Jawaharlal Nehru | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 1948 | |
| 1st Prime Minister of India | |
| In office 15 August 1947 – 27 May 1964 | |
| Monarch | George VI (until 1950) |
| President |
|
| Governors General |
|
| Deputy | Vallabhbhai Patel (until 1950) |
| Preceded by | office established |
| Succeeded by | Lal Bahadur Shastri[a] |
| Union Minister of External Affairs | |
| In office 2 September 1946 – 27 May 1964 | |
| Prime Minister | himself |
| Preceded by | office established |
| Succeeded by | Gulzarilal Nanda |
| Head of Interim Government of India | |
| In office 2 September 1946 – 15 August 1947 | |
| Governors General |
|
| Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | |
| In office 17 April 1952 – 27 May 1964 | |
| Preceded by | constituency established |
| Succeeded by | Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit |
| Constituency | Phulpur, Uttar Pradesh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 14 November 1889 Allahabad, North-Western Provinces, British India (present-day Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India) |
| Died | 27 May 1964 (aged 74) New Delhi, Delhi, India |
| Resting place | Shantivan |
| Political party | Indian National Congress |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Indira Gandhi (daughter) |
| Parents |
|
| Relatives | Nehru–Gandhi family |
| Education | |
| Occupation | |
| Awards | See awards section |
| Signature |  |
Jawaharlal Nehru (/ˈneɪru/ NAY-roo or /ˈnɛru/ NERR-oo,[1] Hindi: [dʒəˌʋaːɦəɾˈlaːl ˈneːɦɾuː] ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat,[2] author and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was second only to Mahatma Gandhi in leading the Indian nationalist movement in the 1930s and 1940s. Upon India's independence from Britain in 1947, he served as the country's first prime minister for 16 years.[3] Nehru championed parliamentary democracy, secularism, science and technology during the 1950s, influencing India's arc as a modern nation. In international affairs, he is well-known as one of the Founders of the Non-aligned Movement and, concomitantly, for steering India clear of the two blocs of the Cold War. A coveted author, the books he wrote in prison, such as Letters from a Father to His Daughter (1929), An Autobiography (1936) and The Discovery of India (1946), have been read and deliberated upon around the world.
The son of Motilal Nehru, a prominent lawyer and Indian nationalist, Jawaharlal Nehru was educated in England—at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge, and trained in the law at the Inner Temple. He became a barrister, returned to India, enrolled at the Allahabad High Court and soon began to take an interest in national politics, which eventually became a full-time occupation. He joined the Indian National Congress, rose to become the leader of a progressive faction during the 1920s, and eventually of the Congress in its totality, receiving the support of Mahatma Gandhi who was to designate Nehru as his political heir. As Congress president in 1929, Nehru called for complete independence from the British Raj.
Nehru and the Congress dominated Indian politics during the 1930s. Nehru promoted the idea of the secular nation-state in the 1937 provincial elections, allowing the Congress to sweep the elections, and to form governments in several provinces. In September 1939, the Congress ministries resigned to protest Viceroy Lord Linlithgow's decision to join the war without consulting them. After the All India Congress Committee's Quit India Resolution of 8 August 1942, senior Congress leaders were imprisoned and for a time the organisation was suppressed. Nehru, who had reluctantly heeded Gandhi's call for immediate independence, and had desired instead to support the Allied war effort during World War II, came out of a lengthy prison term to a much altered political landscape. The Muslim League, under Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had come to dominate Muslim politics in the interim. In the 1946 provincial elections, Congress won the elections but the League won most seats reserved for Muslims, which the British interpreted to be a clear mandate for Pakistan in some form. Nehru became the interim prime minister of India in September 1946, with the League joining his government with some hesitancy in October 1946.
Upon India's independence on 15 August 1947, Nehru gave a critically acclaimed speech, "Tryst with Destiny"; he was sworn in as the Dominion of India's prime minister and raised the Indian flag at the Red Fort in Delhi. On 26 January 1950, when India became a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, Nehru became the Republic of India's first prime minister. He embarked on an ambitious program of economic, social, and political reforms. Nehru promoted a pluralistic multi-party democracy. In foreign affairs, he played a leading role in establishing Non-Aligned Movement, a group of nations that did not seek membership in the two main ideological blocs of the Cold War.
Under Nehru's leadership, the Congress emerged as a catch-all party, dominating national and state-level politics and winning elections in 1951, 1957 and 1962. His premiership, spanning 16 years and 286 days—which is, to date, the longest in India—ended with his death in 1964 from a heart attack. Hailed as the "Architect of Modern India", his birthday is celebrated as Children's Day in India.[4]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ "Nehru". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. 2020. Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ —
- Ganguly, Sumit; Mukherji, Rahul (2011). India Since 1980. Cambridge University Press. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-139-49866-1.
Nehru was a social democrat who believed that liberal political and economic institutions could deliver economic growth with redistribution. The 1950s witnessed greater state control over industrial activity and the birth of the industrial licensing system, which made it necessary for companies to seek the permission of the government before initiating business in permitted areas.
- Schenk, Hans (2020). Housing India's Urban Poor 1800–1965: Colonial and Post-colonial Studies. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-00-019185-1.
The idea that the state should actively and in a planned and 'rational' and 'modern' manner promote development originated abroad. Inspiration came to some extent from the Soviet Russian planned economic development, and for some, including Nehru, from the—at that time still a bit remote—concept of the West European and largely social-democrat idea of the 'Welfare' state.
- Winiecki, Jan (2016). Shortcut or Piecemeal: Economic Development Strategies and Structural Change. Central European University Press. p. 41. ISBN 9789633860632.
Nehru, a Fabian socialist, or social-democrat in modern parlance, either did not read Mill or disregarded the (minimal) institutional requirements outlined by that classical writer. In Nehru's view, it was the state that should direct the economy from the center, as well as decide about the allocation of scarce resources.
- Chalam, K. S. (2017). Social Economy of Development in India. Sage. p. 325. ISBN 9789385985126.
Social democrats advocate peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism. While Jawaharlal Nehru was considered as a social democrat, his colleague in the Constituent Assembly, B. R. Ambedkar, was emphatic about state socialism. It appears that the compromise between these two ideas has been reflected in the Directive Principles of State Policy. The principles of social democracy and/or democratic socialism can be interrogated in the context of the present situation in India.
- Ganguly, Sumit; Mukherji, Rahul (2011). India Since 1980. Cambridge University Press. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-139-49866-1.
- ^ "Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru". Indian National Congress. Archived from the original on 3 October 2023. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
- ^ "Jawaharlal Nehru: Architect of modern India". Hindustan Times. 14 November 2019. Archived from the original on 9 November 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.