With the Children’s Day just around the corner, MEERA S. SASHITAL, touches upon ‘the child’ within Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, popularly known among kids as ‘Chacha Nehru’.
November 14th is declared as the Children’s Day to commemorate the birthday of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. He was lovingly addressed as ‘Chacha’ Nehru by children as he was greatly loved by them. Jawaharlal Nehru was born on November 14, 1889 in Allahabad into a proud learned Kashmir Brajmin family. His mother was Swaroop Rani and father was Motilal Nehru a wealthy barrister and influential politician. Jawaharlal Nehru was an only child until the age of 11, after which two sisters were born viz. Vijayalakshmi and Krishna Hutheseeing.
The atmosphere in the Nehru home was more English than Indian. English was spoken and with a luxurious home. Jawaharlal Nehru was initially educated at home by tutors, most of them English or Scttish. Under the influence of a tutor, it seems, Nehru joined the Theosphical Society at 13.
At the age of 15 Nehru left for England and graduated from Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge University, and then for the Bar in London. His English speaking and experience reinforced his elegant and cosmopolitan tastes. As said of himself ar Cambridge, “In my likes and dislikes I was perhaps more an Englishman than an Indian.” In London he was attracted by Fabian ideas; nationalism and socialism from this time on provided his intellectual motive force,
Back in India, Nehru began to practice law with his father but not long as he was stirred by a political issue, the imprisonment of Annie Besant, an Irish theosophist devoted to Indian freedom. His involvement in the Nationalist Movement gradually replaced his legal practice. In 1916 Nehru was married to Kamala Kaul of an orthodox Kashmiri Brahmin family.
Apart from his father and Annie Besant, the greatest influence on Nehru politically was Gandhiji. He had been educated much like Nehru but, unlike Nehru, remained untouched and essentially Indian. A second issue which fired Nehru’s nationalism and led him to join Gandhi was the Amritsar Massacre of 1919 in which some 400 Indians were shot on orders of a British officer.
The year 1920 marked Nehru’s first contact with the Indian kisan, the peasant majority. Nehru was filled with shame
and sorrow at the degradation and overwhelming poverty of India. The plight of the peasant was a challenge to his socialist convictions, and his sympathy for them characterized many of his later political moves when he became the Prime Minister.
In 1921 Nehru followed Gandhi in sympathy with the Khilafat cause of the Moslems. Nehru was drawn into the first civil disobedience campaign as General Secretary of the Congress Committee. Nehru seemed to have remarked “I took to the crowd, and the crowd took to me, and yet I never lost myself in it.”
Nehru here articulated two of his most distinctive traits throughout his career; his involvement with the people and his aloof and lonely detachment. The year 1921 also witnessed the first of Nehru’s many imprisonments.From this time on Nehru’s concerns were Indian. He began to read the Bhagvad Gita and practised vegetarianism and Yoga. In prison his political philosophy matured and he expressed that he learned patience and adaptability also. Imprisonment was also a criterion of political success.
In 1926-1927 Nehru took his wife to Europe for health. This experience became a turning point for Nehru.It was an intellectual sojourn, highlighted by an anti-imperialist conference in Brussels. Here Nehru first encountered Communists, Socialists and Radical nationalists from Africa and Asia. The goals of independence and social reform became firmly fixed in Nehru’s mind.
Back in India Nehru was immediately engrossed in party conferences and was elected President of All India Trade Union Congress. His speeches showed trends against imperialism and goals of independence and socialism. In 1930 Nehru was made the Congress President more so to divert his thoughts from radicalism.
In 1930 Nehru was arrested and imprisoned for violation of the Salt Law, which Gandhi also protested in his famous “Salt March”.Nehru’s wife was also arrested. From the end of1931 to September 1935 Nehru was free only six months. Cripps mission and offer of Dominion Status failed in March 1942 followed by the Congress “Quit India” Movement.
Finally in 1947 India became independent and Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minister of India. Although faced with the challenge of uniting a vast population diverse in culture, language and religion, Nehru successfully established various economic, agricultural, social and educational reforms that earned him the respect and admiration of millions of Indians. Nehru propelled India towards age of technological advancements and innovations. Furthermore, Nehru preferred democratic value and equality for all, irrespective of caste, creed or colour.
Nehru was a passionate advocate of education. He believed that educating the young Indian was imperative for the country’s future growth. For the same, he established numerous institutions of higher learning including All India Institute if Medical Science, Indian Institute of Technology, The Indian Institute of Management and the National institute of Technology. He included free and compulsory primary education to all children in his Five Year Plan. For his relentless contribution towards the betterment and welfare of children. Nehruji’s birthday (November 14th) is celebrated throughout the country as Children’s Day.
Furthermore, it was Nehru who laid the stepping stone for the foundation of the National Defence of Academy and the Atomic Energy Commission of India. Despite being a follower of peace and non-violence, Nehru realized the importance of defence and tried to equip the country with the best modern equipments and defence method to safeguard the freedom of the nation.
Moreover, Nehru was the architect of Non-alignment in foreign policy. Economic weakness and the Indian tradition were powerful factors in formulating the policy. Nehru played a major role in making India a sovereign, socialist, secular and Democratic Republic. For the same, Nehru is often referred to as “The architect of Modern India”. Till date, the longest serving Prime Minister. f rom 1947 to 1964. Nehru also held the office of the Minister of External Affairs.
Nehru was bestowed with the Bharat Ratna Award in 1955 India’s highest civilian honour for his outstanding contribution during the freedom struggle and as the first Prime Minister of India.
“Tryst with Destiny” was a speech delivered by Jawaharlal Nehru, as the first Prime Minister of Independent India, to the Indian Constituent Assembly in the Parliament, on the eve of India’s Independence, towards midnight on 14th August 1947. It is considered to be one of the greatest speeches of all time and to be a landmark oration that captures the essence of the triumphant culmination of the largely non-violent Indian independent struggle against the British Empire in India. Fondly referred to as Chacha Nehru,
his style is emulated till date with Nehru jacket and “Nehru cap”.
Nehru left for his heavenly abode on May 27, 1964. His body was cremated as per Hindu rites at Shantivan on the banks of the Yamuna river. Thousands of Indian flocked to Delhi to mourn the death of the great statesman.
[alert type=”e.g. warning, danger, success, info” title=””] Nehru was bestowed with the Bharat Ratna Award in 1955 for his outstanding contribution during the freedom struggle and as the
first Prime Minister of India.[/alert]
