Jawaharlal Nehru

Page semi-protected
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Nehruism
)

Jawaharlal Nehru
Phulpur
, Uttar Pradesh
Personal details
Born(1889-11-14)14 November 1889
Shantivan
Political partyIndian National Congress
Spouse
Kamala Kaul
(m. 1916; died 1936)
ChildrenIndira Gandhi
Parents
RelativesNehru–Gandhi family
Education
AwardsSee awards section
Signature

Jawaharlal Nehru (

Indian nationalist movement in the 1930s and 1940s. Upon India's independence in 1947, he served as the country's first prime minister for 16 years.[3] Nehru promoted parliamentary democracy, secularism, and science and technology during the 1950s, powerfully influencing India's arc as a modern nation. In international affairs, he steered India clear of the two blocs of the Cold War. A well-regarded author, his books written in prison, such as Letters from a Father to His Daughter (1929), An Autobiography (1936) and The Discovery of India
(1946), have been read around the world.

The son of

Congress president in 1929, Nehru called for complete independence from the British Raj
.

Nehru and the Congress dominated Indian politics during the 1930s. Nehru promoted the idea of the

Quit India Resolution of 8 August 1942, senior Congress leaders were imprisoned and for a time the organisation was suppressed. Nehru, who had reluctantly heeded Gandhi's call for immediate independence, and had desired instead to support the Allied war effort during World War II, came out of a lengthy prison term to a much altered political landscape. The Muslim League, under Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had come to dominate Muslim politics in the interim. In the 1946 provincial elections
, Congress won the elections but the League won all the seats reserved for Muslims, which the British interpreted to be a clear mandate for Pakistan in some form. Nehru became the interim prime minister of India in September 1946, with the League joining his government with some hesitancy in October 1946.

Upon India's independence on 15 August 1947, Nehru gave a critically acclaimed speech, "

multi-party democracy. In foreign affairs, he played a leading role in establishing Non-Aligned Movement
, a group of nations that did not seek membership in the two main ideological blocs of the Cold War.

Under Nehru's leadership, the Congress emerged as a

catch-all party, dominating national and state-level politics and winning elections in 1951, 1957 and 1962. His premiership, spanning 16 years and 286 days—which is, to date, the longest in India—ended with his death in 1964 from a heart attack. Hailed as the "architect of Modern India", his birthday is celebrated as Children's Day in India.[4]

Early life and career (1889–1912)

Birth and family background

Allahabad

Jawaharlal Nehru was born on 14 November 1889 in

president of the Indian National Congress, in 1919 and 1928.[5][6] His mother, Swarup Rani Thussu (1868–1938), who came from a well-known Kashmiri Brahmin family settled in Lahore,[7] was Motilal's second wife, his first having died in childbirth. Jawaharlal was the eldest of three children.[8] The elder of his two sisters, Vijaya Lakshmi, later became the first female president of the United Nations General Assembly.[9] His youngest sister, Krishna Hutheesing, became a noted writer and authored several books on her brother.[10][11]

Childhood

Photograph of Nehru and his parents
Jawaharlal with his parents Swarup Rani Nehru (left) and Motilal Nehru in the 1890s

Nehru described his childhood as a "sheltered and uneventful one". He grew up in an atmosphere of privilege in wealthy homes, including a

palatial estate called the Anand Bhavan. His father had him educated at home by private governesses and tutors.[12] Influenced by the Irish theosophist Ferdinand T. Brooks' teaching,[13] Nehru became interested in science and theosophy.[14] A family friend, Annie Besant subsequently initiated him into the Theosophical Society at age thirteen. However, his interest in theosophy did not prove to be enduring, and he left the society shortly after Brooks departed as his tutor.[15] He wrote: "For nearly three years [Brooks] was with me and in many ways, he influenced me greatly".[14]

Nehru's theosophical interests induced him to study the

B. R. Nanda, these scriptures were Nehru's "first introduction to the religious and cultural heritage of [India]....[They] provided Nehru the initial impulse for [his] long intellectual quest which culminated…in The Discovery of India."[16]

Youth

Photograph of Nehru dressed in a cadet uniform
A young Nehru dressed in a cadet's uniform at Harrow School in England

Nehru became an ardent nationalist during his youth.

Garibaldi books, which he had received as prizes for academic merit, influenced him greatly.[19] He viewed Garibaldi as a revolutionary hero. He wrote: "Visions of similar deeds in India came before, of [my] gallant fight for [Indian] freedom and in my mind, India and Italy got strangely mixed together."[14]

Graduation

Swarup Rani and Motilal Nehru in England with their children from l. to r. Krishna (b. November 1907), Vijaya Lakshmi (b. August 1900) and Jawaharlal

Nehru went to

Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, John Maynard Keynes, Bertrand Russell, Lowes Dickinson and Meredith Townsend moulded much of his political and economic thinking.[14]

After completing his degree in 1910, Nehru moved to London and studied law at the

Advocate practice

Photograph if Nehru in his barrister's attire
Jawaharlal Nehru, Barrister-at-Law

After returning to India in August 1912, Nehru enrolled as an advocate of the Allahabad High Court and tried to settle down as a barrister. But, unlike his father, he had very little interest in his profession and relished neither the practice of law nor the company of lawyers: "Decidedly the atmosphere was not intellectually stimulating and a sense of the utter insipidity of life grew upon me."[14] His involvement in nationalist politics was to gradually replace his legal practice.[14]

Nationalist movement (1912–1938)

Britain and return to India: 1912–1913

Nehru had developed an interest in Indian politics during his time in Britain as a student and a barrister.

indentured labour and other such discrimination faced by Indians in the British colonies.[27]

World War I: 1914–1915

When

St. John Ambulance and worked as one of the organisation's provincial secretaries Allahabad.[24] He also spoke out against the censorship acts passed by the British government in India.[29]

Nehru emerged from the war years as a leader whose political views were considered radical. Although the political discourse at the time had been dominated by the moderate, Gopal Krishna Gokhale,[26] who said that it was "madness to think of independence,"[24] Nehru had spoken, "openly of the politics of non-cooperation, of the need of resigning from honorary positions under the government and of not continuing the futile politics of representation".[30] He ridiculed the Indian Civil Service for supporting British policies. He noted someone had once defined the Indian Civil Service, "with which we are unfortunately still afflicted in this country, as neither Indian, nor civil, nor a service".[31] Motilal Nehru, a prominent moderate leader, acknowledged the limits of constitutional agitation but counselled his son that there was no other "practical alternative" to it. Nehru, however, was dissatisfied with the pace of the national movement. He became involved with aggressive nationalists leaders demanding Home Rule for Indians.[32]

The influence of moderates on Congress' politics waned after Gokhale died in 1915.[24] Anti-moderate leaders like Annie Besant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak took the opportunity to call for a national movement for Home Rule. However, in 1915, the proposal was rejected because of the reluctance of the moderates to commit to such a radical course of action.[33]

Home rule movement: 1916–1917

See captionKamala and Jawaharlal Nehru marriage ceremony
Nehru and Kamala Kaul at their wedding in Delhi, 1916
Family portrait of Nehru, his wife and daughter
Nehru in 1919 with wife Kamala and daughter Indira

Nehru married

Kamala Kaul in 1916. Their only daughter Indira was born a year later in 1917. Kamala gave birth to a boy in November 1924, but he lived for only a week.[34]

Nevertheless, Besant formed a league for advocating Home Rule in 1916. Tilak, after releasing from a term in prison, had formed his own league in April 1916.

Hindu-Muslim unity with the Lucknow Pact at the annual meeting of the Congress in December 1916. The pact had been initiated earlier in the year at Allahabad at a meeting of the All India Congress Committee, which was held at the Nehru residence at Anand Bhawan. Nehru welcomed and encouraged the rapprochement between the two Indian communities.[35]

Several nationalist leaders banded together in 1916 under the leadership of Annie Besant to voice a demand for self-governance, and to obtain the status of a Dominion within the British Empire as enjoyed at the time by Australia, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Newfoundland. Nehru joined the movement and rose to become secretary of Besant's Home Rule League.[35][36]

In June 1917, the British government arrested and interned Besant. The Congress and other Indian organisations threatened to launch protests if she was not freed. Subsequently, the British government was forced to release Besant and make significant concessions after a period of intense protest.[37]

Non-co-operation: 1920–1927

Nehru's first big national involvement came at the onset of the

non-co-operation movement in 1920.[38] He led the movement in the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh). Nehru was arrested on charges of anti-governmental activities in 1921 and released a few months later.[39] In the rift that formed within the Congress following Gandhi's sudden halting of the non-Cooperation movement after the Chauri Chaura incident, Nehru remained loyal to him and did not join the Swaraj Party formed by his father Motilal Nehru and CR Das.[40] In 1923, Nehru was imprisoned in Nabha, a princely state, when he went there to see the struggle that was being waged by the Sikhs against the corrupt Mahants. He was released after his sentence was unconditonally suspended by the British administration under the criminal procedure code.[41]

Internationalising the struggle for Indian independence: 1927

Nehru played a leading role in the development of the internationalist outlook of the Indian independence struggle. He sought foreign allies for India and forged links with movements for independence and democracy around the world.[42] In 1927, his efforts paid off, and the Congress was invited to attend the Congress of oppressed nationalities in Brussels, Belgium. The meeting was called to coordinate and plan a common struggle against imperialism. Nehru represented India and was elected to the Executive Council of the League against Imperialism which was born at this meeting.[43]

Increasingly, Nehru saw the struggle for independence from

espoused intentions. Faced with these allegations, Nehru responded:[44]

We have sympathy for the national movement of Arabs in Palestine

because it is directed against British Imperialism. Our sympathies cannot be weakened by the fact that the national movement coincides with Hitler's interests.

Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy: 1929

Nehru, President-elect of the Lahore session of the Indian National Congress in 1929, with the outgoing President, his father Motilal
Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi in 1929

Nehru drafted the policies of the Congress and a future Indian nation in 1929.

nationalisation of industries; socialism; and the establishment of a secular India.[46] All these aims formed the core of the "Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy" resolution drafted by Nehru in 1929–1931 and were ratified in 1931 by the Congress party session at Karachi chaired by Vallabhbhai Patel.[47]

Declaration of independence

Nehru was one of the first leaders to demand that the Congress Party should resolve to make a complete and explicit break from all ties with the British Empire. The Madras session of Congress in 1927, approved his resolution for independence despite Gandhi's criticism. At that time, he formed the Independence for India League, a pressure group within the Congress.[48][49] In 1928, Gandhi agreed to Nehru's demands and proposed a resolution that called for the British to grant Dominion status to India within two years.[50] If the British failed to meet the deadline, the Congress would call upon all Indians to fight for complete independence. Nehru was one of the leaders who objected to the time given to the British—he pressed Gandhi to demand immediate actions from the British. Gandhi brokered a further compromise by reducing the time given from two years to one.[49] The British rejected demands for Dominion status in 1929.[49] Nehru assumed the presidency of the Congress party during the Lahore session on 29 December 1929 and introduced a successful resolution calling for complete independence.[49][51] Nehru drafted the Indian Declaration of Independence, which stated:

We believe that it is the inalienable right of the Indian people, as of any other people, to have freedom and to enjoy the fruits of their toil and have the necessities of life, so that they may have full opportunities for growth. We believe also that if any government deprives a people of these rights and oppresses them the people have a further right to alter it or abolish it. The British government in India has not only deprived the Indian people of their freedom but has based itself on the exploitation of the masses, and has ruined India economically, politically, culturally, and spiritually. We believe, therefore, that India must sever the British connection and attain Purna Swaraj or complete independence.[52]

At midnight on New Year's Eve 1929, Nehru hoisted the

tricolour flag of India upon the banks of the Ravi in Lahore.[53] A pledge of independence was read out, which included a readiness to withhold taxes. The massive gathering of the public attending the ceremony was asked if they agreed with it, and the majority of people were witnessed raising their hands in approval. 172 Indian members of central and provincial legislatures resigned in support of the resolution and in accordance with Indian public sentiment. The Congress asked the people of India to observe 26 January as Independence Day.[54] Congress volunteers, nationalists, and the public hoisted the flag of India publicly across India. Plans for mass civil disobedience were also underway.[55]

After the Lahore session of the Congress in 1929, Nehru gradually emerged as the paramount leader of the Indian independence movement. Gandhi stepped back into a more spiritual role. Although Gandhi did not explicitly designate Nehru as his political heir until 1942, as early as the mid-1930s, the country saw Nehru as the natural successor to Gandhi.[56]

Salt March: 1930

Nehru and most of the Congress leaders were ambivalent initially about Gandhi's plan to begin civil disobedience with a satyagraha aimed at the British salt tax. After the protest had gathered steam, they realised the power of salt as a symbol. Nehru remarked about the unprecedented popular response, "It seemed as though a spring had been suddenly released".[57] He was arrested on 14 April 1930 while on a train from Allahabad to Raipur. Earlier, after addressing a huge meeting and leading a vast procession, he had ceremoniously manufactured some contraband salt. He was charged with breach of the salt law and sentenced to six months of imprisonment at Central Jail.[58][59]

He nominated Gandhi to succeed him as the Congress president during his absence in jail, but Gandhi declined, and Nehru nominated his father as his successor.[60] With Nehru's arrest, the civil disobedience acquired a new tempo, and arrests, firing on crowds and lathi charges grew to be ordinary occurrences.[61]

Salt satyagraha success

The

Congress party for independence. Nehru considered the salt satyagraha the high-water mark of his association with Gandhi,[62] and felt its lasting importance was in changing the attitudes of Indians:[63]

Of course these movements exercised tremendous pressure on the British Government and shook the government machinery. But the real importance, to my mind, lay in the effect they had on our own people, and especially the village masses. ... Non-cooperation dragged them out of the mire and gave them self-respect and self-reliance. ... They acted courageously and did not submit so easily to unjust oppression; their outlook widened and they began to think a little in terms of India as a whole. ... It was a remarkable transformation and the Congress, under Gandhi's leadership, must have the credit for it.

Electoral politics, Europe, and economics: 1936–1938

Kamla Nehru
in March 1936
Nehru with Indian Nobel-prize-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore in 1936
Photograph of 1000s of people in a procession
Nehru in a procession at Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province, 14 October 1937
Nehru on a visit to Egypt in June 1938

Nehru's trip to Europe in 1936 happened to be the turning point in his political and economic mindset. The visit sparked his interest in Marxism and his socialist thought pattern. Time later spent incarcerated enabled him to research Marxism more deeply. Appealed by its ideas but repelled by some of its tactics, he never completely agreed with Karl Marx's ideas. However, from that time on, the benchmark of his economic view remained Marxist, adapted, where necessary, to Indian circumstances. [64][65]

Nehru spent the early months of 1936 in Switzerland visiting his ailing wife in Lausanne, where she died in March. While in Europe, he became very concerned with the possibility of another world war.[66] At that time, he emphasised that, in the event of war, India's place was alongside the democracies, though he insisted India could only fight in support of Great Britain and France as a free country.[67]

At its 1936 Lucknow session, despite opposition from the newly elected Nehru as the party president, the Congress party agreed to contest the provincial elections to be held in 1937 under the Government of India Act 1935.[68][69] The elections brought the Congress party to power in a majority of the provinces with increased popularity and power for Nehru. Since the Muslim League under Muhammad Ali Jinnah (who was to become the creator of Pakistan) had fared badly at the polls, Nehru declared that the only two parties that mattered in India were the British colonial authorities and the Congress. Jinnah's statements that the Muslim League was the third and "equal partner" within Indian politics were widely rejected.[70][71][72]

In the 1930s, under the leadership of

carte blanche ("blank cheque") in framing the foreign policy of any future Indian nation.[78] Nehru worked closely with Bose in developing good relations with governments of free countries all over the world.[79]

Nehru was one of the first nationalist leaders to realise the sufferings of the people in the states ruled by Indian princes.

National Planning Commission in 1938 to help frame such policies.[81] However, many of the plans framed by Nehru and his colleagues would come undone with the unexpected partition of India in 1947.[82]

The

All India States Peoples Conference (AISPC) was formed in 1927 and Nehru, who had supported the cause of the people of the princely states for many years, was made the organisation's president in 1939.[83] He opened up its ranks to membership from across the political spectrum. AISPC was to play an important role during the political integration of India, helping Indian leaders Vallabhbhai Patel and V. P. Menon (to whom Nehru had delegated integrating the princely states into India) negotiate with hundreds of princes.[84][85]

Nationalist movement (1939–1947)

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
at the Congress Working Committee meeting in Wardha in September 1939

When World War II began, Viceroy Linlithgow unilaterally declared India a belligerent on the side of Britain, without consulting the elected Indian representatives.[86] Nehru hurried back from a visit to China, announcing that, in a conflict between democracy and fascism, "our sympathies must inevitably be on the side of democracy, ... I should like India to play its full part and throw all her resources into the struggle for a new order".[87]

After much deliberation, the Congress under Nehru informed the government that it would co-operate with the British but on certain conditions. First, Britain must give an assurance of full independence for India after the war and allow the election of a

British Commander-in-chief, Indians must be included immediately in the central government and given a chance to share power and responsibility.[88] When Nehru presented Lord Linlithgow with these demands, he chose to reject them. A deadlock was reached: "The same old game is played again," Nehru wrote bitterly to Gandhi, "the background is the same, the various epithets are the same and the actors are the same and the results must be the same".[89][90]

On 23 October 1939, the Congress condemned the Viceroy's attitude and called upon the Congress ministries in the various provinces to resign in protest.[91] Before this crucial announcement, Nehru urged Jinnah and the Muslim League to join the protest, but Jinnah declined.[88][92]

As Nehru had firmly placed India on the path of democracy and freedom at a time when the world was under the threat of Fascism, he and Bose split in the late 1930s when the latter agreed to seek the help of Fascists in driving the British out of India.[93] At the same time, Nehru supported the Republicans who were fighting against Francisco Franco's forces in the Spanish Civil War.[94] Nehru and his aide V. K. Krishna Menon visited Spain and declared support for the Republicans. When Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy, expressed his desire to meet, Nehru refused him.[95][96]

Civil disobedience, Lahore Resolution, August Offer: 1940

Nehru with the Seva Dal volunteer corps in Allahabad, 1940

In March 1940, Muhammad Ali Jinnah passed what came to be known as the

Pakistan Resolution, declaring that, "Muslims are a nation according to any definition of a nation, and they must have their homelands, their territory and their State." This state was to be known as Pakistan, meaning 'Land of the Pure'.[97] Nehru angrily declared that "all the old problems ... pale into insignificance before the latest stand taken by the Muslim League leader in Lahore".[98] Linlithgow made Nehru an offer on 8 October 1940, which stated that Dominion status for India was the objective of the British government.[99] However, it referred neither to a date nor a method to accomplish this. Only Jinnah received something more precise: "The British would not contemplate transferring power to a Congress-dominated national government, the authority of which was denied by various elements in India's national life".[100]

In October 1940, Gandhi and Nehru, abandoning their original stand of supporting Britain, decided to launch a limited civil disobedience campaign in which leading advocates of Indian independence were selected to participate one by one. Nehru was arrested and sentenced to four years imprisonment.[39] On 15 January 1941, Gandhi stated:

Some say Jawaharlal and I were estranged. It will require much more than a 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.

bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.[103]

Japan attacks India, Cripps' mission, Quit India: 1942

Bombay
, August 1942,

When the Japanese

Cripps' mission failed as Gandhi would accept nothing less than independence. Relations between Nehru and Gandhi cooled over the latter's refusal to co-operate with Cripps, but the two later reconciled.[107]

In 1942, Gandhi called on the British to leave India; Nehru, though reluctant to embarrass the allied war effort, had no alternative but to join Gandhi. Following the Quit India resolution passed by the Congress party in Bombay on 8 August 1942, the entire Congress working committee, including Gandhi and Nehru, was arrested and imprisoned.[108] Most of the Congress working committee including Nehru, Abdul Kalam Azad, and Sardar Patel were incarcerated at the Ahmednagar Fort[109] until 15 June 1945.[110]

In prison 1943–1945

See caption
Nehru's room at Ahmednagar fort where he was incarcerated from 1942 to 1945, and where he wrote The Discovery of India

During the period when all the Congress leaders were in jail, the Muslim League under Jinnah grew in power.[111] In April 1943, the League captured the governments of Bengal and, a month later, that of the North-West Frontier Province. In none of these provinces had the League previously had a majority—only the arrest of Congress members made it possible. With all the Muslim-dominated provinces except Punjab under Jinnah's control, the concept of a separate Muslim State was turning into a reality.[112] However, by 1944, Jinnah's power and prestige were waning.[113]

A general sympathy towards the jailed Congress leaders was developing among Muslims, and much of the blame for the disastrous Bengal famine of 1943–44 during which two million died had been laid on the shoulders of the province's Muslim League government. The numbers at Jinnah's meetings, once counted in thousands, soon numbered only a few hundred. In despair, Jinnah left the political scene for a stay in Kashmir. His prestige was restored unwittingly by Gandhi, who had been released from prison on medical grounds in May 1944 and had met Jinnah in Bombay in September.[113] There, he offered the Muslim leader a plebiscite in the Muslim areas after the war to see whether they wanted to separate from the rest of India. Essentially, it was an acceptance of the principle of Pakistan—but not in so many words. Jinnah demanded that the exact words be used. Gandhi refused and the talks broke down. Jinnah, however, had greatly strengthened his own position and that of the League. The most influential member of the Congress had been seen to negotiate with him on equal terms.[114]

Cabinet mission, Interim government 1946–1947

Lord Wavell
, 2 September 1946

Nehru and his colleagues were released prior to the arrival of the British 1946 Cabinet Mission to India to propose plans for the transfer of power.[115][82] The agreed plan in 1946 led to elections to the provincial assemblies. In turn, the members of the assemblies elected members of the Constituent Assembly. Congress won the majority of seats in the assembly and headed the interim government, with Nehru as the prime minister. The Muslim League joined the government later with Liaquat Ali Khan as the Finance member.[116][117]

Prime Minister of India (1947–1964)

See caption
Teen Murti Bhavan, Nehru's official residence as prime minister, is now a museum.

Nehru served as prime minister for 16 years, initially as the interim prime minister, then from 1947 as the prime minister of the Dominion of India and then from 1950 as the prime minister of the Republic of India.

Republicanism

In July 1946, Nehru pointedly observed that no princely state could prevail militarily against the army of independent India.[118] In January 1947, he said that independent India would not accept the divine right of kings.[119] In May 1947, he declared that any princely state which refused to join the Constituent Assembly would be treated as an enemy state.[120] Vallabhbhai Patel and V. P. Menon were more conciliatory towards the princes, and as the men charged with integrating the states, were successful in the task.[121] During the drafting of the Indian constitution, many Indian leaders (except Nehru) were in favour of allowing each princely state or covenanting state to be independent as a federal state along the lines suggested originally by the Government of India Act 1935. But as the drafting of the constitution progressed, and the idea of forming a republic took concrete shape, it was decided that all the princely states/covenanting states would merge with the Indian republic.[122]

In 1963, Nehru brought in legislation making it illegal to demand secession and introduced the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution which makes it necessary for those running for office to take an oath that says "I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India".[123][124]

Independence, Dominion of India: 1947–1950

See caption
Lord Mountbatten swears in Nehru as the first Prime Minister of independent India on 15 August 1947

The period before independence in early 1947 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.[125][126]

Independence

He took office as the

prime minister of India on 15 August and delivered his inaugural address titled "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.[127]

Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi: 1948

Nehru visiting an Indian soldier recovering from injuries at the Brigade Headquarters Military Hospital in Srinagar, Kashmir

On 30 January 1948, Gandhi was shot while he was walking in the garden of Birla House on his way to address a prayer meeting. The assassin,

Hindu nationalist with links to the extremist Hindu Mahasabha party, who held Gandhi responsible for weakening India by insisting upon a payment to Pakistan.[128]
Nehru addressed the nation by radio:

Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives, and there is darkness everywhere, and I do not quite know what to tell you or how to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the father of the nation, is no more. Perhaps I am wrong to say that; nevertheless, we will not see him again, as we have seen him for these many years, we will not run to him for advice or seek solace from him, and that is a terrible blow, not only for me but for millions and millions in this country.[129]

decentralised India.[134][135]

Integration of states and Adoption of New Constitution: 1947–1950

See caption
Indira Gandhi, Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi in June 1949

The British Indian Empire, which included present-day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, was divided into two types of territories: the provinces of British India, which were governed directly by British officials responsible to the Viceroy of India; and princely states, under the rule of local hereditary rulers who recognised British suzerainty in return for local autonomy, in most cases as established by a treaty.[136] Between 1947 and about 1950, the territories of the princely states were politically integrated into the Indian Union under Nehru and Sardar Patel. Most were merged into existing provinces; others were organised into new provinces, such as Rajputana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Bharat, and Vindhya Pradesh, made up of multiple princely states; a few, including Mysore, Hyderabad, Bhopal and Bilaspur, became separate provinces.[137] The Government of India Act 1935 remained the constitutional law of India the pending adoption of a new Constitution.[138]

Indian Constitution
c.1950

In December 1946, Nehru moved the Objectives Resolution. This resolution, upon Nehru's suggestion, ultimately turned into the Preamble to the Constitution of India. The preamble is considered to be the spirit of the constitution.[139][140] The new Constitution of India, which came into force on 26 January 1950 (Republic Day), made India a sovereign democratic republic. The new republic was declared to be a "Union of States".[141]

Election of 1952

Nehru as the main campaigner of the Indian National Congress, 1951–52 elections

After the adoption of the constitution on 26 November 1949, the Constituent Assembly continued to act as the interim parliament until new elections. Nehru's interim cabinet consisted of 15 members from diverse communities and parties.[142] The first elections to Indian legislative bodies (National parliament and State assemblies ) under the new constitution of India were held in 1952.[143][144] The Congress party under Nehru's leadership won a large majority at both state and national levels.[145]

Prime Minister: 1952–1957

In December 1953, Nehru appointed the

home minister from December 1954, oversaw the commission's efforts.[147] The commission created a report in 1955 recommending the reorganisation of India's states.[148]

Under the

states'.[149] A new type of entity, the union territory, replaced the classification as a Part C or Part D state. Nehru stressed commonality among Indians and promoted pan-Indianism, refusing to reorganise states on either religious or ethnic lines.[146]

Subsequent elections: 1957, 1962

In the 1957 elections, under Nehru's leadership, the Indian National Congress easily won a second term in power, taking 371 of the 494 seats. They gained an extra seven seats (the size of the Lok Sabha had been increased by five) and their vote share increased from 45.0% to 47.8%. The INC won nearly five times more votes than the Communist Party, the second-largest party.[150]

In 1962, Nehru led the Congress to victory with a diminished majority. The numbers who voted for the Communist and socialist parties grew, although some right-wing groups like Bharatiya Jana Sangh also did well.[151]

1961 annexation of Goa

After years of failed negotiations, Krishna Menon ordered the Indian Army to invade Portuguese-controlled Portuguese India (Goa) in 1961, after which Nehru formally annexed it to India. It increased the popularity of both in India, but he was criticised by the communist opposition in India for the use of military force.[152]

Sino-Indian War of 1962

From 1959, in a process that accelerated in 1961, Nehru adopted the "

line of actual control of 1959.[154]

The war exposed the unpreparedness of India's military, which could send only 14,000 troops to the war zone in opposition to the much larger

free-market policies, was also seemingly validated. Nehru would continue to maintain his commitment to the non-aligned movement, despite calls from some to settle down on one permanent ally.[157]

disputed territories of India

The unpreparedness of the army was blamed on Defence Minister Menon, who "resigned" from his government post to allow for someone who might modernise India's military further. India's policy of weaponisation using indigenous sources and self-sufficiency began in earnest under Nehru, completed by his daughter Indira Gandhi, who later led India to a crushing military victory over rival Pakistan in 1971. Toward the end of the war, India had increased her support for Tibetan refugees and revolutionaries, some of them having settled in India, as they were fighting the same common enemy in the region. Nehru ordered the raising of an elite Indian-trained "Tibetan Armed Force" composed of Tibetan refugees, which served with distinction in future wars against Pakistan in 1965 and 1971.[158]

Popularity

See caption
Nehru with Albert Einstein in Princeton, New Jersey, 1949
Nehru with Indonesian president Sukarno in Jakarta in 1950
Nehru playing with a tiger cub at his home in 1955

To date, Nehru is considered the most popular prime minister winning three consecutive elections with around 45% of the vote.[159] A Pathé News archive video reporting Nehru's death remarks "Neither on the political stage nor in moral stature was his leadership ever challenged".[160] In his book Verdicts on Nehru, Ramachandra Guha cited a contemporary account that described what Nehru's 1951–52 Indian general election campaign looked like:

Almost at every place, city, town, village or wayside halt, people had waited overnight to welcome the nation's leader. Schools and shops closed; milkmaids and cowherds had taken a holiday; the kisan and his helpmate took a temporary respite from their dawn-to-dusk programme of hard work in field and home. In Nehru's name, stocks of soda and lemonade sold out; even water became scarce . . . Special trains were run from out-of-the-way places to carry people to Nehru's meetings, enthusiasts travelling not only on footboards but also on top of carriages. Scores of people fainted in milling crowds.[161]

In the 1950s, Nehru was admired by world leaders such as British prime minister Winston Churchill, and US President

Gautama Buddha.[163] Nehru is time and again described as a charismatic leader with a rare charm.[b]

Vision and governing policies

Nehru with schoolchildren at the Durgapur Steel Plant
Nehru with schoolchildren at the Durgapur Steel Plant. Durgapur, Rourkela and Bhilai were three integrated steel plants set up under India's Second Five-Year Plan in the late 1950s.

According to

Hindu fundamentalists.[169]

Nehru is credited with having prevented civil wars in India.[170][171] Nehru convincingly succeeded in secularism and religious harmony, increasing the representation of minorities in government.[172]

Economic policies

Photograph of Nehru and German chancellor Konrad Adenauer and Deutsche Bank chairman Hermann Josef Abs
Nehru meeting with Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and Deutsche Bank chairman Hermann Josef Abs during a state visit to West Germany in June 1956.
Nehru during the construction of the Bhakra Dam in the Punjab, 1953
Poona
, 1956

Nehru implemented policies based on

public sector industries—steel, iron, coal, and power—promoting their development with subsidies and protectionist policies.[174]

The policy of non-alignment during the

industrial country.[175] Nehru's critics, however, contended that India's import substitution industrialisation, which continued long after the Nehru era, weakened the international competitiveness of its manufacturing industries.[176] India's share of world trade fell from 1.4% in 1951–1960 to 0.5% between 1981 and 1990.[177] However, India's export performance is argued to have shown actual sustained improvement over the period. The volume of exports grew at an annual rate of 2.9% in 1951–1960 to 7.6% in 1971–1980.[178]

GDP and

GNP grew 3.9 and 4.0% annually between 1950 and 1951 and 1964–1965.[179][180] It was a radical break from the British colonial period,[181] but the growth rates were considered anaemic at best compared to other industrial powers in Europe and East Asia.[177][182] India lagged behind the miracle economies (Japan, West Germany, France, and Italy).[183] State planning, controls, and regulations were argued to have impaired economic growth.[184] While India's economy grew faster than both the United Kingdom and the United States, low initial income and rapid population increase meant that growth was inadequate for any sort of catch-up with rich income nations.[182][183][185]

Agriculture policies

Under Nehru's leadership, the government attempted to develop India quickly by embarking on

landholdings, but efforts to redistribute land by placing limits on landownership failed. Attempts to introduce large-scale cooperative farming were frustrated by landowning rural elites, who formed the core of the powerful right-wing of the Congress and had considerable political support in opposing Nehru's efforts.[187] Agricultural production expanded until the early 1960s, as additional land was brought under cultivation and some irrigation projects began to have an effect. The establishment of agricultural universities, modelled after land-grant colleges in the United States, contributed to the development of the economy.[188] These universities worked with high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice, initially developed in Mexico and the Philippines, that in the 1960s began the Green Revolution, an effort to diversify and increase crop production. At the same time, a series of failed monsoons would cause serious food shortages, despite the steady progress and an increase in agricultural production.[189]

Social policies

Education

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

National Institutes of Technology.[190] 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 enrolment programs and the construction of thousands of schools. Nehru also launched initiatives such as the provision of free milk and meals to children to fight malnutrition. Adult education centres and vocational and technical schools were also organised for adults, especially in the rural areas.[191]

Hindu code bills and marriage laws

Under Nehru, the Indian Parliament enacted many changes to

Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act.[195] Those who practise Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism are categorised as Hindus under the jurisdiction of the Code Bill.[196]

Nehru specifically wrote Article 44 of the Indian constitution under the

Muslims to keep their personal law in matters relating to marriage and inheritance. In the small state of Goa, a civil code based on the old Portuguese Family Laws was allowed to continue, and Nehru prohibited Muslim personal law. This resulted from the annexation of Goa in 1961 by India, when Nehru promised the people that their laws would be left intact. This has led to accusations of selective secularism.[198][199]

While Nehru exempted Muslim law from legislation and they remained unreformed, he passed the

Special Marriage Act in 1954.[200] The idea behind this act was to give everyone in India the ability to marry outside the personal law under a civil marriage. In many respects, the act was almost identical to the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, demonstrating how secularised the law regarding Hindus had become. The Special Marriage Act allowed Muslims to marry under it and keep the protections, generally beneficial to Muslim women, that could not be found in the personal law. Under the act, polygamy was illegal, and inheritance and succession would be governed by the Indian Succession Act, rather than the respective Muslim personal law. Divorce would be governed by secular law, and maintenance of a divorced wife would be along the lines set down in civil law.[201]

Language policy

Nehru led the faction of the Congress party, which promoted Hindi as the

Official Languages Act in 1963 to ensure the continuing use of English beyond 1965. The text of the Act did not satisfy the DMK and increased their scepticism that future administrations might not honour his assurances.[205]

Foreign policy

Throughout his long tenure as the prime minister, Nehru also held the portfolio of External Affairs. His idealistic approach focused on giving India a leadership position in nonalignment. He sought to build support among the newly independent nations of Asia and Africa in opposition to the two hostile superpowers contesting the Cold War.

The Commonwealth

Photograph of Queen Elizabeth II with Nehru and other Commonwealth leaders
Queen Elizabeth II with Nehru and other Commonwealth leaders, taken at the 1960 Commonwealth Conference, Windsor Castle

After independence, Nehru wanted to maintain good relations with Britain and other British Commonwealth countries. As prime minister of the Dominion of India, he acquiesced only after Krishna Menon's redrafting of the 1949 London Declaration, under which India agreed to remain within the Commonwealth of Nations after becoming a republic in January 1950, and to recognise the British monarch as a "symbol of the free association of its independent member nations and as such the Head of the Commonwealth".[206][207] The other nations of the Commonwealth recognised India's continuing membership of the association.[208]

Non-aligned movement

See caption
Nehru with Gamal Abdel Nasser and Josip Broz Tito in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1961

On the international scene, Nehru was an opponent of military action and military alliances. He was a strong supporter of the United Nations, except when it tried to resolve the Kashmir question. 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 US and the USSR.[209] The term "non-alignment" was coined earlier by V. K. Krishna Menon at the United Nations in 1953-54.[210] India recognised the People's Republic of China soon after its founding (while most of the Western bloc continued relations with Taiwan). Nehru argued for its inclusion in the United Nations and refused to brand the Chinese as the aggressors in the west's conflict with Korea.[211] 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.[212]

Nehru was a key organiser of the

FPR Yugoslavia
.

Defence and nuclear policy

While averse to war, Nehru led the campaigns against Pakistan in Kashmir. He used military force to annex

National Defence Academy in 1949, he stated:

We, who for generations had talked about and attempted in everything a peaceful way and practised 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...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 defence methods and a well-equipped army, navy, and air force."[214][215]

Nehru entrusted Homi J. Bhabha, a nuclear physicist, with complete authority over all nuclear-related affairs and programs and answerable only to the prime minister.[216]

Many hailed Nehru for working to defuse global tensions and the threat of nuclear weapons after the Korean War (1950–1953).[217] He commissioned the first study of the effects of nuclear explosions on human health and campaigned ceaselessly for the abolition of what he called "these frightful engines of destruction". He also had pragmatic reasons for promoting de-nuclearization, fearing a nuclear arms race would lead to over-militarisation that would be unaffordable for developing countries such as his own.[218]

Defending Kashmir

Nehru inspecting the troops on a visit to the Srinagar Brigade Headquarters Military Hospital, April 1948

At

gone to war over it in 1947. However, as Pakistan failed to pull back troops in accordance with the UN resolution, and as Nehru grew increasingly wary of the UN, he declined to hold a plebiscite in 1953. His policies on Kashmir and the integration of the state into India were frequently defended before the United Nations by his aide, V. K. Krishna Menon, who earned a reputation in India for his passionate speeches.[220]

In 1953, Nehru orchestrated the ouster and arrest of Sheikh Abdullah, the prime minister of Kashmir, whom he had previously supported but was now suspected of harbouring separatist ambitions; Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad replaced him.[221][222]

Menon was instructed to deliver an unprecedented eight-hour speech defending India's stand on Kashmir in 1957; to date, the speech is the longest ever delivered in the United Nations Security Council, covering five hours of the 762nd meeting on 23 January, and two hours and forty-eight minutes on the 24th, reportedly concluding with Menon's collapse on the Security Council floor.[220] During the filibuster, Nehru moved swiftly and successfully to consolidate Indian power in Kashmir (then under great unrest). Menon's passionate defence of Indian sovereignty in Kashmir enlarged his base of support in India and led to the Indian press temporarily dubbing him the "Hero of Kashmir". Nehru was then at the peak of his popularity in India; the only (minor) criticism came from the far right.[223][224]

China

Photograph of Nehru with Mao Zedong
Nehru and Mao Zedong in Beijing, China, October 1954

In 1954, Nehru signed with China the

People's Republic of China (PRC) Government and the Delegation of the Indian Government on the relations between the two countries regarding the disputed territories of Aksai Chin and South Tibet. By 1957, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai had also persuaded Nehru to accept the Chinese position on Tibet, thus depriving Tibet of a possible ally, and of the possibility of receiving military aid from India.[226] The treaty was disregarded in the 1960s, but in the 1970s, the Five Principles again came to be seen as important in China–India relations, and more generally as norms of relations between states. They became widely recognised and accepted throughout the region during the premiership of Indira Gandhi and the three-year rule of the Janata Party (1977–1980).[227] Although the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence were the basis of the 1954 Sino-Indian border treaty, in later years, Nehru's foreign policy suffered from increasing Chinese assertiveness over border disputes and his decision to grant asylum to the 14th Dalai Lama.[228]

United States

See caption
Nehru receiving US President Dwight D. Eisenhower at Parliament House, 1959
Nehru with John F. Kennedy at the White House, 7 November 1961

In 1956, Nehru criticised the joint invasion of the

Gamal Nasser to compromise with the West and was instrumental in moving Western powers towards an awareness that Nasser might prove willing to compromise.[229]

Assassination attempts and security

There were various assassination attempts on Nehru. The first attempt was made during partition in 1947 while he was visiting the North-West Frontier Province (now in Pakistan) in a car.[230] Second attempt was came from Baburao Laxman Kochale, a knife-wielding rickshaw-puller, near Nagpur in 1955.[c] The third attempt was a plot by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1955.[235][236] The fourth attempt took place in Bombay in 1956,[237][238] and the fifth was a failed bombing attempt on train tracks in Maharashtra in 1961.[239] Despite threats to his life, Nehru despised having too much security around him and did not like to disrupt traffic because of his movements.[240]

Death

If any people choose to think of me then I should like them to say, "This was the man who with all his mind and heart loved India and the Indian people. And they in turn were indulgent to him and gave him of their love most abundantly and extravagantly."

– Jawaharlal Nehru, 1954.[241]

Nehru's health began declining steadily in 1962. In the spring of 1962, he was affected with a viral infection over which he spent most of April in bed.

Shantivan on the banks of the Yamuna, witnessed by 1.5 million mourners who had flocked into the streets of Delhi and the cremation grounds.[246]

US President Lyndon B. Johnson remarked on his death:-

History has already recorded his monumental contribution to the molding of a strong and independent India. And yet, it is not just as a leader of India that he has served humanity. Perhaps more than any other world leader he has given expression to man's yearning for peace. This is the issue of our age. In his fearless pursuit of a world free from war he has served all humanity.[247]

Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and the future Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev
remarked:-

The name of Jawaharal Nehru enjoyed the tremendous respect and love of the Soviet people, who knew him as a tested and wise leader of the Indian people's struggle for national independence and the rebirth of their country, and as an active fighter against colonialism. Jawaharal Nehru is known as an outstanding statesman of modern times who devoted his entire life to the struggle for strengthening friendship and cooperation among peoples and for the progress of humanity. He was a passionate fighter for peace in the world and an ardent champion of principles of peaceful coexistence of states. He was the inspirer of the nonalignment policy promoted by the Indian Government. This reasonable policy won India respect and, due to it, India is now occupying a worthy place in the international arena.[248]

Countries such as

Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), India and others declared national mourning over the death of Nehru.[249][250][251] [252][253]

Nehru's death left India with no clear political heir to his leadership. Lal Bahadur Shastri later succeeded Nehru as the prime minister.[254]

The death was announced to the Indian parliament in words similar to Nehru's own at the time of Gandhi's assassination: "The light is out."[255][256] India's future prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee famously delivered Nehru an acclaimed eulogy.[257] He hailed Nehru as Bharat Mata's "favourite prince" and likened him to the Hindu god Rama.[258]

Positions held

Year Description
1946 - 1950 Elected to Constituent Assembly of India
1952 - 1957 Elected to 1st Lok Sabha
1957 - 1962 Elected to 2nd Lok Sabha
1962 - 1964 Elected to 3rd Lok Sabha

Key cabinet members and associates

Nehru served as the prime minister for eighteen years, first as interim prime minister during 1946–1947 during the last year of the British Raj and then as prime minister of independent India from 15 August 1947 to 27 May 1964.

Sir Stafford Cripps and Clement Attlee, who promptly appointed him the last Viceroy. the early governance and partition ultimately reduced to Mountbatten, Nehru, Menon, V.P. Menon, Sardar Patel, and an adamant Jinnah. Under Nehru, he served as India's high commissioner to the UK, ambassador to Ireland, ambassador-at-large and plenipotentiary, UN ambassador, minister without portfolio, de facto Foreign minister, and Union minister of defence. He was significantly involved in the annexation of Goa. He resigned after the debacle of the 1962 China War but remain a close friend of Nehru.[259][260][261][262]

B. R. Ambedkar, the law minister in the interim cabinet, also chaired the Constitution Drafting Committee.[263]

Vallabhbhai Patel served as home minister in the interim government. He was instrumental in getting the Congress party working committee to vote for partition. He is also credited with integrating many princely states of India. Patel was a long-time comrade to Nehru but died in 1950, leaving Nehru as the unchallenged leader of India until his own death in 1964.[264]

Minister of Human Resource Development (until 25 September 1958, Ministry of Education). His contribution to establishing the education foundation in India is recognised by celebrating his birthday as National Education Day across India.[265][266]

Jagjivan Ram became the youngest minister in Nehru's Interim Government of India, a labour minister and also a member of the Constituent Assembly of India, where, as a member of the Dalit caste, he ensured that social justice was enshrined in the Constitution. He went on to serve as a minister with various portfolios during Nehru's tenure and in Shastri and Indira Gandhi governments.[267]

Janata alliance as their parliamentary leader.[271]

Govind Ballabh Pant (1887–1961) was a key figure in the Indian independence movement and later a pivotal figure in the politics of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and in the Indian Government. Pant served in Nehru's cabinet as Union home minister from 1955 until his death in 1961.[272] As home minister, his chief achievement was the re-organisation of states along linguistic lines. He was also responsible for the establishment of Hindi as the official language of the central government and a few states.[273] During his tenure as the home minister, Pant was awarded the Bharat Ratna.[274]

Bombay a Union territory.[286][287]

In the years following independence, Nehru frequently turned to his daughter Indira Gandhi for managing his personal affairs.[288] Indira moved into Nehru's official residence to attend to him and became his constant companion in his travels across India and the world. She would virtually become Nehru's chief of staff.[289] Towards the end of the 1950s, Indira Gandhi served as the president of the Congress. In that capacity, she was instrumental in getting the Communist-led Kerala State Government dismissed in 1959.[290] Indira was elected as Congress party president in 1959, which aroused criticism for alleged nepotism, although Nehru had actually disapproved of her election, partly because he considered that it smacked of "dynasticism"; he said, indeed it was "wholly undemocratic and an undesirable thing", and refused her a position in his cabinet.[291] 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.[291] Nehru began to be 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.[292]

Relationships

After Kamala's death in 1936, Nehru was rumoured to have relationships with several women. These included Shraddha Mata,

Edwina Mountbatten.[296] Countess Mountbatten's daughter Lady Pamela Hicks acknowledged Nehru's platonic relationship with Lady Mountbatten.[297]

See caption
Prime Minister Nehru with Edwina Mountbatten in 1951

British historian Philip Ziegler, with access to the private letters and diaries, concludes the relationship:

was to endure until Edwina Mountbatten's death: intensely loving, romantic, trusting, generous, idealistic, even spiritual. If there was any physical element it can only have been of minor importance to either party. [India's Governor-General] Mountbatten's reaction was one of pleasure....He liked and admired Nehru, it was useful to him that the Prime Minister should find such attractions in the Governor-General's home, it was agreeable to find Edwina almost permanently in good temper: the advantages of the alliance were obvious.[298]

Nehru's sister, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit told Pupul Jayakar, Indira Gandhi's friend and biographer, that Padmaja Naidu and Nehru lived together for many years.[299][300]

Religion and personal beliefs

Nehru distributes sweets among children at Nongpoh, Meghalaya

Described as a

scientific humanist",[303] Nehru thought that religious taboos were preventing India from moving forward and adapting to modern conditions: "No country or people who are slaves to dogma and dogmatic mentality can progress, and unhappily our country and people have become extraordinarily dogmatic and little-minded."[304]

The spectacle of what is called religion, or at any rate organised religion, in India and elsewhere, has filled me with horror and I have frequently condemned it and wished to make a clean sweep of it. Almost always it seemed to stand for blind belief and reaction, dogma and bigotry, superstition, exploitation and the preservation of vested interests.

As a humanist, Nehru considered that his afterlife was not in some mystical heaven or reincarnation but in the practical achievements of a life lived fully with and for his fellow human beings: "…Nor am I greatly interested in life after death. I find the problems of this life sufficiently absorbing to fill my mind," he wrote.[49] In his Last Will and Testament, he wrote: "I wish to declare with all earnestness that I do not want any religious ceremonies performed for me after my death. I do not believe in such ceremonies, and to submit to them, even as a matter of form, would be hypocrisy and an attempt to delude ourselves and others."[49]

In his autobiography, he analysed Abrahamic and Indian religions

secularist policies remain a subject of debate.[308][309]

Legacy

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[310]
See Caption
Bust of Nehru at Aldwych, London
See Caption
Bust of Nehru at Peace Palace, The Hague

Jawaharlal Nehru, next to Mahatma Gandhi, is regarded as the most significant figure of the Indian independence movement that successfully ended British rule over the Indian subcontinent.[311][312][313][314]

As India's first Prime minister and external affairs minister, Nehru played a major role in shaping modern India's government and political culture along with the sound foreign policy.[315] He is praised for creating a system providing universal primary education,[316] reaching children in the farthest corners of rural India. Nehru's education policy is also credited for the development of world-class educational institutions like the All India Institute of Medical Sciences,[317] Indian Institutes of Technology,[318] and the Indian Institutes of Management.[319]

Following the independence, Nehru popularized the credo of 'unity in diversity' and implemented it as state policy.[320] 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 in 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 works of literatures between languages and organised the transfer of materials between regions. In pursuit of a single, unified India, Nehru warned, "Integrate or perish."[321]

Called an "architect of Modern India",[d] he is widely recognized as the greatest figure of modern India after Mahatma Gandhi.[331][332] On the occasion of his first death anniversary in 1965, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Lal Bahadur Shastri and others described Nehru as the greatest figure of India after Gandhi.[333][334]

See caption
Nehru's study in Teen Murti Bhavan, which is now converted into a museum.

Writing in 2005, Ramachandra Guha wrote that while no other Indian prime minister was ever close to the challenges that Nehru dealt with and if Nehru had died in 1958 then he would be remembered as the greatest statesman of the 20th century.[335] However, in recent years, Nehru's reputation has seen re-emergence and he is credited for keeping India together contrary to predictions of many that the country was bound to fall apart.[336]

Commemoration

See caption
Nehru on a 1989 USSR commemorative stamp

In his lifetime, Jawaharlal Nehru enjoyed an iconic status in India and was generally admired across the world for his idealism and statesmanship.

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").[339] Nehru remains a popular symbol of the Congress Party which frequently celebrates his memory. People often emulate his style of clothing, especially the Gandhi cap and the Nehru jacket.[340][341] Nehru's preference for the sherwani ensured it continues to be considered formal wear in North India today.[342]

Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, and one of five Nehru Planetariums that were set in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Allahabad and Pune. The complex also houses the offices of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, established in 1964 under the chairmanship of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, then president of India. The foundation also gives away the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fellowship, established in 1968.[343] The Nehru family homes at Anand Bhavan and Swaraj Bhavan are also preserved to commemorate Nehru and his family's legacy.[344] In 1997, Nehru was voted as the greatest Indian since independence in India Today's poll.[345] In 2012, he ranked number four in Outlook's poll of The Greatest Indian.[346]

In popular culture

There have been many documentaries about Nehru's life, and he has been portrayed in fictionalised films. The canonical performance is probably that of

Nehru, covering his political career.[350] Indian film director Kiran Kumar made a film about Nehru titled Nehru: The Jewel of India in 1990 starring Partap Sharma in the titular role.[351] In Ketan Mehta's film Sardar, Benjamin Gilani portrayed Nehru.[352] Naunihal (lit.'Young man'), a 1967 Indian Hindi-language drama film by Raj Marbros, follows Raju, an orphan, who believes that Jawaharlal Nehru is his relative and sets out to meet him.[353]

Similarly, in the 1957 film

Ab Dilli Dur Nahin (lit.'Now Delhi is not far away') by Amar Kumar, Rattan, a young boy, travels to Delhi and seeks to avert the death sentence of his wrongly convicted father by asking Prime Minister Nehru for help.[354] Another 1957 English language short documentary Our Prime Minister was produced, compiled and directed by Ezra Mir, who also directed Three weeks in the life of Prime Minister Nehru in 1962.[355][356][357] Girish Karnad's historical play, Tughlaq (1962) is an allegory about the Nehruvian era. It was staged by Ebrahim Alkazi with the National School of Drama Repertory at Purana Qila, Delhi in the 1970s and later at the Festival of India, London in 1982.[358][359]

Writings

Nehru was a prolific writer in English who wrote The Discovery of India, Glimpses of World History, An Autobiography (released in the United States as "Toward Freedom,") and Letters from a Father to His Daughter, all written in jail.[360] Letters comprised 30 letters written to his daughter Indira Priyadarshani Nehru (later Gandhi) who was then 10 years old and studying at a boarding school in Mussoorie. It attempted to instruct her about natural history and world civilisations.[361]

Nehru's books have been widely read.[362][363] An Autobiography, in particular, has been critically acclaimed. John Gunther, writing in Inside Asia, contrasted it with Gandhi's autobiography:

The Mahatma's placid story compares to Nehru's as a cornflower to an orchid, a rhyming couplet to a sonnet by MacLeish or Auden, a water pistol to a machine gun. Nehru's autobiography is subtle, complex, discriminating, infinitely cultivated, steeped in doubt, suffused with intellectual passion. Lord Halifax once said that no one could understand India without reading it; it is a kind of 'Education of Henry Adams,' written in superlative prose—hardly a dozen men alive write English as well as Nehru ...[364]

Michael Brecher, who considered Nehru to be an intellectual for whom ideas were important aspects of Indian nationalism, wrote in Political Leadership and Charisma: Nehru, Ben-Gurion, and Other 20th-Century Political Leaders:

Nehru's books were not scholarly, nor were they intended to be. He was not a trained historian, but his feel for the flow of events and his capacity to weave together a wide range of knowledge in a meaningful pattern give to his books qualities of a high order. In these works, he also revealed a sensitive literary style. ... Glimpses of World History is the most illuminating on Nehru as an intellectual. The first of the trilogy, Glimpses, was a series of thinly connected sketches of the story of mankind in the form of letters to his teenage daughter, Indira, later prime minister of India. ... Despite its polemical character in many sections and its shortcomings as an impartial history, Glimpses is a work of great artistic value, a worthy precursor of his noble and magnanimous Autobiography.[365]

Michael Crocker thought An Autobiography would have given Nehru literary fame had the political fame eluded him:

It is to his years in prison that we owe his three main books, ... Nehru's writings illustrate a cerebral life, and a power of self-discipline, altogether out of the ordinary. Words by the million bubbled up out of his fullness of mind and spirit. Had he never been prime minister of India he would have been famous as the author of the Autobiography and the autobiographical parts of The Discovery of India. An Autobiography, at least with some excisions here and there, is likely to be read for generations. ... There are, for instance, the characteristic touches of truism and anticlimax, strange in a man who could both think and, at his best, write so well ...[366]

Nehru's speech

A Tryst With Destiny was rated by the British newspaper The Guardian to be among the great speeches of the 20th-century. Ian Jack wrote in his introduction to the speech:

Dressed in a golden silk jacket with a red rose in the buttonhole, Nehru rose to speak. His sentences were finely made and memorable – Nehru was a good writer; his Discovery of India stands well above the level reached by most politician-writers. ... The nobility of Nehru's words – their sheer sweep – provided the new India with a lodestone that was ambitious and humane. Post-colonialism began here as well as Indian democracy, which has since outlived many expectations of its death.[367]

Awards and honours

In 1948, Nehru was conferred an honorary doctorate by the

Hamburg University had awarded Nehru two honorary degrees of the Faculties of Law and Agriculture.[371] In 1955, he was awarded with Honorary citizen of Belgrade by the Yugoslavian government.[372]

In 1955, Nehru was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.[373] President Rajendra Prasad awarded him the honour without taking advice from the Prime Minister and added that "I am taking this step on my own initiative".[374]

In 1970, he was posthumously awarded with the World Peace Council prize.[375] He was posthumously awarded the Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo by the Government of South Africa in 2005.[376]

State honours

Decoration Country Date Note Ref.
Bharat Ratna  India 1955 The highest civilian honour of India.
Star of the Republic of Indonesia  Indonesia 1995 First Class, the highest civilian honour of Indonesia. [377]
Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo  South Africa 2005 Grand Companion, the highest honour of South Africa awarded to foreign dignitaries.

See also

References

Notes

Citations

  1. ^ "Nehru". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. 2020. Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^
  3. ^ "PANDIT JAWAHARLAL NEHRU". Indian National Congress.
  4. ^ "Jawaharlal Nehru: Architect of modern India". Hindustan Times. 14 November 2019.
  5. ^ Babu, D. Shyam (11 July 2019). "Nehru and the Kashmir quandary". The Hindu. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  6. ^ Nanda, B.R. (1963). The Nehrus: Motilal and Jawaharlal. Oxford University Presss. p. 38-40.
  7. ^ Moraes 2007, p. 21.
  8. .
  9. . pp. 406–07.
  10. ^ "Jawaharlal Nehru: Freedom struggle icon, maker of modern India". Hindustan Times. 2 December 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  11. ^ "Mrs. Krishna Hutheesing, an Author and a Sister of Nehru, Dies". The New York Times. 10 November 1967. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  12. ^ Moraes 2007, p. 22.
  13. JSTOR 2504742
    – via JSTOR.
  14. ^ . pp. 49–65.
  15. ^ Moraes 2007, p. 23.
  16. ^
  17. .
  18. .
  19. ^ Moraes 2007, p. 36.
  20. ^ Moraes 2007, p. 43.
  21. ^
    JSTOR 41230788
    .
  22. ^ Moraes 2007, p. 47.
  23. ^ Moraes 2007, p. 37.
  24. ^ a b c d e f g Ghose 1993, p. 25.
  25. ^ Moraes 2007, p. 49.
  26. ^ a b Moraes 2007, p. 50.
  27. ^ In Jawaharlal Nehru's autobiography, An Autobiography (1936) p. 33.
  28. ^ Moraes 2007, p. 52.
  29. ^ Moraes 2007, p. 53.
  30. ^ Ghose 1993, p. 26.
  31. ^ Nehru, Jawaharlal Glimpses of world history: being further letters to his daughter (Lindsay Drummond Ltd., 1949), p. 94
  32. ^ Moraes 2007, p. 56.
  33. ^ Argov, Daniel (June 1964). The Ideological Differences between Moderates and Extremists in the Indian National Movement with Special Reference to Surendranath Banerjea and Lajpat Rai 1885–1919 (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of London School of Oriental and African Studies. p. 11.
  34. The Windsor Star
    . 27 May 1964. p. 24. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  35. ^ a b c d Moraes 2007, p. 55.
  36. ^ "Jawaharlal Nehru – a chronological account". Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund (JNMF). Archived from the original on 4 June 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  37. .
  38. ^ Krishnan, Madhuvanti S. (12 November 2015). "Man for All seasons". thehindu.
  39. ^ a b "Jawaharlal Nehru: Freedom struggle icon, maker of modern India". Hindustan Times. 2 December 2020.
  40. ^ Pratiyogita Darpan Editorial Board. Indian National Movement & Constitutional Development. Pratiyogita Darpan Extra Issue Series, Volume 12. Upkar Prakashan. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  41. ^ Moraes 2007, p. 106.
  42. .
  43. .
  44. .
  45. . Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  46. .
  47. .
  48. . Retrieved 8 September 2017.
  49. ^ a b c d e f Gandhi, Rajmohan (28 November 1991). "Patel: A Life". Navajivan Publishing House. p. 171 – via Internet Archive.
  50. .
  51. ^ "Purna Swaraj: The Demand for Full Independence 26 January 1930". indiaofthepast.org. Archived from the original on 8 November 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  52. ^ Office, Public Record. "Learning Curve British Empire". Public Record Office, The National Archives.
  53. ^ Khalid, Haroon (26 January 2018). "Republic Day story: On Ravi's banks, a pledge that shaped the course of modern India 88 years ago". Scroll.in. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  54. ^ "Explained: Why India celebrates January 26 as Republic Day". 30 January 2021.
  55. .
  56. ^ Davar, Praveen (15 November 2018). "The greatest Indian after the Mahatma? Why Gandhi chose Nehru to lead India". Deccan Chronicle.
  57. ^ Gandhi, Gopalkrishna. "The Great Dandi March – eighty years after" Archived 17 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine, The Hindu, 5 April 2010
  58. Times of India
    . Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  59. ^ "Telegram Post No. 90, dated (and read) 14th April, 1930". Civil Disobedience Movement in the United Provinces. Arrest of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. New Delhi: United Provinces Government. 1930. p. 71. Retrieved 9 September 2022 – via National Archives of India. For breaking Salt Law Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was arrested at Allahabad this morning.
  60. ^ Moraes 2007, p. 167.
  61. ^ Moraes 2007, p. 168.
  62. JSTOR 2642611
    . p. 368.
  63. . p. 37.
  64. .
  65. .
  66. ^ Hoiberg, Dale; Ramchandani, Indu (21 November 2000). "Students' Britannica India". New Delhi : Encyclopaedia Britannica (India) – via Internet Archive.
  67. .
  68. .
  69. – via JSTOR.
  70. ^ Arshad Syed Karim (1985). Pakistan: From Community to Nation. Saad Publications.
  71. ^ Ayoob, Mohammed (25 May 2018). "Remembering Maulana Azad". The Hindu.
  72. ^ Paul, Santosh (21 May 2019). "Triumph of Nehruvianism – Part 2". The Economic Times.
  73. .
  74. ^ Soni, Mallika (23 January 2021). "On Parakram Diwas, a look at Bose's Indian National Army". Hindustan Times.
  75. ^ a b "Indian National Congress Presidents over the ages: The ones who changed course of history". The New Indian Express. 5 December 2017.
  76. ^ Moraes 2007, pp. 234–38.
  77. ^ Moraes 2007, p. 129.
  78. ^ Sharma, Rinkal. 2016. "Nehru: a passionate advocate of education for India's children and youth, believing it essential for India's future progress." International Research Journal of Management Sociology & Humanity 7(7):256–59.
  79. News18
    . 14 November 2019.
  80. ^ Modern India: A Textbook of History for Middle Schools. National Council of Educational Research and Training. 1973.
  81. ^ "3rd Five Year Plan (Chapter 1)". Government of India. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
  82. ^ a b Mukhopadhyay, Nilanjan (14 November 2018). "Past Continuous: Those Who Think Nehru Was Power Hungry Should Review Events Leading to Independence". The Wire.
  83. .
  84. ^ Lumby 1954, p. 232
  85. ^ Brown 1984, p. 667
  86. .
  87. .
  88. ^ .
  89. ^ Moraes, Frank R. "Jawaharlal Nehru". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  90. – via Google Books.
  91. . Retrieved 4 December 2007.
  92. ^ Anderson, Ken. "Gandhi – The Great Soul". The British Empire: Fall of the Empire. Archived from the original on 23 July 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2007.
  93. ^ Mukherjee, Mridula (9 April 2015). "Unlike Nehru, Netaji believed that authoritarian rule was essential for achieving radical social goals". India Today. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  94. ^ Dasgupta, Shirsho (22 May 2016). "Eighty Years Later, A Homage to Catalonia: Indians and the Spanish Civil War". The Wire. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  95. – via Google Books.
  96. ^ Prasannan, R. (2 August 2020). "Birth of a nation". The Week. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  97. ^ Kermani, Secunder (18 August 2017). "How Jinnah's ideology shapes Pakistan's identity". BBC.
  98. – via Google Books.
  99. ^ Radhey Shyam Chaurasia (2002). History of Modern India, 1707 A. D. to 2000 A. Atlantic Publishers. pp. 281–283
  100. – via Google Books.
  101. ^ Science & culture, Volume 30. Indian Science News Association. 1964.
  102. – via Google Books.
  103. – via Google Books.
  104. – via Google Books.
  105. – via Google Books.
  106. – via Google Books.
  107. on 1 December 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  108. ^ "1942 Quit India Movement". open.ac.uk.
  109. .
  110. – via Google Books.
  111. – via Google Books.
  112. – via Google Books.
  113. ^ ]
  114. .
  115. ^ Kasniyal, BD (13 November 2015). "Nehru's belongings still intact in Almora jail". Tribuneindia News Service.
  116. ^ Marathe, Om (3 September 2019). "Explained: When India's interim government was formed in 1946". The Indian Express.
  117. ^ V. Krishna Ananth. India Since Independence: Making Sense of Indian Politics. Pearson Education India. 2010. pp 28–30.
  118. .
  119. George Allen & Unwin
    . p. 228
  120. ^ Tiwari, Aaditya (30 October 2017). "Sardar Patel – Man who United India". pib.gov.in.
  121. ^ "How Vallabhbhai Patel, V P Menon and Mountbatten unified India". 31 October 2017.
  122. JSTOR 2753451
    – via JSTOR.
  123. . Nehru brought in legislation making illegal the demand for secession in 1963. Thereafter, the DMK dropped its demand for a "Dravida Nadu".
  124. . Although the campaign for secession has reached its apex in Kashmir, the first Indian state to agitate for separatism was Tamil Nadu. In 1963, in response to the vociferous campaign for a Dravidastan, Premier Nehru introduced the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, making it mandatory for those running for office to take an oath stating, "I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India".
  125. .
  126. .
  127. from the original on 24 May 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  128. ^ Saha, Abhishek (15 August 2015). "The politics of an assassination: Who killed Gandhi and why?". Hindustan Times.
  129. .
  130. .
  131. core.ac.uk
    .
  132. . (subscription required)
  133. .
  134. ^ Thapar, Karan (17 August 2009). "Gandhi, Jinnah both failed: Jaswant". ibnlive.in.com. Archived from the original on 3 July 2014.
  135. ^ "After Advani, Jaswant turns Jinnah admirer". The Economic Times. India. 17 August 2009. Archived from the original on 20 October 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  136. ^ Ghosh, Bishwanath (17 March 2016). "Maps are malleable. Even Bharat Mata's". The Hindu. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  137. ^ Roychowdhury, Adrija (17 August 2017). "Five states that refused to join India after Independence". The Indian Express. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  138. ^ S., Mohamed Imranullah (1 February 2016). "Time to recall efforts made to create the Constitution". The Hindu. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  139. ^ Bhaskar, Anurag (25 November 2022). "Republic at 70: Preamble embodies Constitution's vision". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  140. ^ Chauhan, Dinesh. "Preamble the Spirit of Constitution of India". Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  141. .
  142. ^ Marathe, Om (3 September 2019). "Explained: When India's interim government was formed in 1946". The Indian Express. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  143. JSTOR 3024683
    – via JSTOR.
  144. ^ "Indian and Foreign Review". Publications Division of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. 1969.
  145. JSTOR 40209795
    – via JSTOR.
  146. ^ a b Koshi, Luke (2 November 2016). "Explainer: The reorganization of states in India and why it happened". The News Minute. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  147. News18
    . 7 March 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  148. ^ "State of the Nation". The Indian Express. 11 May 2008. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  149. .
  150. ^ "1957 India General (2nd Lok Sabha) Elections Results". www.elections.in. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  151. ^ Chakravarty, Shubhodeep (6 March 2019). "INKredible India: The story of 1962 Lok Sabha election – All you need to know". Zee News.
  152. ^ Davar, Praveen (31 December 2017). "The liberation of Goa". The Hindu. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  153. ^ Noorani, A.G. (29 August 2003). "Perseverance in the peace process". Frontline. hinduonnet.com. Archived from the original on 26 March 2005. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  154. . China declared a unilateral ceasefire and by December it had withdrawn its forces to positions 20 km behind the line of actual control that had existed in 1959
  155. . Menon resigned under India's military preparedness failed to prevent a Chinese invasion during the Sino-Indian war of 1962
  156. ^ "Asia: Ending the Suspense". Time. 17 September 1965. Archived from the original on 21 May 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  157. .
  158. ^ Sehgal, Saransh (7 May 2014). "Tibetans-in-exile divided over right to vote in Indian elections". The Guardian.
  159. ^ "After Nehru and Indira, Modi is only PM to come back to power with full majority". The Economic Times. 23 May 2019.
  160. ^ World Mourns Nehru (1964), archived from the original on 31 July 2021, retrieved 31 July 2021
  161. .
  162. ^ "Letter From President Eisenhower to Prime Minister Nehru". history.state.gov. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, South and Southeast Asia, Volume XV – Office of the Historian. 27 November 1958. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  163. .
  164. ^ Ian Hall, The Conversation (22 August 2021). "Nehru, the architect of modern India, also helped discredit European imperialism". Scroll.in. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  165. ^ "How the ANC could fade away – OPINION | Politicsweb". www.politicsweb.co.za. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  166. ^ "UP Next: How Nehru, Swami Prabhu Dutt Brahmachari's ideas of India resonate in 2022 polls". Firstpost. 15 November 2021. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  167. ^ "PM Modi is A 'Charismatic' Leader Like Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi: Rajinikanth". outlookindia. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  168. ^ Service, Tribune News. "A thousand lies can't dwarf the giant Nehru was". Tribuneindia News Service. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  169. JSTOR 4397189
    .
  170. .
  171. . Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  172. ^ Singh, Ravi Ranjan & M. K. (14 August 2021). "Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru". K.K. Publications. p. 20 – via Google Books.
  173. ^ Ghose 1993, p. 243.
  174. ^ Kopstein 2005, p. 364.
  175. ^ .
  176. .
  177. ^ .
  178. .
  179. .
  180. .
  181. .
  182. ^ .
  183. ^ .
  184. ^ Kopstein 2005, p. 366.
  185. .
  186. .
  187. .
  188. ^ India Today. New Horizons. 1963.
  189. .
  190. News18
    . 14 November 2021.
  191. – via Google Books.
  192. .
  193. . 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.
  194. ^ Williams, p. 107.
  195. ^ Williams, p. 106.
  196. .
  197. , p. 128
  198. ^ Merchant, Minhaz (27 August 2020). "Nehru's noble intent of treating Muslims fairly put India on slippery slope of faux secularism". ThePrint. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  199. . One subject that particularly interested Nehru was the reform of Hindu law, particularly with regard to the rights of Hindu women ...
  200. ^ Purandare, Vaibhav (23 August 2017). "triple talaq: Uniform code: Nehru okayed principle, but didn't make it a directive". The Times of India. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  201. ^ Soman, Zakia; Niaz, Noorjehan (17 June 2016). "Why Triple Talaq Needs to Be Abolished". The Wire. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  202. JSTOR 43134213
    – via JSTOR.
  203. ^ Rathi, Nandini (15 September 2017). "Hindi Diwas: Journey of Hindi from pre-Partition India to post-independence language politics". The Indian Express. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  204. ^ Viswanathan, S. (6 December 2009). "Language issue again: The need for a clear-headed policy". The Hindu. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  205. .
  206. .
  207. .
  208. ^ "London Declaration". 16 May 2019. Archived from the original on 4 July 2021. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  209. ^ Haque, Affanul (20 May 2017). "Non-Aligned Movement: Jawaharlal Nehru – The architect of India's foreign policy". The Times of India.
  210. .
  211. ^ Robert Sherrod (19 January 1963). "Nehru:The Great Awakening". The Saturday Evening Post. 236 (2): 60–67.
  212. .
  213. ^ Sarvepalli Gopal,"Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography" Vol.2, 2:232–35.
  214. National Defence Academy
    .
  215. ^ 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. pp. 85–108.
  216. ^ Sublet, Carrie. "Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha". nuclearweaponarchive.org. Archived from the original on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  217. ^ Bhatia, Vinod (1989). Jawaharlal Nehru, as Scholars of Socialist Countries See Him. Panchsheel Publishers. p. 131.
  218. .
  219. .
  220. ^ a b "V.K. Krishna Menon, India Defense Minister, U.N. Aide, Dies". The New York Times. 6 October 1974.
  221. ^ Guha, Ramachandra (2 August 2008). "A fateful arrest". The Hindu. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  222. .
  223. ^ "A short history of long speeches". BBC News. 25 September 2009. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.
  224. ^ Majid, Amir A. (2007). "Can Self Determination Solve the Kashmir Dispute?" (PDF). Romanian Journal of European Affairs. 7 (3): 38. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 March 2012.
  225. .
  226. .
  227. United Nations Treaty Series. New York: United Nations. 1958. pp. 57–81. Archived
    (PDF) from the original on 27 March 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  228. ^ "Nehru's India". Mint. 23 May 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  229. ^ Nayudu, Swapna Kona (8 November 2016). "India's moment in the Suez Canal crisis". Business Line. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  230. ^ Mathai (1978). Reminiscences of the Nehru Age.
  231. Gettysburg Times
    . 22 March 1955. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  232. Sarasota Herald Tribune
    . 14 March 1955. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  233. ^ "Rickshaw Boy Arrested for Attempting to Kill Nehru". The Victoria Advocate. 14 March 1955. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  234. ^ "Knife Wielder Jumps on Car of Indian Premier". The Telegraph. 12 March 1955. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  235. ^ Covertaction Quarterly. Covert Action Publications. 1992. p. 9.
  236. .
  237. Altus Times-Democrat
    . 4 June 1956. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  238. ^ "Bombay Police Thwart Attempt on Nehru's Life". Oxnard Press-Courier. 4 June 1956. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  239. Toledo Blade
    . 30 September 1961. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  240. ^ Mathai, M.O. (1979). My Days with Nehru. Vikas Publishing House.
  241. .
  242. .
  243. ^ Kanwar Raj. "The evening 58 years ago when I saw off Nehru on his last flight". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  244. ^ BBC ON THIS DAY | 27 | 1964: Light goes out in India as Nehru dies Archived 11 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine. BBC News. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
  245. from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  246. ^ "Letter to the President of India on the Death of Prime Minister Nehru". The American Presidency Project. 27 May 1964. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  247. ^ Daily Report, Foreign Radio Broadcasts. 1964. p. 2. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  248. ^ Mideast Mirror. Arab News Agency. 1964. p. 18.
  249. ^ Iran Society (Calcutta, India) (10 March 2024). Indo-iranica. Iran Society. p. 12.
  250. .
  251. ^ Pakistan. Safārah (U.S.) (10 March 1963). Pakistan Affairs. Information Division, Embassy of Pakistan. p. 37.
  252. ^ West Bengal. Director of Information. 1964. p. 137.
  253. ^ "From the archive, 28 May 1964: The death of Mr Nehru, hero and architect of modern India". The Guardian. 28 May 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  254. Life Magazine. Time Inc.
    5 June 1964. p. 32.
  255. ^ "India Mourning Nehru, 74, Dead of a Heart Attack; World Leaders Honor Him". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 22 March 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  256. ISSN 0971-751X
    . Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  257. ^ "Vajpayee on Nehru's death: Bharat Mata has lost her favourite prince". ThePrint. 16 August 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2022. In the Ramayana, Maharashi Valmiki has said of Lord Rama that he brought the impossible together. In Panditji's life, we see a glimpse of what the great poet said. He was a devotee of peace and yet the harbinger of revolution, he was a devotee of non-violence but advocated every weapon to defend freedom and honour.
  258. ^ Palmer, Norman D. (12 January 2007). "The 1962 Election in North Bombay" (PDF). cs.nyu.edu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  259. . Retrieved 11 July 2012 – via Google Books.
  260. Praeger Publishing
    , 1968).
  261. .
  262. ^ "We ensured B R Ambedkar was chairman of drafting committee of Constitution: Congress". The Economic Times. 30 November 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  263. .
  264. ^ "International Urdu conference from Nov. 10". The Hindu. 7 November 2010. Archived from the original on 11 November 2010. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  265. ^ Chawla, Muhammad (2016). "Maulana Azad and the Demand for Pakistan: A Reappraisal". Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society. 64 (3): 7–24. Archived from the original on 17 November 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  266. .
  267. ^ Anwarul Haque Haqqi; Indian Political Science Association (1986). Indian Democracy at the Crossroads. Mittal Publications. p. 123. GGKEY:X2U27GYQ2L1.
  268. .
  269. ^ Da, S (2001). "The Nehru years in Indian politics" (PDF). Edinburgh Papers in South Asian Studies. 16: 24. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 September 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  270. .
  271. ^ "Nation pays homage to Govind Ballabh Pant". The Times of India. 10 September 2006. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012.
  272. ^ "Govind Ballabh Pant Engineering College, Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand". Gbpec.net. Archived from the original on 25 December 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  273. ^ "Padma Awards Directory (1954–2007)" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 April 2009. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
  274. .
  275. .
  276. ^ Malhotra, Inder (26 September 2014). "Once upon a plan". The Indian Express. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  277. ^ "Reference Material 2010 Notes of the Functioning of Various DiviionsI" (PDF). Planning Commission of India. 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 December 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  278. ^ M M Sury (2003). "India: Central Government Budgets – 1947–48 to 2003–04". New Century Publications. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  279. ^ "North Block Mavericks". Business Standard. 1 March 1997. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  280. .
  281. ^ "dated December 21, 1954: State Bank of India". The Hindu. 21 December 2004. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  282. The Tribune
    . Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  283. .
  284. .
  285. .
  286. ^ Niranjan Rajadhyaksha (7 December 2012). "The anxiety that lingers". Mint. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  287. . Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  288. . Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  289. .
  290. ^ ]
  291. on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  292. ^ Reddy, Sheela (23 February 2004). "If I Weren't A Sanyasin, He Would Have Married Me". Outlook. Archived from the original on 8 August 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  293. ^ Srinivasan, Rajeev. "The Rediff Interview / Stanley Wolpert 'I have tried to tell Nehru's story as honestly as possible'". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  294. . Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  295. ^ "Nehru-Edwina were in deep love, says daughter". The Indian Express. 15 July 2007. Archived from the original on 13 August 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  296. ^ "Love, longing & politics!". The Times of India. 21 April 2010. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
  297. ^ Philip Ziegler, Mountbatten (1985) p. 473.
  298. .
  299. .
  300. ^ Sarvepalii, Gopal. Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography, Volume 3; Volumes 1956–1964. Oxford University Press. p. 17. Nehru was still an agnostic, but a Hindu agnostic.
  301. TheGuardian.com
    . 28 May 2013.
  302. Times of India
    . Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  303. .
  304. .
  305. ^ A. A. Parvathy (1994). Secularism and Hindutva, a Discursive Study. Codewood Process & Printing. p. 42.
  306. ^ Mohammad Jamil Akhtar. Babri Masjid: a tale untold. Genuine Publications. p. 359.
  307. ^ Ram Puniyani (1999). Communal Threat to Secular Democracy. Kalpaz Publications. p. 113.
  308. ^ Sankar Ghose (1993). Jawaharlal Nehru, a Biography. Alied Publishers. p. 210.
  309. pp. 201–202
  310. . Jawaharlal Nehru was the most famous leader, next to Mahatma Gandhi, of the Indian independence movement
  311. . scholars underline the importance of demographic political culture and its roots in the decades of peaceful struggle for independence (Vidyarthi 1967). Next to Gandhi himself, it was Nehru who deserved credit for such development.
  312. . Among the many giants of the freedom movement, next to Gandhi, Nehru was the tallest
  313. . "In the generation that won independence for India and the one following it [...] Jawaharlal Nehru, the second most important Indian nationalist next to Gandhi
  314. ^
    gulfnews.com
    . Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  315. ^ Pal, R. M. (September 1997). "Universal primary education first on the Prime Minster's agenda". pucl.org. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  316. AIIMS. Archived from the original
    on 25 June 2014.
  317. on 13 August 2007. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  318. ^ "Nehru, a 'Queer Mixture of East and West,' Led the Struggle for a, Modern India; Devoted His Life to Nation's Cause; Blended Skill in Politics With the Spiritualism of His Mentor, Gandhi". The New York Times. 28 May 1964.
  319. .
  320. .
  321. ^ "Architect of modern India". Frontline. 8 November 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  322. ^ "'Architect of modern India': Congress pays tributes to Jawaharlal Nehru on death anniversary". The New Indian Express. 27 May 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  323. ^ "Jawaharlal Nehru: Architect of modern India". Hindustan Times. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  324. ^ Ian Hall, The Conversation (22 August 2021). "Nehru, the architect of modern India, also helped discredit European imperialism". Scroll.in. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  325. ^ Dixit, J. N. (14 November 2021). "From the archives: How Jawaharlal Nehru shaped India in the 20th century". India Today. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  326. ^ "Editorial: Master's voice". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  327. ^ "Opinion: Nehruvian legacy is his idea of India". The Siasat Daily. 26 May 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  328. ^ Service, Tribune News. "A thousand lies can't dwarf the giant Nehru was". Tribuneindia News Service. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  329. ^ "Nehru, the real architect of modern India". Deccan Chronicle. 16 November 2014. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  330. . He was the greatest figure after Gandhi in the history of modern India.
  331. . Jawaharlal Nehru, the greatest of all Indians after Gandhi and free India's first prime minister
  332. ^ Bhatia, V. (1989). Jawaharlal Nehru, as Scholars of Socialist Countries See Him. Panchsheel Publishers. p. 105. Jawaharlal Nehru was incomparably the greatest figure after Gandhi in our history - a man of dynamic force, intellectual power and profound vision.
  333. ^ Lok Rajya. Directorate-General of Information and Public Relations. 1965. p. 40. Nehru was the greatest man produced by the nation after Mahatma Gandhi and the torch he lit must remain burning forever.
  334. JSTOR 4416605
    . Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  335. . Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  336. . He was generally praised and supported for his statesmanship. Nehru did a commendable job in promoting world peace. As a statesman, committed to world peace, he strive hard to promote international understanding and co-operation
  337. . Nehru was now given a special title of respect by the people of India. They called him Pandit, or Wise One.
  338. ^ .
  339. ^ "Remembering Jawaharlal Nehru". Deccan Chronicle. 29 May 2019.
  340. ^ "Modish Designs". outlookindia. 4 February 2022.
  341. ^ Lahiri, Tripti (20 January 2012). "A Profile of the Nehru Jacket". blogs.wsj.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  342. ^ "Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund". Archived from the original on 7 November 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  343. ^ "The relevance of Jawaharlal Nehru". gulfnews.com. 13 November 2014.
  344. ^ India Today, Volume 22. Thomson Living Media India Limited. 1997. p. 77. on the choice of the greatest Indian since 1947. Jawaharlal Nehru was the clear choice of 42 percent
  345. ^ Sengupta, Uttam (20 August 2012). "A Measure Of The Man". Outlook. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  346. .
  347. ^ "What makes Shyam special..." The Hindu. 17 January 2003. Archived from the original on 27 June 2003. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  348. ^ "Universal Studio Scraps Nehru-Edwina Film".
  349. ^ Sharma, Garima (7 March 2010). "Shyam Benegal on his film Nehru". The Times of India. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  350. Films Division, Government of India
    . 2010. p. 7.
  351. ^ "Jawaharlal Nehru Biography – Childhood, Facts & Achievements of India's First Prime Minister". culturalindia.net. Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  352. Shemaroo. YouTube. 22 February 2016. Archived from the original
    on 9 June 2021.
  353. ^ "Ab Dilli Dur Nahin (1957)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  354. . Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  355. . Retrieved 26 February 2013.
  356. ^ "India, 1951–1960". Movie Movie. 2009–2012. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  357. ^ AWARDS: The multi-faceted playwright[usurped] Frontline, Vol. 16, No. 3, 30 January – 12 February 1999.
  358. .
  359. ^ "Children's Day: Popular Books On and By Jawaharlal Nehru". The Times of India. 13 November 2020.
  360. ^ Balakrishnan, Anima (4 August 2006). "Young World : From dad with love". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 12 November 2009. Retrieved 31 October 2008.
  361. . Nehru's books were translated into Arabic and widely read
  362. . Nehru's books were widely read and reviewed.
  363. ^ Gunther, John (1942), Inside Asia, New York and London: Harper and Brothers, p. 429
  364. ^ Jack, Ian (1 May 2007), Noble words, Great speeches of the 20th-century: Nehru, Guardian
  365. ISSN 0971-751X
    . Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  366. ^ "Who We Are". globalcenters.columbia.edu. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  367. ^ "Conferment of Honorary Degree of Doctor". Keio University. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  368. ^ Girija Kanta Mookerjee (1972). Nehru, the Humanist. Trimurti Publications. p. 8.
  369. ^ Diwanchand Institute of National Affairs; Indian Council of World Affairs (1955). Indian Recorder & Digest (in German). p. 23. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  370. ^ "Padma Awards Directory (1954–2007)" (PDF). Ministry of Home affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 April 2009. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
  371. ^ Prasad, Rajendra (1958). Speeches of President Rajendra Prasad 1952–1956. The Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, GOI. pp. 340–341.: "In doing so, for once, I may be said to be acting unconstitutionally, as I am taking this step on my own initiative and without any recommendation or advice from my Prime Minister; but I know that my action will be endorsed most enthusiastically not only by my Cabinet and other Ministers but by the country as a whole."
  372. ^ "Peace Laureates – Living Humanity". livinghumanity. 2 September 1996. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  373. ^ "The Order of the Companions of O.R. Tambo". The Presidency. 25 April 2019. Archived from the original on 4 August 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  374. ^ "Decoration Ceremony of the First Class Star of the Republic of Indonesia and the First Class Star of Services Awarded by the Government of Indonesia" (PDF). Government of the Republic Indonesia. 12 December 1995. Retrieved 11 January 2021.

Sources

Bibliography

Further reading

External links