Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru
Name	Jawaharlal Nehru
Birth date	14 November 1889
Birth place	Allahabad, North-Western Provinces, British India
Death date	27 May 1964
Death place	New Delhi, India
Occupation	Statesman, Prime Minister
Nationality	Indian

Jawaharlal Nehru was an Indian statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of the Republic of India and a central leader of the Indian independence movement. He was a leading figure in the Indian National Congress and a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi, whose strategies and debates shaped campaigns against the British Raj and events such as the Salt Satyagraha and the Quit India Movement. Nehru's tenure as Prime Minister established institutions like the Planning Commission and set policies that influenced relations with the United Nations and neighboring states including Pakistan and China.

Early life and education

Nehru was born in Allahabad into the Kashmiri Pandit family of Motilal Nehru, a prominent lawyer and president of the Indian National Congress, and Swarup Rani Nehru; his household connected him to figures like Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Lala Lajpat Rai. He studied at Harrow School and at Trinity College, Cambridge where he encountered contemporaries and debates involving British liberalism, visits to Paris and interactions with scholars from Oxford University. He trained in law at the Inner Temple in London before returning to India, where encounters with leaders including Bal Gangadhar Tilak and activists such as Subhas Chandra Bose influenced his political orientation. Early exposures to the works of Vladimir Lenin, John Ruskin, and Rudyard Kipling—and visits to institutions like the British Museum—shaped his intellectual formation.

Political career and role in Indian independence

Nehru rose through the ranks of the Indian National Congress alongside leaders such as Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's contemporaries—Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Abul Kalam Azad, and C. Rajagopalachari—participating in mass movements like the Non-Cooperation Movement and the Civil Disobedience Movement. He was imprisoned by British authorities multiple times during campaigns including the Salt Satyagraha and the Quit India Movement, sharing jail terms with activists such as Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Aruna Asaf Ali. Nehru articulated positions at events like the Lahore Session (1929) and engaged with constitutional processes including negotiations surrounding the Indian Independence Act 1947 and interactions with figures such as Lord Mountbatten of Burma and Clement Attlee. His rivalry and cooperation with Muhammad Ali Jinnah and negotiations involving the Muslim League shaped the partition talks that resulted in the creation of Pakistan.

Prime Ministership (1947–1964)

As Prime Minister, Nehru led the newly independent Dominion of India and then the Republic of India through transitions including the adoption of the Constitution of India and establishment of capital functions in New Delhi. He managed crises such as the Partition of India refugee crisis, the First Kashmir War (1947–1948), and conflicts in regions involving princely states like Hyderabad and Junagadh during integration efforts. His administration worked with institutions such as the Reserve Bank of India and the Indian Administrative Service while interacting with foreign leaders including Jawaharlal Nehru's diplomatic counterparts Harry S. Truman, Nikita Khrushchev, and Gamal Abdel Nasser in forums such as the United Nations General Assembly. Nehru's premiership saw the commencement of projects involving the Bhakra Dam and negotiations over borders that later involved incidents with China.

Domestic policies and socio-economic reforms

Nehru championed planned development through the Planning Commission and the implementation of successive Five-Year Plans modeled on ideas influenced by Nikolai Bukharin and John Maynard Keynes; he promoted industrialization with heavy industries guided by institutions like the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Indian Institutes of Technology. Land reform efforts interacted with state legislatures in Punjab and Bihar, and legislation such as tenancy laws and land ceiling acts were debated alongside leaders like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and C. Rajagopalachari. Social policies addressed issues involving Untouchability and social reformers such as B. R. Ambedkar, while educational expansion included founding universities and research bodies like the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the Atomic Energy Commission. Economic debates involved critics from the Communist Party of India and economists like P. C. Mahalanobis.

Foreign policy and non-alignment

Nehru was a principal architect of the Non-Aligned Movement, collaborating with leaders including Josip Broz Tito, Gamal Abdel Nasser, and Kwame Nkrumah while engaging in diplomatic negotiations at the Bandung Conference and the United Nations. He advocated Panchsheel principles negotiated with Zhou Enlai and addressed crises such as the Sino-Indian border dispute and the 1950s Tibet situation involving figures like the 14th Dalai Lama. Nehru navigated Cold War dynamics between United States and Soviet Union influences, engaged in treaties and discussions with Britain and France, and promoted disarmament initiatives at forums including the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Personal life, writings, and legacy

Nehru's personal life involved family ties to Motilal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi, who later became Prime Minister, and networks including Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit and Feroze Gandhi. He authored works such as Letters from a Young Indian (published as Letters from a Young Indian Jail?), The Discovery of India, and Glimpses of World History, reflecting influences from Leo Tolstoy and Jawaharlal Nehru's contemporaries. His death in 1964 prompted national mourning and succession debates within the Indian National Congress involving leaders like Lal Bahadur Shastri. Monuments, institutions, and the annual celebration of Children's Day attest to his cultural impact alongside critiques from historians studying the 1962 Sino-Indian War and debates about planning orthodoxy. His legacy is preserved in archives, memorials such as the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, and biographies by scholars including Ramananda Chatterjee and Pankaj Mishra.

Category:Prime Ministers of India