ChristenHii: updated structure and corrected details for accuracy

2026-03-29T10:02:00Z

updated structure and corrected details for accuracy

Show changes

WikiDwarfBOT: Cleanup: Information added.

2023-07-22T03:32:45Z

Cleanup: Information added.

Show changes

UpdateBot: robot: Update article (please report if you notice any mistake or error in this edit)

2022-06-23T11:12:20Z

robot: Update article (please report if you notice any mistake or error in this edit)

Show changes

103.201.132.227: /* Early life and education */

2021-12-20T18:18:47Z

Early life and education

New page

{{Short description|Indian lawyer and politician (1861–1931)}}
{{Use Indian English|date=November 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Motilal Nehru
| image = MotilalNehru3.jpg
| birth_date = {{Birth-date|6 May 1861}}
| birth_place = [[Agra]], [[North-Western Provinces]], [[British Raj|British India]]<ref name="congressbio">{{citation | title=Past Presidents- Motilal Nehru | url=http://www.congress.org.in/new/past-president-detail.php?id=29 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100906202727/http://www.congress.org.in/new/past-president-detail.php?id=29 | archive-date=6 September 2010 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> {{small|(present-day [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[India]])}}
| death_date = {{death-date and age|6 February 1931|6 May 1861}}
| death_place = [[Lucknow]], [[United Provinces of British India|United Provinces]], [[British Raj|British India]] {{small|(present-day [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[India]])}}
| nationality = [[Indian people|Indian]]
| spouse = [[Swarup Rani]]
| children = [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] [[Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit]] [[Krishna Hutheesing]]
| alma_mater = [[Muir Central College]]
| occupation = [[Barrister]] [[Activist]] [[Lawyer]] [[Politician]]
| profession =
| signature =
| website =
| footnotes =
| parents = [[Gangadhar Nehru]] (father) Janurani Nehru (mother)
| office = [[List of Presidents of the Indian National Congress|President of the Indian National Congress]]
| leader =
| term_start = 1919
| term_end = 1920
| predecessor = [[Syed Hasan Imam]]
| successor = [[Lala Lajpat Rai]]
| term_start2 = 1928
| term_end2 = 1929
| leader2 =
| predecessor2 = [[Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari]]
| successor2 = [[Jawaharlal Nehru]]
}}

'''Motilal Nehru''' (6 May 1861 – 6 February 1931) was an Indian lawyer, activist and politician belonging to the [[Indian National Congress]]. He also served as the [[Congress President]] twice, 1919–1920 and 1928–1929. He was a patriarch of the [[Nehru-Gandhi family]] and the father of [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], the first Prime Minister of India.

==Early life and education==
Motilal Nehru was born on 6 May 1861, the [[Posthumous birth|posthumous son]] of [[Gangadhar Nehru]] and his wife Indrani. The Nehru family had been settled for several generations in Delhi, and Gangadhar Nehru was a [[kotwal]] in that city.<ref name="Rau1967">{{cite book|last=Rau|first=M. Chalapathi|author-link=Manikonda Chalapathi Rau|title=Nehru for Children|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cmKzgMfl5vEC&pg=PA7|access-date=17 September 2013|year=1967|publisher=Children's Book Trust|isbn=978-81-7011-035-4|page=7}}</ref> During [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|India's independence struggle of 1857]], Gangadhar left Delhi with his family and moved to [[Agra]], where some of his relatives lived. By some accounts, the Nehru family home in Delhi had been looted and burnt down during the Mutiny. In Agra, Gangadhar quickly arranged the weddings of his two daughters, Patrani and Maharani, into Kashmiri Brahmin families. He died on 4 February 1861 and his youngest child, Motilal, was born three months later.

At this time, Motilal's two older brothers, Bansidhar Nehru (b. 1842) and [[Nandlal Nehru]] (b. 1845), were nineteen and sixteen years old respectively. Since the family had lost nearly all its assets in the upheaval of 1857, Jeorani turned to her brother, Amarnath Zutshi of Bazaar Sitaram in old Delhi, for support until her sons could begin earning. She did receive some support from him, but all of Delhi had suffered hugely during the recent mutiny and assistance could not be open-ended. Within a couple of years, Nandlal secured a job as a clerk in the court of a Raja of Khetri and began supporting his mother and brother.

Thus, Motilal came to spend his childhood in [[Khetri]], second largest [[thikana]] (feudal estate) within the princely state of [[Jaipur State|Jaipur]], now in Rajasthan. His elder brother, [[Nand lal Nehru|Nandlal]] gained the favour of Raja Fateh Singh of Khetri, who was the same age as him, and rose to the position of [[Diwan (title)|Diwan]] (Chief Minister; effectively the manager) of the vast feudal estate. In 1870, Fateh Singh died childless and was succeeded by a distant cousin, who had little use for his predecessor's confidants. Nandlal left Khetri for Agra and found that his prior career at Khetri equipped him to advise litigants regarding their legal suits. Once he realised this, he exhibited his industry and resilience again by studying for and passing the necessary examinations so that he could practice law in the British colonial courts. He then began practising law at the provincial High Court at [[Agra]]. Subsequently, the [[High Court]] shifted base to [[Allahabad]], and the family (including Motilal) moved to that city.<ref name="congressbio"/><ref>[http://www.congresssandesh.com/AICC/history/presidents/pandit_motilal_nehru.htm Pandit Motilal Nehru Profile] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091227092644/http://www.congresssandesh.com/AICC/history/presidents/pandit_motilal_nehru.htm |date=27 December 2009 }} Congress Sandesh.</ref><ref name="iloveindia.com">[http://www.iloveindia.com/indian-heroes/motilal-nehru.html Motilala Nehru] I Love India.com</ref><ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/408247/Motilal-Nehru Motilal Nehru] [[Britannica.com]].</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.amaltas.org/category/great-indian-personalities/motilal-nehru/ |title=Archived copy |access-date=10 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20080102071042/http://www.amaltas.org/category/great-indian-personalities/motilal-nehru/ |archive-date=2 January 2008 }}</ref>

==Career==
Motilal passed the lawyer examination in 1883 and began practising as a lawyer at Kanpur. Three years later, he moved to [[Allahabad]] to join the lucrative practice already established by his brother Nandlal. The following year, in April 1887, his brother died at the age of forty-two, leaving behind five sons and two daughters. Thus Motilal at the age of 25 became sole bread-earner of the extended Nehru family.<ref name="congressbio" />

Many of Motilal's suits were civil cases involving large land-owning families and soon he made a mark for himself in the legal profession of Allahabad. With the success of his practice, in 1900, he bought a large family home in the Civil Lines of the city, rebuilt it and named it [[Anand Bhavan]] (lit. Joy house).<ref name="congressbio" /> In 1909 he reached the pinnacle of his legal career by gaining the approval to appear in the [[Privy Council]] of Great Britain.<ref name="Brown 2014 p. 22">{{cite book | last=Brown | first=J.M. | title=Nehru | publisher=Taylor & Francis | series=Profiles In Power | year=2014 | isbn=978-1-317-87476-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w2fXAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA22 | language=de | access-date=2019-08-29 | page=22}}</ref><ref name="Goswami Nayak Singh 1976 p. ">{{cite book | last1=Goswami | first1=D.C. | last2=Nayak | first2=R.K. | last3=Singh | first3=S.D. | title=Pandit Motilal Nehru, a Great Patriot | publisher=National Forum of Lawyers and Legal Aid | year=1976 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U9UBAAAAMAAJ | access-date=2019-08-29 }}</ref> His frequent visits to Europe angered the Kashmiri Brahmin community as he refused to perform the traditional "prayashchit", or reformation ceremony, after crossing the ocean (according to Strict Hinduism, one lost one's caste after crossing the ocean, and was required to perform certain penance rites to regain caste).<ref name="Nehru Kumar Panigrahi 1982 p.72 ">{{cite book | last1=Nehru | first1=M. | last2=Kumar | first2=R. | last3=Panigrahi | first3=D.N. | title=Selected Works of Motilal Nehru: 1899-1918 | publisher=Vikas | series=Selected Works of Motilal Nehru | year=1982 | isbn=978-0-7069-1885-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MY5HAAAAMAAJ | access-date=2019-08-29 | page=72}}</ref><ref name="मिश्र 2013 p.8 ">{{cite book | last=मिश्र | first=बंशीधर | title=मोतीलाल नेहरू | publisher=Neśanala Buka Ṭrasṭa, Iṇḍiyā | series=राष्ट्रीय जीवन-चरित | year=2013 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TqBcq_5iX1cC | language=hi | access-date=2019-08-29 | page=8| isbn=9788123767994 }}</ref> He was the first Chairman of the board of directors of [[The Leader (Allahabad newspaper)|The Leader]], a leading daily published from Allahabad.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.congress.org.in/role-of-press.php|title=Role of Press in India's Struggle for Freedom|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100723140639/http://www.congress.org.in/role-of-press.php|archive-date=23 July 2010}}</ref>

On 5 February 1919 he launched a new daily paper, [[The Independent (India)|The Independent]], as a counterblast to The Leader, which was much too liberal for Motilal's standard and articulate thought in 1919.<ref name="congressbio" />

He started on the path to become wealthy among the few leaders of the [[Indian National Congress]]. Under the influence of [[Mahatma Gandhi]] in 1918, Nehru became one of the first to transform his life to exclude western clothes and material goods, adopting a more native Indian lifestyle{{Citation needed|reason=Your explanation here|date=August 2017}}.

To meet the expenses of his large family and large family homes (he built [[Swaraj Bhavan]] later), Nehru had to occasionally return to his practice of law{{Citation needed|reason=Your explanation here|date=August 2017}}. [[Swaraj Bhavan|Swaraj Bhawan]] originally belonged to [[Sir Syed Ahmad Khan]], the 19th century Muslim leader and educationist. At the house-warming party, Sir William Moor hoped that this large palatial home in Civil Lines of Allahabad would become the cement holding together the British Empire in India{{Citation needed|reason=Your explanation here|date=August 2017}}. Paradoxically, the house was bought by Motilal Nehru in 1900, and went on to become a cradle to the Indian Freedom Struggle which was to destroy British rule in India.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.littlemag.com/ghosts/davidlelyveld.html|title=The Little Magazine – Ghosts – David Lelyveld – The mystery mansion|website=www.littlemag.com|access-date=8 April 2016}}</ref>

===Political career===
Motilal Nehru twice served as President of the Congress Party, once in Amritsar (1919) and the second time in Calcutta (1928).<ref name="congressbio" /> The [[Jallianwala Bagh massacre]] of 1919 left a deep impression on him where it has been reported that he wrote in its aftermath: "My blood is boiling".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Tunzelmann|first=Alex von|title=Indian Summer|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=2007|isbn=9781471166440|location=India|pages=48}}</ref> In December that year, he was elected to preside over the Amritsar Congress. Motilal was in the centre of the gathering storm which pulled down many familiar landmarks during the following year. He was the only front rank leader to lend his support to non-co-operation at the special Congress at Calcutta in September 1920. The Calcutta Congress (December 1928) over which Motilal presided was the scene of a head-on clash between those who were prepared to accept Dominion Status and those who would have nothing short of complete independence. A split was averted by a proposal by Mahatma Gandhi, according to which if Britain did not concede Dominion Status within a year, the Congress was to demand complete independence and to fight for it, if necessary, by launching civil disobedience.<ref name="congressbio" /> He was arrested during the [[Non-Cooperation Movement]]. Although initially close to Gandhi, he openly criticised Gandhi's suspension of civil resistance in 1922 due to the murder of policemen by a riotous mob in [[Chauri Chaura]] in Uttar Pradesh.

Motilal later joined the [[Swaraj Party]], which sought to enter the British-sponsored councils. Motilal had been elected to the [[United Provinces of British India|United Provinces]] Legislative Council where he staged the first walk-out in protest of the rejection of a resolution he had moved.<ref>{{cite book|last=Iyengar|first=A. S.|title=Role of Press and Indian Freedom Struggle: All Through the Gandhian Era|year=2001|publisher=APH Publishing|isbn= 9788176482561|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pAJDpBQhBlcC}}</ref> In 1923, Nehru was elected to the new [[Central Legislative Assembly]] of [[British India]] in New Delhi and became [[leader of the Opposition]]. In that role, he was able to secure the defeat, or at least the delay, of Finance bills and other legislation. He agreed to join a Committee with the object of promoting the recruitment of Indian officers into the [[British Indian Army|Indian Army]], but this decision contributed to others going further and joining the Government itself.<ref name="Autobiography1936">Nehru, Jawharlal (1936) ''Jawharlal Nehru: an autobiography, with musings on recent events in India''. Bodley Head. {{ISBN|9780370313139}}</ref>

In March 1926, Nehru demanded a representative conference to draft a constitution conferring full [[Dominion]] status on India, to be enacted by the British parliament. This demand was rejected by the Assembly, and as a result Nehru and his colleagues resigned their Assembly seats and returned to the Congress party.<ref name="Autobiography1936"/>

The entry of Motilal's son [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] into politics in 1916, started the most powerful and influential Indian political dynasty. When, in 1929, [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] was elected as Congress president it greatly pleased Motilal and Nehru family admirers to see the son take over from his father{{Citation needed|reason=Your explanation here|date=August 2017}}. Jawaharlal had opposed his father's preference for dominion status, and had not left the Congress Party when Motilal helped found the [[Swaraj Party]].{{citation needed|reason=Your explanation here|date=December 2014}}

==Nehru report==
Motilal Nehru chaired the famous Nehru Commission in 1928, a counter to the all-British [[Simon Commission]]. The [[Nehru Report]], the first constitution written by Indians only, envisioned a dominion status for India within the Empire, akin to Australia, [[New Zealand]] and Canada. It was endorsed by the Congress Party, but rejected by more nationalist Indians who sought complete independence. The report was rejected by the Muslim leadership of India, especially [[Muhammad Ali Jinnah]], for its unfair rules towards Muslims.

==Death and legacy==
[[File:MotilalNehru4.jpg|thumb|Motilal Nehru in later years]]
*He was father of India's first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Motilal Nehru's age and declining health kept him out of the historic events of 1929–1931, when the Congress adopted complete independence as its goal and when Gandhi launched the [[Salt Satyagraha]]. He was arrested and imprisoned with his son; but his health gave way and he was released. In the last week of January 1931 [[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi|Gandhi]] and the Congress Working Committee were released by the Government as a gesture in that chain of events which was to lead to the Gandhi-lrwin Pact. Motilal had the satisfaction of having his son and Gandhi beside him in his last days. On 6 February 1931 he died.<ref name="congressbio" />
*Motilal Nehru is remembered for being the patriarch of India's most powerful political dynasty which has since produced three Prime Ministers. Two of his great-great-grandsons, [[Rahul Gandhi]], and [[Varun Gandhi]] are members of the lower house of Indian parliament, the [[Loksabha]] and belong to the [[Indian National Congress]] and [[Bharatiya Janata Party|BJP]] parties respectively.

===Tribute===
Paying tribute to Motilal Nehru, the British Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court, Sir Grimwood Mears,<ref>{{cite web|title=Sir Edward Grimwood-Mears Captain 1939 to 1942|url=http://www.gandjlawrence.co.uk/GolfClub/hro/GrimwoodMears/GrimwoodMears.htm|access-date=5 July 2015}}</ref> stated:{{Quote|He had a profusion of gifts, and as an advocate he had the art of presenting his case in its most attractive form...He had an exquisite public speaking voice and a charm of manner which made it a pleasure to listen to him...With his wide range of reading and the pleasure that he had taken in travel he was a very delightful private companion and wherever he sat at a table there was the head of the table and there was the centre of interest. He has left behind a very great reputation in this court and his name will always be associated with this Court and be one of the traditions of this Court.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pandit Moti Lal Nehru|url=http://www.allahabadhighcourt.in/event/PtMotiLalNehruNDOjha.pdf|work = Official website of Allahabad High Court|access-date=5 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography|author=Ghose, Sankar |page=5|year=1993|isbn=9788170233695}}</ref>}}

==Works==
* ''The Voice of Freedom: selected speeches of Pandit Motilal Nehru''. ed. Kavalam Madhava Panikkar, A. Pershad. Asia Pub. House, 1961
* ''Motilal Nehru: essays and reflections on his life and times'', by Preet Chablani. S. Chand, 1961.
* ''Selected Works of Motilal Nehru (Volume 1–6), ed. Ravinder Kumar, D. N. Panigrahi. Vikas Pub., 1995. {{ISBN|0-7069-1885-1}}.

==Biographies==
* ''Pandit Motilal Nehru: His life and work, by Upendra Chandra Bhattacharyya, Shovendu Sunder Chakravarty. Modern Book Agency, 1934
* ''Motilal Nehru: a short political biography'', by A. Pershad, Promilla Suri. S. Chand, 1961.
* ''Motilal Nehru'' (Builders of modern India), by [[Bal Ram Nanda]]. Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India, 1964.
* ''Pandit Motilal Nehru, a great patriot'', with D. C. Goswami, R. K. Nayak, [[Shankar Dayal Singh]]. National Forum of Lawyers and Legal Aid, 1976

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |author=Katherine Frank |author-link=Katherine Frank |year=2001 |title=Indira: the life of Indira Nehru Gandhi |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=0-00-255646-4}}
* Jawaharlal Nehru, '' My Autobiography''

==External links==
{{Commons category|Motilal Nehru}}
* {{PM20|FID=pe/012835}}

{{Indian National Congress Presidents}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nehru, Motilal}}
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Kashmiri people]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Indian National Congress]]
[[Category:1861 births]]
[[Category:1931 deaths]]
[[Category:Nehru–Gandhi family]]
[[Category:People from Agra]]
[[Category:Politicians from Allahabad]]
[[Category:Members of Central Legislative Assembly of India]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of British India]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:Uttar Pradesh politicians]]
[[Category:Indian newspaper founders]]
[[Category:Brahmin Indian independence activists]]
[[Category:Indian barristers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:Scholars from Allahabad]]
[[Category:People from Allahabad]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Allahabad]]
[[Category:Indian Freemasons]]

Motilal Nehru - Revision history

ChristenHii: updated structure and corrected details for accuracy

WikiDwarfBOT: Cleanup: Information added.

UpdateBot: robot: Update article (please report if you notice any mistake or error in this edit)

103.201.132.227: /* Early life and education */