Jawahar Lal Nehru

Introduction

Jawaharlal Nehru, also known as Pandit Nehru, was born on November 14, 1889, in Allahabad in India. He was well noted by the world for his non-aligned foreign policy for Independent India. He was also a famous author and had written his famous books while he was in jail, such as “Letters from a Father to his Daughter”, “An Autobiography” and “The Discovery of India ''. Furthermore, he died on May 27, 1964, in New Delhi.

Early Life and Career

Nehru was born to a family of Kashmiri Brahmans, who had migrated to Delhi early in the 18th century.

• His father was Motilal Nehru, who was a renowned lawyer and leader of the Indian Independence Movement.

• At 16 age, he was educated at home by English tutors.

• He studied Natural Science at Trinity College of Cambridge.

• After his study when he returned to India, he tried to opt for law as a profession, however, he has no enthusiasm for it as he wanted to fight for his country’s freedom.

• He was very much impressed with Gandhi and which led him to follow his career in Indian Politics.

Nationalist Movement

Like many of his generations, he had the zeal to fight for his country’s freedom but had not formulated any idea of how it could be achieved.

• After the 1929 Lahore Session, Nehru was popular among youth intelligentsia

• In 1930, during the Salt March, Nehru was the prime participant who was following Gandhi’s philosophy of Civil Disobedience. Due to this, he had been arrested for about a year.

• After the Gandhi-Irwin Pact in 1931, when Gandhi was disappointed and returned from Second Round Table Conference in Jan 1932, tried to relaunch Civil Disobedience Movement; Nehru being the main supporter was also arrested and sent to jail for 2 years.

• Following the Quit India resolution passed on 8th April 1942, all the major leaders of Congress including Gandhi and Nehru were arrested for 2 years.

Prime Minister of India

From the start of his political career in 1919 until he died in 1964, Nehru remained the Idol of his People.

• One of his proud achievements as a Prime Minister was the introduction of equality among men and women by modifying the ancient Hindu civil code that gave the right to Hindu widows to enjoy equality with men in a matter of inheritance and property.

• The Sino–Hindu conflict of 1962 was a setback to Nehru when Chinese forces tried to enter the Brahmaputra river valley in the northeast. This act exposed the hollowness of Nehru’s proclamation, “Hindi-Chini bhai bhai”.

• Disputes between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region remained a critical problem during the whole tenure of Nehru as Prime Minister.

Vision and Governing Councils

Nehru can be considered the founder of Modern Indian States

• Nehru had always been an importer of modern customs and ideology adapted to the Indian condition.

• He was highly motivated to integrate Indian ideology with scientific discoveries and technological developments.

• He stressed the need for social concern for the poor and respect for democratic values.

Key members in his governing council are mentioned in the table below −

Member	Ministry
BR Ambedkar	Law
Vallabhbhai Patel	Home
Abul Kalam Azad	Human Resource Development
Jagjivan Ram	Labour
John Mathai	Union Finance

Death

On 27th May 1964, Jawahar Lal Nehru died due to a heart attack. Atal Bihari Vajpayee once said that Nehru was Bharat Mata's “favourite prince” and presented him as the Hindu god Rama.

Relationships

Jawahar Lal Nehru was married to Kamala Kaul, who also belonged to the Kashmiri Pandit family. After Kamala’s death, Nehru was allegedly linked to several women such as Shraddha Mata, Padmaja Naidu and Edwina Mountbatten.

Legacy

• Because of his modern ideology on politics and economics, he was famous among the young intelligentsia of India.

• Nehru was not in agreement with Gandhi’s aversion to industrialization and as a matter of fact, his early five-year plan post-independence was heavily focused on industrialization.

• If Gandhi’s efforts are considered to make Indians aware of India, Nehru should also be credited to have made the world aware of India.

• Post-independence, India was majorly following the path of Nehru’s vision of the future of India such as modern ideology, industrialization, etc.

• For 17 years as Indian Prime Minister, he emphasised the need for both democracy and socialism.

Awards and Honours

Nehru was honoured by many Indian and foreign universities such as the University of Mysore, the University of Madras, Columbia University, and Keio University. Nehru was also awarded the highest civilian award in India, Bharat Ratna in 1955.

Conclusion

Jawahar Lal Nehru started his career as a Lawyer, though he moved to Politics afterwards. He was impressed with MK Gandhi’s way of Independence. His political career took place in 1919 when he joined INC and in 1929 he became the president of Congress in the Lahore session. Under his leadership, INC passed a resolution for complete independence as India’s political goal. Under the leadership of Nehru, Congress refused to form a joint government with Muslim League in some provinces. Which compelled the Muslim league to demand a separate nation at the time of Independence in 1947. Shortly before Gandhi’s assassination in 1948, Nehru became the first Prime Minister of Independent India.

FAQs

Q1. What is Jawahar Lal Nehru famous for?

Ans. Jawaharlal Nehru was the interim as well as the first prime minister of Independent India. During the national movement, he was one of the influential leaders and much closer to Gandhi. He played a major role in involving the country's intellectuals and youth in the mainstream of the movement.

Q2.How did Jawahar Lal Nehru influence the world?

Ans. Jawahar Lal Nehru was known for his non-aligned foreign policy post-independence. He was a follower of modern ideology in politics and the economy. He was the main leader who formed an interim government in British India, just before India got its independence.

Q3. How many assassination attempts were made on Nehru?

Ans. There were a total of 4 assassination attempts made on Nehru during his career, starting from North West Frontier Province to Nagpur and Bombay.