalists from Asia and Africa. The goals of independence and social reform became firmly linked in Nehru's mind. Nehru spoke eloquently against imperialism and became convinced of the need for a socialist structure of society. He was impressed with the Soviet example during a visit to Moscow.
Back in India Nehru was immediately engrossed in party conferences and was elected president of the All-India Trades Union Congress. In speeches he linked the goals of independence and socialism. In 1928 he joined the radical opposition to proposals for dominion status by his father and Gandhi. In 1930 Gandhi threw his weight to Nehru as Congress president, attempting to divert radicalism from communism to the Congress.
In 1930 Nehru was arrested and imprisoned for violation of the Salt Law, which Gandhi also protested in his famous "salt march." Nehru's wife was also arrested. From the end of 1931 to September 1935 Nehru was free only 6 months.
During the 1937 elections the Moslem League offered to cooperate with the All-India Congress Committee in forming a coalition government in the United Provinces. Nehru refused, and the struggle between the Congress and the Moslem League was under way. Nehru also established the precedent for economic planning in a suggestion that the Congress form a national planning committee. In 1938 Nehru paid a brief visit to Europe. On his return he was sent briefly as envoy to China until war intervened and made it necessary for him to return.
War in Europe drew India in, together with England. For Indian leaders the question was how an honorable settlement could be reached with England and still allow India to participate on the Allied side. Negotiations toward this end culminated in the Cripps mission and offer of dominion status in March 1942. Nehru refused to accept dominion status, as did the rest of Congress leadership. There followed the Congress "Quit India" resolution and the imprisonment of Nehru, Gandhi, and other Congress leaders until June 1945. There were nationwide protests, a mass demand for independence.
Prime Minister
In 1945, as Congress president, Nehru was pressed into negotiations with the Moslem League and the viceroy. Congress-Moslem League negotiations were marked by communal killings in Calcutta, followed by sympathetic outbreaks throughout India. Final decisions were reached in conversations between the last British viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, and Nehru, Gandhi, and Mohammad Ali Jinnah. According to the Mountbatten Plan, two separate dominions were created. Nehru became prime minister and minister of external affairs of independent India in 1947.
Following Gandhi's assassination in January 1948, Nehru felt very much alone facing economic problems and the possibility of the Balkanization of India. In 1949 he made his first visit to the United States in search of a solution to India's pressing food shortage.
Free India's first elections in 1951-1952 resulted in an overwhelming Congress victory. Economic planning and welfare were the first claims on Nehru's attention. He inaugurated a diluted version of socialist planning: concentration of public investment in areas of the economy that were free from private interests. The Planning Commission was created in 1950 and launched the First Five-Year Plan in 1951, stressing an increase in agricultural output. Nehru also took pride in the Community Development Program, established to raise the standard of living in the villages. He saw the Third Five-Year Plan operative before his death on May 27, 1964, in New Delhi.
Nehru was the architect of nonalignment in foreign policy. Economic weakness and the Indian tradition were powerful factors in formulating the policy. The other influence on Nehru's foreign policy was his controversial minister of defense, Krishna Menon. Nehru sought closer relations with nonaligned Asian states, with India in the role of leader.
Nehru's nonalignment policy was criticized by many Westerners and some Indians as giving preference to totalitarian countries rather than to democracies. Some critics believed that nonalignment left India no effective means to deal with China, national defense, the Great Powers, or the underdeveloped community. On the other hand, nonalignment had many Indian defenders, even in the face of the Chinese invasion of Indian border territory in 1962. Some held that nonalignment was a strategy for deterrence and peace, a force for protecting Indian independence and preservation of the international community on ethical grounds. Nevertheless, nonalignment as implemented by Nehru did not prevent the government from resorting to force in Hyderabad, Kashmir, and Goa.
Nehru the man and politician made such a powerful imprint on India that his death on May 27, 1964, left India with no political heir to his leadership. Indians repeated Nehru's own words of the time of Gandhi's assassination: "The light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere."
Further Reading
A useful collection of Nehru's speeches and writings is Nehru: The First Sixty Years, selected and edited by Dorothy Norman (2 vols., 1965). Major biographies are Frank Moraes, Jawaharlal Nehru (1956); Donald E. Smith, Nehru and Democracy: The Political Thought of an Asian Democrat (1958); Michael Brecher, Nehru: A Political Biography (1960); and M. N. Das, The Political Philosophy of Jawaharlal Nehru (1961). A journalistic account, written by an intimate of the Nehru household, is Marie Seton, Panditiji: A Portrait of Jawaharlal Nehru (1967), a valuable book for students of Indian politics and history. A somewhat simplified biography, particularly suitable for young adults and casual readers, is Bani Shorter, Nehru: A Voice for Mankind (1970).
Works that assess Nehru's achievements and evaluate his place in history include K. Natwar-Singh, ed., The Legacy of Nehru: A Memorial Tribute (1965); The Emerging World: Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Volume (1965); and G. S. Jolly, ed., The Image of Nehru (1969), all of which are laudatory and should be balanced by more critical appraisals, such as that in Brecher's biography. Walter Crocker, an intimate friend, yet sometimes a critic, of Nehru, wrote Nehru: A Contemporary's Estimate (1966), which is a more balanced appraisal. Paul F. Power and Columbia University Committee on Oriental Studies, eds., India's Nonalignment Policy (1967), deals with various Indian and foreign views of Nehru's foreign policy and contains a good bibliography on the subject. Another work by Michael Brecher, Nehru's Mantle: The Politics of Succession in India (1966), analyzes the parliamentary system in India that made possible a peaceful succession.
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/jawaharlal-nehru#ixzz1FdGso0kj
Nehru, Jawaharlal (1889-1964). Independent India's first prime minister. The son of Motilal Nehru, a prominent lawyer and leader of the Indian National Congress, Nehru was educated at Harrow and Cambridge and trained for the bar. He became politically active during Gandhi's first non-cooperation movement (1920-2). In 1939 he was Gandhi's choice to displace fellow-socialist S. C. Bose as Congress president. Nehru played a leading role in negotiations for independence in 1946-7 and was prime minister in India's first interim government. He was confirmed in office at three subsequent general elections.
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/jawaharlal-nehru#ixzz1FdGw6VCv
Nehru, Jawaharlal (jəwähərläl' nā'rū, nĕ'-), 1889-1964, Indian statesman, b. Allahabad; son of Motilal Nehru. A politician and statesman of great skill, Nehru was enormously popular in India.
Early Career
Educated in England at Harrow and Cambridge, he was admitted to the English bar in 1912 and practiced law in India for several years. After the massacre at Amritsar (1919), he devoted himself to the struggle for India's freedom. His compelling oratory as well as his close association with Mohandas Gandhi contributed to making him a leader of the Indian National Congress, and in 1929 (the first of four times) he was elected its president.
A leader of the radical wing of the Congress, Nehru spent most of the period from 1930 to 1936 in jail for conducting civil disobedience campaigns. About 1939 disharmony developed between him and Gandhi. Nehru, who had been influenced by a study of Marxism, opposed Gandhi's ideal of an agrarian society and advanced a program calling for the industrialization and socialization of India. During World War II, however, Nehru and Gandhi were united in their opposition to aiding Great Britain unless India was immediately freed, and Nehru was imprisoned from Oct., 1942, to June, 1945. After his release, he participated in the negotiations that led to the creation of the two independent states of India and Pakistan in 1947.
Indian Prime Minister
Nehru became India's prime minister and minister of foreign affairs and led the country through the difficult early years of independence. The domestic problems of those years included the massive influx of Hindu refugees from Pakistan; the integration of the princely states into the new political structure (Hyderabad was incorporated by force in 1948, and Kashmir's accession caused the first India-Pakistan War, ending in the partition of the state); and controversy and unrest associated with the reorganization of the states on a linguistic basis. On the economic front the government launched a series of five-year plans with the declared goal of achieving a "socialist pattern of society."
In foreign affairs Nehru adopted a policy of neutralism. He stressed the importance of the movement of nonaligned nations in international politics and became one of its leading spokesmen. He also opposed the formation of military alliances and urged a moratorium on all nuclear testing. Some observers felt that he lost stature as an advocate of peace by employing force in Kashmir and by seizing (1961) Goa from the Portuguese. It also appeared that he might be abandoning strict neutralism for a more pro-Western policy when he requested Western aid to defend India against Chinese border incursions in 1962.
Bibliography
Nehru wrote voluminously, especially while in prison; his notable works include Glimpses of World History (1936), comprising letters to his daughter (Indira Gandhi), and The Discovery of India (1946). See also his autobiography, Toward Freedom (American ed. 1941, repr. 1958); biographies by M. Edwardes (1971) and S. Gopal (3 vol., 1976-84); B. R. Nanda, The Nehrus (1962); A. von Tunzelmann, Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire (2007).
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/jawaharlal-nehru#ixzz1FdGzPNEI
(juh-wah-huhr-lahl nair-ooh, nay-rooh)
An Indian political leader of the twentieth century. Nehru was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi in the struggle for independence from Britain in India during the 1930s and 1940s. After independence, he served as the country's first prime minister, steering Indian foreign policy toward nonalignment (see nonaligned nations). Nehru died in 1964.
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/jawaharlal-nehru#ixzz1FdH3ARNV
Quotes:
"Those who are prepared to die for any cause are seldom defeated."
"It is only too easy to make suggestions and later try to escape the consequences of what we say."
"Facts are facts and will not disappear on account of your likes."
"Failure comes only when we forget our ideals and objectives and principles."
"There is perhaps nothing so bad and so dangerous in life as fear."
"The purely agitation attitude is not good enough for a detailed consideration of a subject."
See more famous quotes by Jawaharlal Nehru
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Jawaharlal Nehru
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
"Nehru" redirects here. For the style of jacket, see Nehru jacket.
Jawaharlal Nehru
जवाहरलाल नेहरू
1st Prime Minister of India
In office
15 August 1947 – 27 May 1964
Monarch King George VI (until 26 January 1950)
President Rajendra Prasad and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Governor–General Louis Mountbatten
C. Rajagopalachari
Preceded by Position Created
Succeeded by Gulzarilal Nanda (interim)
Minister for External Affairs of India
In office
15 August 1947 – 27 May 1964
Preceded by Position Created
Succeeded by Gulzarilal Nanda
Minister of Finance
In office
8 October 1958 – 17 November 1959
Preceded by T. T. Krishnamachari
Succeeded by Morarji Desai
Born 14 November 1889
Allahabad, United Provinces, British India
Died 27 May 1964 (aged 74)
New Delhi, Delhi, India
Nationality Indian
Political party Indian National Congress
Spouse(s) Kamala Nehru
Children Indira Gandhi
Alma mater Trinity College, Cambridge
Profession Barrister
Religion Agnostic atheist[1][2][3]
Signature
Jawaharlal Nehru (Hindi/Kashmiri: जवाहरलाल नेहरू, pronounced [dʒəʋaːɦərˈlaːl ˈneːɦru]; 14 November 1889–27 May 1964[4]) was an Indian statesman who was the first (and to date the longest-serving) prime minister of India, from 1947 until 1964. One of the leading figures in the Indian independence movement, Nehru was elected by the Congress Party to assume office as independent India's first Prime Minister, and re-elected when the Congress Party won India's first general election in 1952. As one of the founders of the Non-aligned Movement, he was also an important figure in the international politics of the post-war era. He is frequently referred to as Pandit Nehru ("pandit" being a Sanskrit and Hindi honorific meaning "scholar" or "teacher") and, specifically in India, as Panditji (with "-ji" being a honorific suffix).
The son of a wealthy Indian barrister and politician, Motilal Nehru, Nehru became a leader of the left wing of the Congress Party when still fairly young. Rising to become Congress President, under the mentorship of Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru was a charismatic and radical leader, advocating complete independence from the British Empire. In the long struggle for Indian independence, in which he was a key player, Nehru was eventually recognized as Gandhi's political heir. Throughout his life, Nehru was also an advocate for Fabian socialism and the public sector as the means by which long-standing challenges of economic development could be addressed by poorer nations.
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/jawaharlal-nehru#ixzz1FdH8nzJb
Quotes:
"Those who are prepared to die for any cause are seldom defeated."
"It is only too easy to make suggestions and later try to escape the consequences of what we say."
"Facts are facts and will not disappear on account of your likes."
"Failure comes only when we forget our ideals and objectives and principles."
"There is perhaps nothing so bad and so dangerous in life as fear."
"The purely agitation attitude is not good enough for a detailed consideration of a subject."
See more famous quotes by Jawaharlal Nehru
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Jawaharlal Nehru
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
"Nehru" redirects here. For the style of jacket, see Nehru jacket.
Jawaharlal Nehru
जवाहरलाल नेहरू
1st Prime Minister of India
In office
15 August 1947 – 27 May 1964
Monarch King George VI (until 26 January 1950)
President Rajendra Prasad and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Governor–General Louis Mountbatten
C. Rajagopalachari
Preceded by Position Created
Succeeded by Gulzarilal Nanda (interim)
Minister for External Affairs of India
In office
15 August 1947 – 27 May 1964
Preceded by Position Created
Succeeded by Gulzarilal Nanda
Minister of Finance
In office
8 October 1958 – 17 November 1959
Preceded by T. T. Krishnamachari
Succeeded by Morarji Desai
Born 14 November 1889
Allahabad, United Provinces, British India
Died 27 May 1964 (aged 74)
New Delhi, Delhi, India
Nationality Indian
Political party Indian National Congress
Spouse(s) Kamala Nehru
Children Indira Gandhi
Alma mater Trinity College, Cambridge
Profession Barrister
Religion Agnostic atheist[1][2][3]
Signature
Jawaharlal Nehru (Hindi/Kashmiri: जवाहरलाल नेहरू, pronounced [dʒəʋaːɦərˈlaːl ˈneːɦru]; 14 November 1889–27 May 1964[4]) was an Indian statesman who was the first (and to date the longest-serving) prime minister of India, from 1947 until 1964. One of the leading figures in the Indian independence movement, Nehru was elected by the Congress Party to assume office as independent India's first Prime Minister, and re-elected when the Congress Party won India's first general election in 1952. As one of the founders of the Non-aligned Movement, he was also an important figure in the international politics of the post-war era. He is frequently referred to as Pandit Nehru ("pandit" being a Sanskrit and Hindi honorific meaning "scholar" or "teacher") and, specifically in India, as Panditji (with "-ji" being a honorific suffix).
The son of a wealthy Indian barrister and politician, Motilal Nehru, Nehru became a leader of the left wing of the Congress Party when still fairly young. Rising to become Congress President, under the mentorship of Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru was a charismatic and radical leader, advocating complete independence from the British Empire. In the long struggle for Indian independence, in which he was a key player, Nehru was eventually recognized as Gandhi's political heir. Throughout his life, Nehru was also an advocate for Fabian socialism and the public sector as the means by which long-standing challenges of economic development could be addressed by poorer nations.
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/jawaharlal-nehru#ixzz1FdH8nzJb
Personal life and education
Jawaharlal Nehru was born to Motilal Nehru (1861–1931) and Swaroop Rani (1863–1954) in a Kashmiri Pandit family.
The Nehru family. Standing (L to R) are Jawaharlal Nehru, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, Krishna Hutheesing, Indira Gandhi, and Ranjit Pandit. Seated: Swaroop Rani, Motilal Nehru and Kamala Nehru (circa 1927).
Nehru was educated in India and Britain. In England, he attended the independent boy's school, Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge.
Jawaharlal Nehru at Harrow, where he was also known as Joe Nehru.
During his time in Britain, Nehru was also known as Joe Nehru.[5][6][7][8][9][10]
On 7 February 1916, Nehru married seventeen year old Kamala Kaul. In the first year of the marriage, Kamala gave birth to their only child, Indira Priyadarshini. Much modern speculation has revolved around whether, during the final days of the British in India, Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten,the wife of Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, were romantically involved.[11]
Life and career
Nehru raised the flag of independent India in New Delhi on 15 August 1947, the day India gained Independence. Nehru's appreciation of the virtues of parliamentary democracy, secularism and liberalism, coupled with his concerns for the poor and underprivileged, are recognised to have guided him in formulating socialist policies that influence India to this day. They also reflect the socialist origins of his worldview. His daughter, Indira Gandhi, and grandson, Rajiv Gandhi, also served as Prime Ministers of India.
Successor to Gandhi
On 15 January 1941 Gandhi said, "Some say Pandit Nehru and I were estranged. It will require much more than difference of opinion to estrange us. We had differences from the time we became co-workers and yet I have said for some years and say so now that not Rajaji but Jawaharlal will be my successor."[12]
India's first Prime Minister
Teen Murti Bhavan, Nehru's residence as Prime Minister, now a museum in his memory.
Nehru and his colleagues had been released as the British Cabinet Mission arrived to propose plans for transfer of power
Once elected, Nehru headed an interim government, which was impaired by outbreaks of communal violence and political disorder, and the opposition of the Muslim League led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who were demanding a separate Muslim state of Pakistan. After failed bids to form coalitions, Nehru reluctantly supported the partition of India, according to a plan released by the British on 3 June 1947. He took office as the Prime Minister of India on 15 August, and delivered his inaugural address titled "A Tryst With Destiny"
"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity."[13]
However, this period was marked with intense communal violence. This violence swept across the Punjab region, Delhi, Bengal and other parts of India. Nehru conducted joint tours[citation needed] with Pakistani leaders to encourage peace and calm angry and disillusioned refugees. Nehru would work with Maulana Azad and other Muslim leaders to safeguard and encourage Muslims to remain in India. The violence of the time deeply affected Nehru, who called for a ceasefire[citation needed] and UN intervention to stop the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. Fearing communal reprisals, Nehru also hesitated in supporting the annexation of Hyderabad State. Jaswant Singh, a senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) , viewed Nehru, not Mohammad Ali Jinnah, as causing the partition of India, mostly referring to his highly centralised policies for an independent India in 1947, which Jinnah opposed in favour of a more decentralised India. The split between the two was among the causes of partition. It is believed that personal animosity between the two leaders led to the partition of India.[14][15]
In the years following independence, Nehru frequently turned to his daughter Indira to look after him and manage his personal affairs. Under his leadership, the Congress won an overwhelming majority in the elections of 1952. Indira moved into Nehru's official residence to attend to him and became his constant companion in his travels across India and the world. Indira would virtually become Nehru's chief of staff.
Nehru's study in Teen Murti Bhavan.
Economic policies
Nehru presided over the introduction of a modified, Indian version of state planning and control over the economy. Creating the Planning commission of India, Nehru drew up the first Five-Year Plan in 1951, which charted the government's investments in industries and agriculture. Increasing business and income taxes, Nehru envisaged a mixed economy in which the government would manage strategic industries such as mining, electricity and heavy industries, serving public interest and a check to private enterprise. Nehru pursued land redistribution and launched programmes to build irrigation canals, dams and spread the use of fertilizers to increase agricultural production. He also pioneered a series of community development programs aimed at spreading diverse cottage industries and increasing efficiency into rural India. While encouraging the construction of large dams (which Nehru called the "new temples of India"), irrigation works and the generation of hydroelectricity, Nehru also launched India's programme to harness nuclear energy.
For most of Nehru's term as prime minister, India would continue to face serious food shortages despite progress and increases in agricultural production. Nehru's industrial policies, summarised in the Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956, encouraged the growth of diverse manufacturing and heavy industries,[16] yet state planning, controls and regulations began to impair productivity, quality and profitability. Although the Indian economy enjoyed a steady rate of growth, called Hindu rate of growth at 2.5% per annum, chronic unemployment amidst widespread poverty continued to plague the population.
Education and social reform
Jawaharlal Nehru was a passionate advocate of education for India's children and youth, believing it essential for India's future progress. His government oversaw the establishment of many institutions of higher learning, including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the Indian Institutes of Technology , the Indian Institutes of Management and the National Institutes of Technology. Nehru also outlined a commitment in his five-year plans to guarantee free and compulsory primary education to all of India's children. For this purpose, Nehru oversaw the creation of mass village enrollment programmes and the construction of thousands of schools. Nehru also launched initiatives such as the provision of free milk and meals to children in order to fight malnutrition. Adult education centres, vocational and technical schools were also organised for adults, especially in the rural areas.
Under Nehru, the Indian Parliament enacted many changes to Hindu law to criminalize caste discrimination and increase the legal rights and social freedoms of women[17][18][19] [20]
A system of reservations in government services and educational institutions was created to eradicate the social inequalities and disadvantages faced by peoples of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Nehru also championed secularism and religious harmony, increasing the representation of minorities in government. D. D. Kosambi, a well-known Marxist historian, criticized Nehru in his article for the bourgeoisie class exploitation of Nehru's socialist ideology.[21]
National security and foreign policy
See also: Role of India in Non-Aligned Movement
Nehru led newly independent India from 1947 to 1964, during its first years of freedom from British rule. Both the United States and the Soviet Union competed to make India an ally throughout the Cold War.
On the international scene, Nehru was a champion of pacifism and a strong supporter of the United Nations. He pioneered the policy of non-alignment and co-founded the Non-Aligned Movement of nations professing neutrality between the rival blocs of nations led by the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Recognising the People's Republic of China soon after its founding (while most of the Western bloc continued relations with the Republic of China), Nehru argued for its inclusion in the United Nations and refused to brand the Chinese as the aggressors in their conflict with Korea.[22] He sought to establish warm and friendly relations with China in 1950, and hoped to act as an intermediary to bridge the gulf and tensions between the communist states and the Western bloc.
Meanwhile, Nehru had promised in 1948 to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir under the auspices of the U.N. but, as Pakistan failed to pull back troops in accordance with the UN resolution and as Nehru grew increasingly wary of the U.N., he declined to hold a plebiscite in 1953. He ordered the arrest of the Kashmiri politician Sheikh Abdullah, whom he had previously supported but now suspected of harbouring separatist ambitions; Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad replaced him.
His policy of pacifism and appeasement with respect to China also came unraveled when border disputes led to the Sino-Indian war in 1962.
Jawaharlal Nehru (right) talks to Pakistan prime minister Muhammad Ali Bogra (left) during his 1953 visit to Karachi.
Nehru was hailed by many for working to defuse global tensions and the threat of nuclear weapons.[23] He commissioned the first study of the human effects of nuclear explosions, and campaigned ceaselessly for the abolition of what he called "these frightful engines of destruction." He also had pragmatic reasons for promoting de-nuclearisation, fearing that a nuclear arms race would lead to over-militarisation that would be unaffordable for developing countries such as his own.[24]
In 1956 he had criticised the joint invasion of the Suez Canal by the British, French and Israelis. Suspicion and distrust cooled relations between India and the U.S., which suspected Nehru of tacitly supporting the Soviet Union. Accepting the arbitration of the UK and World Bank, Nehru signed the Indus Water Treaty in 1960 with Pakistani ruler Ayub Khan to resolve long-standing disputes about sharing the resources of the major rivers of the Punjab region.
"We, who for generations had talked about and attempted in everything a peaceful way and practiced non-violence, should now be, in a sense, glorifying our army, navy and air force. It means a lot. Though it is odd, yet it simply reflects the oddness of life. Though life is logical, we have to face all contingencies, and unless we are prepared to face them, we will go under. There was no greater prince of peace and apostle of non-violence than Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, whom we have lost, but yet, he said it was better to take the sword than to surrender, fail or run away. We cannot live carefree assuming that we are safe. Human nature is such. We cannot take the risks and risk our hard-won freedom. We have to be prepared with all modern defense methods and a well-equipped army, navy and air force." [25][26]
Final years
Nehru with Ashoke Kumar Sen, S. Radhakrishnan and Bidhan Chandra Roy
Nehru had led the Congress to a major victory in the 1957 elections, but his government was facing rising problems and criticism. Disillusioned by intra-party corruption and bickering, Nehru contemplated resigning but continued to serve. The election of his daughter Indira as Congress President in 1959 aroused criticism for alleged nepotism[citation needed], although actually Nehru had disapproved of her election, partly because he considered it smacked of "dynastism"; he said, indeed it was "wholly undemocratic and an undesirable thing", and refused her a position in his cabinet.[27] Indira herself was at loggerheads with her father over policy; most notably, she used his oft-stated personal deference to the Congress Working Committee to push through the dismissal of the Communist Party of India government in the state of Kerala, over his own objections.[27] Nehru began to be frequently embarrassed by her ruthlessness and disregard for parliamentary tradition, and was "hurt" by what he saw as an assertiveness with no purpose other than to stake out an identity independent of her father.[4]
Although the Pancha Sila (Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence) was the basis of the 1954 Sino-Indian border treaty, in later years, Nehru's foreign policy suffered through increasing Chinese assertiveness over border disputes and Nehru's decision to grant political asylum to the 14th Dalai Lama. After years of failed negotiations, Nehru authorized the Indian Army to liberate Goa in 1961 from Portuguese occupation, and then he formally annexed it to India. It increased his popularity, but he was criticized for the use of military force.
In the 1962 elections, Nehru led the Congress to victory yet with a diminished majority. Opposition parties ranging from the right-wing Bharatiya Jana Sangh and Swatantra Party, socialists and the Communist Party of India performed well.
Public viewing of Nehru's body, which lies in state, in 1964; the gun carriage used for his state funeral was later used for the state funeral of Mother Teresa
Since 1959, and this accelerated in 1961, Nehru adopted the "Forward Policy" of setting up military outposts in disputed areas of the Sino-Indian border, including in 43 outposts in territory not previously controlled by India.[28] China attacked some of these outposts, and thus the Sino-Indian War began, which India technically lost, but China gained no territory as it withdrew to pre-war lines. The war exposed the weaknesses of India's military, and Nehru was widely criticised for his government's insufficient attention to defence. In response, Nehru sacked the defence minister Krishna Menon and sought U.S. military aid, but Nehru's health began declining steadily, and he spent months recuperating in Kashmir through 1963. Some historians attribute this dramatic decline to his surprise and chagrin over the Sino-Indian War, which he perceived as a betrayal of trust.[29] Upon his return from Kashmir in May 1964, Nehru suffered a stroke and later a heart attack. He was "taken ill in early hours" of 27 May 1964 and died in "early afternoon" on same day, and his death was announced to Lok Sabha at 1400 local time; cause of death is believed to be heart attack.[30] Nehru was cremated in accordance with Hindu rites at the Shantivana on the banks of the Yamuna River, witnessed by hundreds of thousands of mourners who had flocked into the streets of Delhi and the cremation grounds.
Legacy
Nehru's statue in Aldwych, London.
As India's first Prime minister and external affairs minister, Jawaharlal Nehru played a major role in shaping modern India's government and political culture along with sound foreign policy. He is praised for creating a system providing universal primary education, reaching children in the farthest corners of rural India. Nehru's education policy is also credited for the development of world-class educational institutions such as the All India Institute of Medical Sciences,[31] Indian Institutes of Technology,[32] and the Indian Institutes of Management.
"Nehru was a great man... Nehru gave to Indians an image of themselves that I don't think others might have succeeded in doing." - Sir Isaiah Berlin[33]
In addition, Nehru's stance as an unfailing nationalist led him to also implement policies which stressed commonality among Indians while still appreciating regional diversities. This proved particularly important as post-Independence differences surfaced since British withdrawal from the subcontinent prompted regional leaders to no longer relate to one another as allies against a common adversary. While differences of culture and, especially, language threatened the unity of the new nation, Nehru established programs such as the National Book Trust and the National Literary Academy which promoted the translation of regional literatures between languages and also organized the transfer of materials between regions. In pursuit of a single, unified India, Nehru warned, "Integrate or perish."[34]
Commemoration
Nehru hands out sweets to children in Nongpoh
Jawaharlal Nehru on a 1989 USSR commemorative stamp.
In his lifetime, Jawaharlal Nehru enjoyed an iconic status in India and was widely admired across the world for his idealism and statesmanship. His birthday, 14 November, is celebrated in India as Baal Divas (Children's Day) in recognition of his lifelong passion and work for the welfare, education and development of children and young people. Children across India remember him as Chacha Nehru (Uncle Nehru). Nehru remains a popular symbol of the Congress Party which frequently celebrates his memory. Congress leaders and activists often emulate his style of clothing, especially the Gandhi cap, and his mannerisms. Nehru's ideals and policies continue to shape the Congress Party's manifesto and core political philosophy. An emotional attachment to his legacy was instrumental in the rise of his daughter Indira to leadership of the Congress Party and the national government.
Many documentaries about Nehru's life have been produced. He has also been portrayed in fictionalised films. The canonical performance is probably that of Roshan Seth, who played him three times: in Richard Attenborough's 1982 film Gandhi, Shyam Benegal's 1988 television series Bharat Ek Khoj, based on Nehru's The Discovery of India, and in a 2007 TV film entitled The Last Days of the Raj.[35] In Ketan Mehta's film Sardar, Nehru was portrayed by Benjamin Gilani. Nehru's personal preference for the sherwani ensured that it continues to be considered formal wear in North India today; aside from lending his name to a kind of cap, the Nehru jacket is named in his honour due to his preference for that style.
Numerous public institutions and memorials across India are dedicated to Nehru's memory. The Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi is among the most prestigious universities in India. The Jawaharlal Nehru Port near the city of Mumbai is a modern port and dock designed to handle a huge cargo and traffic load. Nehru's residence in Delhi is preserved as the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. The Nehru family homes at Anand Bhavan and Swaraj Bhavan are also preserved to commemorate Nehru and his family's legacy.
Writings
Nehru was a prolific writer in English and wrote a number of books, such as The Discovery of India, Glimpses of World History, and his autobiography, Towards Freedom.
Awards
In 1955 Nehru was awarded with Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.[36]
See also
* Glimpses of World History written by Jawaharlal Nehru
* Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission
* Letters from a Father to His Daughter a collection of letters written by Jawaharlal Nehru to his daughter Indira.
* List of political families
* Nehru jacket
* The Discovery of India written by Jawaharlal Nehru
* Tryst with destiny the historic speech made by Jawaharlal Nehru, considered in modern India to be a landmark oration that captures the essence of the triumphant culmination of the hundred-year Indian freedom struggle against the British Empire in India.
References
1. ^ "The Montreal Gazette". Google News Archive. 9 June 1964. p. 4. http://news.google.co.in/newspapers?id=LZotAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jp4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=7168,1579610.
2. ^ Ramachandra Guha (September 23, 2003). "Inter-faith Harmony: Where Nehru and Gandhi Meet Times of India". The Times Of India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/LEADER-ARTICLEBRInter-faith-Harmony-Where-Nehru-and-Gandhi-Meet/articleshow/196028.cms.
3. ^ In Jawaharlal Nehru's autobiography, An Autobiography (1936), and in the Last Will & Testament of Jawaharlal Nehru, in Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, 2nd series, vol. 26, p. 612,
4. ^ a b Marlay, Ross; Clark D. Neher (1999). Patriots and Tyrants: Ten Asian Leaders. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 368. ISBN 0847684423. http://books.google.com/?id=7i0jGxysUUcC&pg=PA368.
5. ^ Khilnani, Sunil. The Idea of India. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (June 4, 1999). p 168.
6. ^ Tharoor, Shashi. Nehru: The Invention of India. Arcade Publishing: 2003. p 11.
7. ^ Ghose, Sankar. Jawaharlal Nehru, a Biography. Allied Publishers: 1993. p 8.
8. ^ Zachariah, Benjamin. Nehru. Routledge: 2004. pp. 17–19 ISBN 0415250161
9. ^ Matthew, H.C.G. and Harrison, Brian Howard. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: in Association with the British Academy: from the Earliest Times to the Year 2000. Oxford University Press: 2004. p. 344 ISBN 019861411X
10. ^ Gopal, Sarvepalli. Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography. Harvard University Press: 1976. p 20.
11. ^ "Nehru-Edwina were in love: Edwina's daughter". The Indian Express. 2007-07-15. http://www.expressindia.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=89537. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
12. ^ Science & culture, Volume 30. Indian Science News Association. 1964. http://books.google.com/?id=0y0DAAAAIAAJ&q=%22It+will+require+much+more+than+difference+of+opinion+to+estrange+us%22&dq=%22It+will+require+much+more+than+difference+of+opinion+to+estrange+us%22.
13. ^ Nehru, Jawaharlal (2006-08-08). "Wikisource" (PHP). http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Tryst_With_Destiny. Retrieved 2006-08-08.
14. ^ Thapar, Karan (17 August 2009). "Gandhi, Jinnah both failed: Jaswant". ibnlive.in.com. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/gandhi-jinnah-both-failed-jaswant/99323-37.html.
15. ^ "After Advani, Jaswant turns Jinnah admirer". The Economic Times. 17 August 2009.
16. ^ Farmer, B. H. (1993). An Introduction to South Asia. Routledge. p. 120. ISBN 0415056950. http://books.google.com/?id=UNINAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA120.
17. ^ Som, Reba (1994-02). "Jawaharlal Nehru and the Hindu Code: A Victory of Symbol over Substance?". Modern Asian Studies 28 (1): 165–194. doi:10.1017/S0026749X00011732. http://www.jstor.org/stable/312925. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
18. ^ Basu, Srimati (2005). She Comes to Take Her Rights: Indian Women, Property, and Propriety. SUNY Press. p. 3. ISBN 8186706496. http://books.google.com/?id=mXgX8rrW6JsC&pg=PA3. "The Hindu Code Bill was visualised by Ambedkar and Nehru as the flagship of modernisation and a radical revision of Hindu law...it is widely regarded as dramatic benchmark legislation giving Hindu women equitable if not superior entitlements as legal subjects."
19. ^ Kulke, Hermann; Dietmar Rothermund (2004). A History of India. Routledge. pp. 328. ISBN 0415329191. http://books.google.com/?id=TPVq3ykHyH4C&pg=PA328. "One subject that particularly interested Nehru was the reform of Hindu law, particularly with regard to the rights of Hindu women..."
20. ^ Forbes, Geraldine; Geraldine Hancock Forbes, Gordon Johnson (1999). Women in Modern India. Cambridge University Press. pp. 115. ISBN 0521653770. http://books.google.com/?id=hjilIrVt9hUC&pg=PA115. "It is our birthright to demand equitable adjustment of Hindu law...."
21. ^ The Bourgeoisie Comes of Age in India
22. ^ Robert Sherrod (19 January 1963). "Nehru:The Great Awakening". The Saturday Evening Post 236 (2): 60–67.
23. ^ Bhatia, Vinod (1989). Jawaharlal Nehru, as Scholars of Socialist Countries See Him. Panchsheel Publishers. p. 131.
24. ^ Dua, B. D.; James Manor (1994). Nehru to the Nineties: The Changing Office of Prime Minister in India. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. pp. 141, 261. ISBN 1850651809. http://books.google.com/?id=X90G8gnoqv4C&pg=PA141.
25. ^ Indian Express, 6th October 1949 at Pune at the time of lying of the foundation stone of National Defence Academy (India).
26. ^ Mahatma Gandhi's relevant quotes, "My non-violence does not admit of running away from danger and leaving dear ones unprotected. Between violence and cowardly flight, I can only prefer violence to cowardice. Non-violence is the summit of bravery." "I do believe that, where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence." "I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honour than that she should in a cowardly manner become or remain a helpless witness to her own dishonour." - All Men Are Brothers Life and Thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi as told in his own words. UNESCO. pg. 85 - 108.
27. ^ a b Frank, Katherine (2002). Indira: The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi. Houghton Mifflin Books. p. 250. ISBN 039573097X. http://books.google.com/?id=0eolM37FUWYC&pg=PA250.
28. ^ Noorani, A.G. "Perseverance in peace process", Frontline, August 29, 2003.
29. ^ Embree, Ainslie T., ed (1988). Encyclopedia of Asian History. 3. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 98–100. ISBN 0684188996.
30. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/27/newsid_3690000/3690019.stm
31. ^ "AIIMS". http://www.aiims.ac.in.
32. ^ "Institute History". http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/institute/history.php. , Indian Institute of Technology
33. ^ Ramin Jahanbegloo, Conversations with Isaiah Berlin (London 2000), pp. 201–2
34. ^ Harrison, Selig S. (July 1956). "The Challenge to Indian Nationalism". Foreign Affairs 34 (2): 620–636.
35. ^ The Last Days of the Raj (2007) (TV)
36. ^ "Padma Awards Directory (1954-2007)". Ministry of Home affairs. http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/PadmaAwards1954-2007.pdf. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
Further reading
This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.
* A Tryst With Destiny historic speech made by Jawaharlal Nehru on 14 August 1947
* Nehru: The Invention of India by Shashi Tharoor (November 2003) Arcade Books ISBN 1-55970-697-X
* Jawaharlal Nehru (Edited by S. Gopal and Uma Iyengar) (July 2003) The Essential Writings of Jawaharlal Nehru Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-565324-6
* Autobiography:Toward freedom, Oxford University Press
* Jawaharlal Nehru: Life and work by M. Chalapathi Rau, National Book Club (1 January 1966)
* Jawaharlal Nehru by M. Chalapathi Rau. [New Delhi] Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India [1973]
* Letters from a father to his daughter by Jawaharlal Nehru, Children's Book Trust
* Nehru: A Political Biography by Michael Brecher (1959). London:Oxford University Press.
* After Nehru, Who by Welles Hangen (1963). London: Rupert Hart-Davis.
* Nehru: The Years of Power by Geoffrey Tyson (1966). London: Pall Mall Press.
* Independence and After: A collection of the more important speeches of Jawaharlal Nehru from September 1946 to May 1949 (1949). Delhi: The Publications Division, Government of India.
* Joseph Stanislaw and Daniel A. Yergin (1988). "Commanding Heights". New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc.. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/pdf/prof_jawaharla.pdf.
* "The Challenge to Indian Nationalism." by Selig S. Harrison Foreign Affairs vol. 34, no. 2 (1956): 620-636.
* “Nehru, Jawaharlal.” by Ainslie T. Embree, ed., and the Asia Society. Encyclopedia of Asian History. Vol. 3. Charles Scribner’s Sons. New York. (1988): 98-100.
* “Nehru: The Great Awakening.” by Robert Sherrod. Saturday Evening Post vol. 236, no. 2 (19 January 1963): 60-67.
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/jawaharlal-nehru#ixzz1FdHZHblK
