Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 - 1964) was an Indian statesman and writer who served as the first Prime Minister of India, from independence in 1947 until his death in 1964. [1] A central figure in the Indian National Congress and the struggle against British rule, he shaped the new republic's parliamentary democracy, secular constitutional order and state-directed industrial planning. [2] In foreign affairs he was a principal architect of non-alignment during the Cold War.
Early life and education
Nehru was born on 14 November 1889 in Allahabad (now Prayagraj) into a prosperous Kashmiri Brahmin family. His father, Motilal Nehru, was a wealthy barrister and a leading Congress politician. He was educated at home by private tutors before being sent to England, where he attended Harrow School, read natural sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge, and then trained for the bar in London. [1]
He returned to India in 1912 and practised law without enthusiasm. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919 and his encounter with Mohandas Gandhi drew him into full-time political work in the nationalist movement. [2]
The independence movement
Nehru rose rapidly within the Indian National Congress, becoming general secretary and, in 1929, president of the party, in which capacity he moved the resolution demanding purna swaraj, or complete independence. He organised among peasants and trade unionists and was imprisoned repeatedly by the colonial authorities, spending a total of some nine years in jail. [1]
In prison he wrote the works that established him as a writer: an autobiography, Glimpses of World History and The Discovery of India. During the Second World War the Congress leadership was jailed en masse after the Quit India movement of 1942. Nehru led negotiations with the British in the postwar period and became head of the interim government in 1946, taking office as prime minister when India became independent on 15 August 1947, amid the partition of the subcontinent and the mass displacement and violence that accompanied it. [2]
Prime minister
Nehru governed for seventeen years, winning general elections in 1951-52, 1957 and 1962. His administration oversaw the adoption of the Constitution of India in 1950 and the holding of national elections under universal adult suffrage on a scale not previously attempted. [3]
Domestically he pursued rapid industrialisation through a series of Five-Year Plans and a mixed economy with a large public sector, founding institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology, the Atomic Energy Commission and national laboratories. His government pressed land reform, the reorganisation of states along linguistic lines, and the Hindu Code Bills, which reformed personal law on marriage, divorce and inheritance. [2]
Abroad, Nehru refused alignment with either Cold War bloc and helped found the Non-Aligned Movement alongside leaders including Tito and Nasser, articulating the Panchsheel principles of peaceful coexistence. The unresolved dispute over Kashmir led to conflict with Pakistan, and the border war with China in 1962 ended in military defeat that damaged his standing. [1]
Death and legacy
Nehru died in New Delhi on 27 May 1964 while still in office. He had been awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, in 1955. [1]
He is credited with consolidating democratic and secular institutions in a large, poor and newly independent state, and with building its scientific and industrial base. [3] Critics have pointed to the slow growth of the planned economy, the handling of the Kashmir dispute and the misjudgement of Chinese intentions before 1962. His daughter Indira Gandhi and grandson Rajiv Gandhi later served as prime ministers, and his birthday is observed in India as Children's Day.
