Jawaharlal Nehru Biography and Life Story- Independent History of India 

Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of independent India. He was born at Allahabad on 14 November 1889. He was the son of Motilal Nehru and Swarup Rani. Age between 15 – 23 Jawaharlal studied in England at Harrow, Trinity College, Cambridge and the Inner Temple returning to India in 1912. He has one daughter Indira Gandhi; she was also prime mister of India in 1966. 

Jawaharlal Nehru remained the Prime Minister of India for 17 long years (1947 -1964) and can rightly be called the architect of modern India. He set India on the path of democracy and nurtured its institution – Parliament, multi-party system, independent judiciary and free press.

His real initiation into politics came two years later when he came in contact with Mahatma Gandhi in 1919. At that time Mahatma Gandhi had launched a campaign against Rowlett Act which is related to “emergency measures” – of the Defense of India Regulations Act; enacted during the First World War in order to control public unrest and root out conspiracy (Vohra, Ranbir, 2001). Nehru was instantly attracted to Gandhi’s commitment for active but peaceful, civil disobedience. Gandhi himself saw his promise and India’s future with young visionary minded personnel Jawaharlal Nehru.

 The British Raj, 1858-1947:

A British Family in India in front of their house, 1875 The British entered India as traders, but they stayed back as rulers and ruled the country for almost 200 years. They came with their own cultural values and identity, very British Clothing and fashion statements, leaving the Indians admiring the GORA SAHIBS –white colored people and the MEMSAHIBS -respected madam. The average Indian wanted to look special and thus wanted to copy their Styles.

“English was not the first foreign tongue to be imposed on India as the language of the government.” (Watson,1979). The British as tradesmen imported lots of textiles from India, calico, chintz, cashmere to name but a few. India was one of the richest countries and had maximum textile export in the 17th and 18th Centuries. Indian Fabrics were treated as exotic and the British fell in love with cotton and indigo. These Indian textiles influenced British tastes before the Raj (rule).

Entering in politics:

Nehru became involved in Congress after the massacre at Amritsar in 1919. In 1921, Nehru was arrested and put in prison for activities associated Congress. Between 1921 and 1946, he spent 9 years in prison at different times. When he was out of prison, he had his freedom of movement heavily restricted by the British authorities.

Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi 

In 1929, partly as a result of his ability and fame and also because of Gandhi’s support, Nehru became president of Congress. As a result, he became a lynchpin in the negotiations that were to take place between the British and Congress over independence. The Salt March- non-violent march protesting the British Salt Tax (April 1930) was started in India, led by Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru as an act of disobedience to protest British rule about Salt. The Salt Protest succeeded in drawing the attention of the world. Indian, British, and world opinion increasingly began to recognize the legitimacy of the claims by the Congress party for independence in India. Mahatma Gandhi and were persuaded to follow in his political footsteps did either of them develop any definite ideas on how freedom was to be attained. The quality in Gandhi that impressed Nehru was his insistence on action. After his father’s death in 1931, Jawaharlal moved into the inner councils of the Congress Party and became closer to Gandhi. When the elections followed the introduction of provincial autonomy brought the Congress Party to power in a majority of the provinces, Nehru was faced with a dilemma. The Muslim League under Muhammad Ali Jinnah (who is known to separate Pakistan state from India) had fared badly at the polls.

“Madness to think of independence” (Ghose, 1993).

The Mahatma Gandhi-Irwin pact (Gandhi agreed to end the Civil Disobedience) of March 1931, signed between Gandhi and the British viceroy, Lord Irwin (later Lord Halifax), signalized a truce between the two principal protagonists in India. It climaxed one of Gandhi’s more effective civil disobedience movements, launched the year before, in the course of which Nehru had been arrested (Sir Tej BahadurSapru; Indian statesman, 1940). Nehru was released from jail and completely involved in Independence Movement with Mahatma Gandhi. The three Round Table Conferences in London, held to advance India’s progress to self-government, eventually resulted in the Government of India Act of 1935, giving the Indian provinces a system of popular autonomous government. Ultimately, it provided for a federal system composed of the autonomous provinces and princely states. Although federation never came into being, provincial autonomy was implemented (Government of India Acts, 1935).

World war II When, at the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, the viceroy, Lord Linlithgow, committed India to war without consulting the autonomous provincial ministries, the Congress Party’s high command withdrew its provincial ministries as a protest. Nehru’s views on the war differed from those of Gandhi. Nehru held that nonviolence had no place in defense against aggression and that India should support Great Britain in a war against Nazism, but only as a free nation (The Discovery of India, 1946). During World War II the Indian Army became the largest all-volunteer force in history, rising to over 2.5 million men in size. The 8th and 10th Divisions of Gorkha’s Brigade as an Indian forces played a huge part in liberating Italy from fascism.(Rimini Cemetery, 1939-1945).

Rimini Cemetery(Nepalese People),Italy Due to the emerging economical needs of the colonial rulers, the Japanese invasion of Burma which cut off food and other essential supplies, poor administration by the British and the economic restrictions caused by the war, the region of Bengal in India suffered a devastating famine during 1940- 43. Estimated, between 1.5 and 4 million people died of starvation, malnutrition and disease, out of Bengal’s 60.3 million populations, half of them dying from disease after food became available in December 1943 (Dyson and Maharatna, 1991).

Declaration of Independence:

Nehru headed an interim government, which was impaired by outbreaks of communal violence and political disorder, and the opposition of the Muslim League led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who was demanding a separate Muslim state of Pakistan. Nehru reluctantly supported the partition of India, according to a plan released by the British on 3 June 1947.

First Independence day,

Delhi Pakistan was the new nation due to religion. He took office as the Prime Minister of India on 15 August 1947, and delivered his inaugural address titled “A Tryst with Destiny”. It is great speech in the world history; it showed the situation of India at that movement which is reflected below.

“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……

 ……To the nations and peoples of the world send greetings and pledge ourselves to cooperate with them in furthering peace, freedom and democracy. And to India, our much loved motherland, the ancient, the eternal and the ever-new, we pay our reverent homage and we blind ourselves afresh to her service. Jai Hind” (The Guardian, 2008)”

 Tryst with Destiny was a speech made by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India. The speech was made to the Indian Constituent Assembly, on the eve of India’s Independence, towards midnight on 14 August 1947 (The Guardian, 2008).

Prime Minister of India (1947–64):

Nehru was elected to the Congress presidency in 1936, 1937, and 1946. His influenced to unite Buddhist, Muslim and Hindus in party.

Nehru, stated “The British government in India has not only depressed 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” (The Hindu, 2012).

Discussion Mount Batten Plan

Divided east India – Pakistan; Mount Batten Plan ( 1947); Punjab and Bengal had very narrow Muslim majorities, he was able to make the Congress and the Muslim League agree to the breaking up of these two States into Hindu and Muslim majority blocks, each consisting of districts geographically contiguous to each other, and decided to hand over power to the Muslim League, so far as the Muslim majority provinces and the Muslim majority districts so constituted were concerned, and in the rest of the country to the Congress. A separate Constituent Assembly for Pakistan was, therefore, set up on 26 July 1947. The next logical step, initiated by the dynamic leadership of Lord Mountbatten, was taken quickly, and the Indian Independence Act, 1947 duly introduced in the British Parliament on 4 July received the Royal Assent on 18 July 1947 (Metcalf & Metcalf, 2006).

Separated India and Pakistan 14-15 Aug, 1947 After that, Bangladesh was separated in 1971 from Pakistan.

“Intizar Hussain, the Pakistani novelist, was 24 when his family migrated during Partition. I met Hussain, now 89, in Delhi last month and asked about his experience. “I couldn’t visit Delhi for 26 years after 1947. I had no idea the new countries would be so hostile and the worlds we knew would be closed to us for decades. It choked me and my inability to return home, to return to Delhi, drove my writing,” he said. An invitation to a literary festival opened the doors for Hussain. For the vast majority of ordinary citizens, such journeys remained a dream, and separated parents and siblings became fading memories” – Basharat Peer, 2006 .

 In that division about 14.5 million people had to crossed the borders and 500,000 people were murdered (Ghose,1993).

Moderan India Nehuru Rule:

Nehru’s four pillars of domestic policies were democracy, socialism, unity, and secularism, and he largely succeeded in maintaining a strong foundation of all four during his tenure as prime minister. While serving his country, he enjoyed iconic status and was widely admired internationally for his idealism and statesmanship. He imparted modern values and thought, stressed secularism, insisted upon the basic unity of India, and, in the face of ethnic and religious diversity, carried India into the modern age of scientific innovation and technological progress. He also prompted social concern for the marginalized and poor and respect for democratic values.

Green Revolution Impact in India Nehru was deeply concerned with carrying India forward into the modern age of scientific discovery and technological development. In addition, he aroused in his people an awareness of the necessity of social concern with the poor and the outcast and of respect for democratic values. He was particularly proud with the reform of the ancient Hindu civil code that finally enabled Hindu widows to enjoy equality with men in matters of inheritance and property (Janak Raj Jai, 1996).

He was set up a planning commission and launched three successive plans in India. That brought massive change in science and technology, agriculture and eco- social development of India. His policies led to a sizable growth in agriculture and industrial revolution. He was used reorganization education and social reform.

The importance of Nehru in the perspective of Indian history is that he imported and imparted modern values and ways of thinking, which he adapted to Indian conditions. Apart from his stress on secularism and on the basic unity of India, despite its ethnic and religious diversities, Nehru was deeply concerned with carrying India forward into the modern age of scientific discovery and technological development.

In 1947 Mahatma Gandhi was murdered. Jawaharlal Nehru’s address to Gandhi: “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.” (Janak Raj, 1947).

National Security and International Policy:

He maintained good relations with the British Empire that was London Declaration (Joined Common Wealth Nations). The Kashmir region—which was claimed by both India and Pakistan—was a perennial problem throughout Nehru’s leadership, and his cautious efforts to settle the dispute ultimately failed, resulting in Pakistan making an unsuccessful attempt to seize Kashmir by force in 1948( Moraes, 1957). Nehru was a champion of pacifism and he pioneered the policy of Non Alignment Movement – NAM – Belgrade (The Saturday Evening Post, 1963). He established independent India’s foreign policy. Nehru led newly independent India from 1947 to 1964, during its first years of freedom from British rule. Both the United States and the Soviet Union competed to make India an ally throughout the Cold War. Nehru also maintained good relations with the British Empire. Under the London Declaration, India agreed that, when it became a republic in January 1950, it would join the Commonwealth of Nations and accept the British monarch as a “symbol of the free association of its independent member nations and as such the Head of the Commonwealth (Moraes, 1972).

Nehru in War Area – China and India

In 1954 Nehru signed with China the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, known in India as the Panch sheel (from the Sanskrit words, panch: five, sheel: virtues), a set of principles to govern relations between the two states. The following points were important in that peaceful coexistence: 1. Mutual Respect 2. Territorial Integrity and Sovereignty 3. No interference to other internal affairs 4. Peaceful 5. Equality and Mutual benefit. He signed agreement (with exchange of notes) on trade and intercourse between Tibet Region of China and India, at Peking on 29 April 1954 (Nation Treaty Series. New York: United Nations. 1958).

 PANCHASIL

Nehru’s foreign policy suffered through increasing Chinese assertiveness over border disputes and Nehru’s decision to grant political asylum to the 14th Dalai Lama (Indian Express, 6 October 1949).

India China (Sino) war 1962; China attacked in Sino area in outposts, and thus the Sino Indian War began, which India lost. In the war 3000 Army died and damaged Nehru prestige. 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.

The Non Aligned Movement:

The Non-Aligned Movement is a Movement of 115 members representing the interests and priorities of developing countries.

The Movement has its origin in the Asia-Africa Conference held in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955. The meeting was convened upon the invitation of the Prime Ministers of Burma, Ceylon (Now Sri Lanka), India, Indonesia and Pakistan and brought together leaders of 29 states, mostly former colonies, from the two continents of Africa and Asia, to discussed common concerns and to develop joint policies in international relations. Prime Minister Nehru, the acknowledged senior statesman, along with Prime Ministers Sukarno and Nasser, led the conference. At the meeting Third World leaders shared their similar problems of resisting the pressures of the major powers, maintaining their independence and opposing colonialism and neo-colonialism, especially western domination (NAM first conference, 1961).

Nehru advocated policies of nationalism, anti-colonialism, internationalism, and nonalignment or “positive neutrality.” He founded the nonaligned movement with Yugoslavia’s (Now Broken down- Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia) Josip Broz Tito and Egypt’s Gamal Abdel-Nasser and became one of the key spokesmen of the nonaligned nations of Asia and Africa.

In that movement (time and space); the second half of the 20th century, many nations took up the position of neutralism. With the meeting at the Bandung Conference (1955) of 29 countries for the purpose of, among other issues, establishing their neutralism, the Nonaligned Movement was conceived.

Nehru principle was Struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism and racism (Grant and Cedric, 1995).

 “We must have the capability. We should first prove ourselves to be non-violence and a world without nuclear weapons”– Nehru, 1962.

 The first meeting of the nonaligned nations was in Belgrade in 1961. A growing number of neutral nations met again in 1964, 1970, and roughly every three years thereafter.

More than 100 states involved in this movement justified their position on a number of grounds. The new nations of Asia and Africa, which made up the largest group of neutralist states, were mostly former colonies of the western European powers.

The Nonaligned Movement experienced considerable difficulty in establishing a unified policy on many issues in international affairs. Many of the member nations were enemies (such as Iran and Iraq), and true nonalignment proved an elusive goal. With the end of the Cold War and the breakup of the Soviet Union (1991), neutralism lost much of its usefulness as a guiding principle in many nations’ foreign relations (Robert Sherrod, 1963).

 Decolonization and Development:

Economic Development: Jawaharlal Nehru, who introduced the five-year plans–agreed that strong economic growth and measures to increase incomes and consumption among the poorest groups were necessary goals for the new nation. Government was assigned an important role in this process, and since 1951 a series of plans were guided the country’s economic development.

At the time of independence in 1947, agricultural development was a key to a number of national goals, such as reducing rural poverty, providing an adequate diet for all citizens, supplying agricultural raw materials for the textile industry and other industries, and expanding exports. He was involved in reformed and modernize in agrarian practices, industrialization processes as well as electrification of India.

Nehru provided and given political and economic support in Indian scientific research and technological developments. As India were striven to develop leading scientists and world-class research institutes, government-sponsored scientific and technical developments were aided diverse areas such as agriculture, biotechnology, cold regions research, communications, environment, industry, mining, nuclear power, space, and transportation. As a result, India was produced experts in such fields as astronomy and astrophysics, liquid crystals, condensed matter physics, molecular biology, virology, and crystallography.

The Green Revolution:

Under Nehru’s leadership, the government attempted to develop India quickly by embarking on agrarian reform and rapid industrialization. The introduction of high-yielding varieties of seeds and the increased use of fertilizers and irrigation were known collectively as the Green Revolution. The Green Revolution created wide regional and interstate disparities. The Green Revolution also increased income disparities: higher income growth and reduced incidence of poverty were found in the states where yields increased the most and lower income growth and little change in the incidence of poverty in other states.

The world’s largest integrated dairy development programs were attempted to establish linkages between rural milk producers and urban consumers by organizing farmer-owned and -managed dairy cooperative societies.

 Nehru’s Legacy:

 Nehru pushed through the Indian Parliament, dominated by members of his own party, a series of legal reforms intended to emancipate Hindu women and bring equality such as included raising the minimum marriageable age from twelve to fifteen, empowering women to divorce their husbands and inherit property, and declaring illegal the ruinous dowry system.

Nehru-Last Days:

 Jawaharlal Nehru was one of the pioneering leaders of India, who played an active role in the independence struggle of the country. He was also the first Prime Minister of Independent India. From childhood, Jawaharlal Nehru led a luxurious and glorious life. His father, Moti Lal Nehru was an eminent personality in the society, both in the social as well as in the political sphere. Jawaharlal Nehru also had a glorious political career and basked in name as well as fame for long time.

Nehru had a good career record; his last eight-years as the Prime Minister of the country were not very successful. The country was facing both internal and external crisis during these eight years. Some of the economic policies that were set by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru were not accepted in the country as well as in the foreign countries. It was also believed that he could not control the ongoing procedures in the country and there was anarchy all around.

Jawaharlal Nehru was a great politician, but at some places he was a weak administrator and took some decisions as a Prime Minister, which went against him in various ways. Nehru was himself a devoted and clean man, away from any sort of corruption. But there were some people working in administrative bodies under him, who were corrupted.

CRITICS

Jawaharlal Nehru had also established several foreign links that had helped him in enhancing his personal horizon and outlook. He used these experiences for the up liftmen and progress of India. During that time, India had managed to include Goa in the Indian Union by making it independent from the Portuguese rule. There were also some linguistics problems that were faced by the nation during the period of Jawaharlal Nehru as Prime Minister. Hindi was prescribed as the national language of the country and that was accepted by all.

But since, Jawaharlal Nehru had seen the world to a great extent; he knew the importance of the English language. He was a man with great foresight and could sense that English would be the most important and commonly used language in the near future. He stressed on the fact that English should be used as an additional official language. Jawaharlal Nehru wanted the language to be part of the pluralistic society in India. Urdu was spoken and followed by several people in the country and it was also recognized by the Constitution (Moraes, 2008).

The Indo-China Relationship was a major issue that had troubled Jawaharlal Nehru in his last days. He was the man, who had tried his best to cultivate harmonious and cordial relations with China.

Jawaharlal Nehru’s health was also deteriorating with passing time. He was suffering from a kidney disorder, namely pyelonephritis. It was said that he suffered from this disorder due to excessive workload. He went to the Parliament on 10th February, 1964; but it clearly showed that he was not completely fit, though he denied that he was unwell. Nehru last breathed on 1.44 PM, 27 May, 1964, in New Delhi; this marked the end to a grand and glorious personality, who had excelled in political, social as well as in professional life. India lost a great leader on this day and his presence is still felt in times of crisis.