Pt.Jawaharlal Nehru

 

Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru

(1^st Prime Minister of India)

Birth-14 Nov 1889, Prayagraj

Death- 27 May 1964 

 Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru was the 1st Prime minister of independent India in 1947.

EARLY LIFE

The son of Motilal Nehru, a prominent lawyer and Indian nationalist. Jawaharlal Nehru was born in Allahabad, his family was originally from Kashmir. He was educated in England, at Harrow School, and then at Trinity College, Cambridge. He studied law at the Inner Temple in London. He returned to India in 1912 and practiced law for some years. However, his career in law was short-lived and he soon got extensively involved in the independence movement. In 1916, he married Kamala Kaul and the following year they had a daughter, Indira Gandhi.

Nehru's only child, Indira, served as India's prime minister from 1966 to 1977 and from 1980 to 1984 when she was assassinated. Her son, Rajiv Gandhi, was prime minister from 1984 to 1989, when he was also assassinated.

POLITICAL CAREER

In 1912, he attended the Bankipore Congress as a delegate, and became Secretary of the Home Rule League, Allahabad in 1919. In 1916 he had his first meeting with Mahatma Gandhi and felt immensely inspired by him. He organized the first Kisan March in Pratapgarh District of Uttar Pradesh in 1920. He was twice imprisoned in connection with the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1920-22.

Pt. Nehru became the General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee in September 1923. He toured Italy, Switzerland, England, Belgium, Germany and Russia in 1926. In Belgium, he attended the Congress of Oppressed Nationalities in Brussels as an official delegate of the Indian National Congress. He also attended the tenth anniversary celebrations of the October Socialist Revolution in Moscow in 1927. Earlier, in 1926, at the Madras Congress, Nehru had been instrumental in committing the Congress to the goal of Independence. While leading a procession against the Simon commission, he was lathi-charged in Lucknow in 1928. On August 29, 1928 he attended the All-Party Congress and was one of the signatories to the Nehru Report on Indian Constitutional Reform, named after his father Shri Motilal Nehru. The same year, he also founded the ‘Independence for India League’, which advocated complete severance of the British connection with India, and became its General Secretary.

In 1929, Pt. Nehru was elected President of the Lahore Session of the Indian National Congress, where complete independence for the country was adopted as the goal. He was imprisoned several times during 1930-35 in connection with the Salt Satyagraha and other movements launched by the Congress. He completed his ‘Autobiography’ in Almora Jail on February 14, 1935. After release, he flew to Switzerland to see his ailing wife and visited London in February-March, 1936. He also visited Spain in July 1938, when the country was in the throws of Civil War. Just before the court-break of the Second World War, he visited China too.

The Congress elected Nehru to assume office as independent India's first prime minister, although the question of leadership had been settled as far back as 1941, when Gandhi declared Nehru as his political heir and successor. As Prime Minister, he set out to realize his vision of India. The Constitution of India was enacted in 1950, after which he embarked on an ambitious program of economic, social and political reforms. Chiefly, he oversaw India's transition from a colony to a republic, while nurturing a plural, multi-party system. 

On 15 August 1947, Nehru became the first prime minister of independent India. He held the post until his death in 1964. He implemented moderate socialist economic reforms and committed India to a policy of industrialisation.

Nehru also served as foreign minister of India. In October 1947, he faced conflict with Pakistan over the state of Kashmir, which was disputed at independence. Nehru sent troops into the state to support India's claim. A United Nations ceasefire was negotiated, but Kashmir remains deeply unstable to this day.

Against the background of the Cold War, Nehru developed a policy of 'positive neutrality' for India. He became one of the key spokesmen for the non-aligned countries of Africa and Asia, many of which were former colonies that wanted to avoid dependence on any major power.

Despite efforts at cooperation by both countries, Indian-Chinese border disputes escalated into war in 1962 and Indian forces were decisively beaten. This had a significant impact on Nehru's declining health. He died on 27 May 1964.

Two years later Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi, became prime minister. With an interruption of only three years, she held the post until her assassination in 1984. Her son Rajiv was prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989, but he too was assassinated.

Baal divas (children’s day)

His birthday, November 14, is celebrated in India as Baal Divas ("Children's Day") in recognition of his lifelong passion and work on behalf of children and young people.