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{{Short description|First prime minister of India, 1947 to 1964}}
{{Pp-semi-indef}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2014}}
{{Infobox officeholder
{{Infobox officeholder
| name               = Jawaharlal Nehru
|name             = Jawaharlal Nehru
| honorific_prefix    = <!-- Pandit was a colloquial title, only formally given prefixes are to be added here -->
|office          = [[List of Prime Ministers of India|1st Prime Minister of India]]
| honorific-suffix   = <!-- Bharat Ratna cannot be used as a suffix -->
| honorific-prefix  = [[His Excellency]] <br /> [[Pandit]]
| image               = Jnehru.jpg
|honorific-suffix = <!-- Bharat Ratna cannot be used as a suffix -->
| caption             = Nehru in the 1940s
|native_name      =
| party               = [[Indian National Congress]]
|native_name_lang =
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|df=yes|1889|11|14}}
|image           = Jnehru.jpg
| birth_place         = [[Allahabad]], [[North-Western Provinces]], [[British Raj|British India]]
|caption         =
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1964|5|27|1889|11|14}}
|deputy          = [[Vallabhbhai Patel]]
| death_place         = New Delhi
|monarch          = [[George VI of the United Kingdom|George VI]]<br/>(until 26 January 1950)
| death_cause         = [[Heart attack]]
|predecessor      = Position established<br>''Himself as [[Interim Government of India|Vice President of Executive Council]]''
| resting_place       = [[Raj Ghat and associated memorials|Shantivan]]
|president        = [[Rajendra Prasad]]<br/>[[Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan]]
| spouse             = {{marriage|[[Kamala Nehru]]|1916|1936|reason=died}}
|successor        = [[Gulzarilal Nanda]] <small>(Acting)</small>
| relatives           = See [[Nehru–Gandhi family]]
|signature        = Jawaharlal Nehru Signature.svg
| children           = [[Indira Gandhi]]
|office2          = [[Minister of Defence (India)|Minister of Defence]]
| parents             = [[Motilal Nehru|Pandit Motilal Nehru]]<br /> [[Swarup Rani Nehru]]
|predecessor2    = [[V. K. Krishna Menon]]
| alma_mater          = [[Harrow School]] <br /> [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] <br /> [[Inner Temple]] ([[Barrister-at-Law]])
|party           = [[Indian National Congress]]
| awards             = [[Bharat Ratna]] (1955)
|successor2      = [[Yashwantrao Chavan]]
| signature          = Jawaharlal Nehru Signature.svg
|birth_date       = {{Birth date|df=yes|1889|11|14}}
| office              = [[Prime Minister of India|Prime Minister]] of the [[Republic of India]]
|birth_place     = [[Allahabad]], [[North-Western Provinces]], [[British Raj|British India]] <br/> (present-day [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[India]])
| term_start         = 26 January 1950
|death_date       = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1964|5|27|1889|11|14}}
| term_end           = 27 May 1964
|death_place     = [[New Delhi]], [[Delhi]], India
| deputy              = [[Vallabhbhai Patel]]<br /> {{nowrap|(until 15 December 1950)}}
|death_cause     = [[Heart Attack]]
| president          = [[Rajendra Prasad]]<br />[[Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan]]
|resting_place   = [[Raj Ghat and associated memorials|Shantivan]]
| successor          = [[Lal Bahadur Shastri]]{{efn|[[Gulzarilal Nanda]] served as acting prime minister in the interim for 13 days.}}
|spouse           = {{marriage|[[Kamala Nehru]]|1916|1936|reason=died}}
| office2            = Prime Minister of the [[Dominion of India]]
|relatives       = See [[Nehru–Gandhi family]]
| monarch2            = [[George VI]]
|children         = [[Indira Gandhi]]
| governor_general2  = [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Lord Mountbatten]]<br />[[C. Rajagopalachari]]
|parents         = [[Motilal Nehru|Pandit Motilal Nehru]]<br/>Swaruprani Thussu
| predecessor2       = ''Dominion established''
|education        = [[Harrow School|Harrow]]
| successor2          = ''Dominion abolished''<br />Himself as the Prime Minister of the republic
|alma_mater      = [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]<br/>[[Inns of Court School of Law|Inns of Court]]
| deputy2            = [[Vallabhbhai Patel]]
|occupation      = {{hlist|Barrister|writer|politician}}
| term_start2        = 15 August 1947
|awards           = [[File:Bharat Ratna Ribbon.svg|30px]] [[Bharat Ratna]] (1955)
| term_end2          = 26 January 1950
|governor_general = [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|The Earl Mountbatten of Burma]]<br/>[[C. Rajagopalachari|Chakravarti Rajagopalachari]]<br/>(until 26 January 1950)
| office3            = Vice-President of the [[Viceroy's Executive Council]]{{efn|as head of the [[Interim Government of India]]}}
|term_start       = 15 August 1947
| monarch3            = [[George VI]]
|term_end         = 27 May 1964
| governor_general3  = [[Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell|Earl Wavell]]<br /> [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Lord Mountbatten]]
|term_start2      = 31 October 1962
| term_start3        = 2 September 1946
|term_end2        = 14 November 1962
| term_end3          = 15 August 1947
|term_start3      = 30 January 1957
| office4            = Member of Parliament, [[Lok Sabha]]
|term_end3        = 17 April 1957
| constituency4      = [[Phulpur (Lok Sabha constituency)|Phulpur]], Uttar Pradesh
|predecessor3    = [[Kailash Nath Katju]]
| term_start4        = 17 April 1952
|successor3      = [[V. K. Krishna Menon]]
| term_end4          = 27 May 1964
|term_start4      = 10 February 1953
| successor4          = [[Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit]]
|term_end4        = 10 January 1955
|predecessor4    = [[N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar]]
|successor4      = [[Kailash Nath Katju]]
|office5          = [[Minister of Finance (India)|Minister of Finance]]
|term_start5      = 13 February 1958
|term_end5       = 13 March 1958
|predecessor5    = [[T. T. Krishnamachari|Tiruvellore Thattai Krishnamachariar]]
|successor5      = [[Morarji Desai]]
|term_start6      = 24 July 1956
|term_end6        = 30 August 1956
|predecessor6    = [[C. D. Deshmukh|Chintaman Dwarakanath Deshmukh]]
|successor6      = [[T. T. Krishnamachari|Tiruvellore Thattai Krishnamachariar]]
|office7          = [[Minister of External Affairs (India)|Minister of External Affairs]]
|term_start7      = 2 September 1946
|term_end7        = 27 May 1964
|predecessor7    = Position established
|successor7      = [[Gulzarilal Nanda]]
|office8          = [[Interim Government of India|Vice President of Executive Council]]
|term_start8      = 2 September 1946
|term_end8      = 15 August 1947
}}
}}
{{Jawaharlal Nehru sidebar}}
'''Jawaharlal Nehru''' (also referred to as ''Pandit Nehru'') (November 14, 1889 - May 27, 1964) was the first [[prime minister]] of [[India]] for 17 years. He became prime minister after India became independent in 1947.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/27/newsid_3690000/3690019.stm BBC ON THIS DAY | 27 | 1964: Light goes out in India as Nehru dies]. BBC News. Retrieved 17 March 2011.</ref>  He was born in [[Prayagraj]], Uttar Pradesh, India. He died of a [[heart attack]] in [[New Delhi]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://inc.in/organization/2-Pandit%20Jawaharlal%20Nehru/profile|title=Indian National Congress|work=inc.in|access-date=2016-09-02|archive-date=2016-03-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305180028/http://inc.in/organization/2-Pandit%20Jawaharlal%20Nehru/profile|url-status=dead}}</ref>


'''Jawaharlal Nehru''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|n|eɪ|r|u|,_|ˈ|n|ɛ|r|u}};<ref>"[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nehru Nehru]". ''[[Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary]]''. 2020. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305014207/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nehru|date=5 March 2016}}</ref> {{IPA-hi|ˈdʒəʋɑːɦəɾˈlɑːl ˈneːɦɾuː|lang|Hi-JawaharlalNehru.ogg}}; {{Respell|juh|WAH|hurr|LAHL}} {{Respell|NE|hǝ|ROO}}; 14&nbsp;November 1889 – 27&nbsp;May 1964) was an Indian [[Anti-colonial nationalism|anti-colonial nationalist]], [[secular humanist]], [[social democrat]]<ref name="schenk-lead">—
Nehru was the first prime minister of India after it became independent from the [[British Raj|British rule]].<ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|title=Nation pays tribute to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on his 124th birth anniversary|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-nation-pays-tribute-to-pandit-jawaharlal-nehru-on-his-124th-birth-anniversary-1918978|accessdate=28 February 2015}}</ref>


* {{citation|last1=Ganguly|first1=Sumit|title=India Since 1980|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UpK7oyb0kvkC&pg=PA64|page=64|year=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781139498661|quote=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.|last2=Mukherji|first2=Rahul}}
Under British rule, Nehru was jailed many times. During these periods, he used to write long letters to his daughter, Indira, on Indian and World history. These letters were remarkably well written and became very successful books when published later as ''[[Glimpses of World History]]'' and ''[[The Discovery of India]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/yw/2006/08/04/stories/2006080402320600.htm|title=The Hindu : Young World : From dad with love|last=Balakrishnan|first=Anima|work=The Hindu|accessdate=31 October 2008|location=Chennai, India|date=4 August 2006|archive-date=12 November 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091112142131/http://www.hindu.com/yw/2006/08/04/stories/2006080402320600.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* {{citation|last=Schenk|first=Hans|title=Housing India's Urban Poor 1800&ndash;1965: Colonial and Post-colonial Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w-XkDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT67|year=2020|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781000191851|quote=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.}}
* {{citation|last=Winiecki|first=Jan|title=Shortcut or Piecemeal: Economic Development Stragegies and Structural Change|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zEISDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA41|page=41|year=2016|publisher=Central European University Press|isbn=9789633860632|quote=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.}}
* {{citation|last=Chalam|first=K. S.|title=Social Economy of Development in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XumoDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA325|page=325|year=2017|publisher=Sage|isbn=9789385985126|quote=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.}}</ref> and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a principal leader of the [[Indian independence movement|Indian nationalist movement]] in the 1930s and 1940s. Upon India's independence in 1947, he served as the [[Prime Minister of India|country's prime minister]] for 17 years. Nehru promoted parliamentary [[Democracy in India|democracy]], [[Secularism in India|secularism]], and [[Science and technology in India|science and technology]] during the 1950s, powerfully influencing India's arc as a modern nation. In international affairs, he steered India clear of the two blocs of the [[Cold War]]. A well-regarded author, his books written in prison, such as ''[[Letters from a Father to His Daughter]]'' (1929), ''[[An Autobiography (Nehru)|An Autobiography]]'' (1936) and ''[[The Discovery of India]]'' (1946), have been read around the world.


The son of [[Motilal Nehru]], a prominent lawyer and [[Indian nationalism|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 gradually 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, receiving the support of [[Mahatma Gandhi]] who was to designate Nehru as his political heir. As [[Congress president]] in 1929, Nehru called for [[Purna Swaraj|complete independence]] from the [[British Raj]]. Nehru and the Congress dominated Indian politics during the 1930s. Nehru promoted the idea of the [[Secular state|secular nation-state]] in the [[1937 Indian 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 [[Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow|Lord Linlithgow]]'s decision to join the war without consulting them. After the [[All India Congress Committee]]'s [[Quit India Movement|Quit India Resolution]] of 8 August 1942, senior Congress leaders were imprisoned and for a time the organization was crushed. Nehru, who had reluctantly heeded Gandhi's call for immediate independence, and had desired instead to support the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] war effort during [[World War&nbsp;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 all the 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.
== Personal life ==
Jawahar Lal Nehru was born on November 14, 1889, in Allahabad to Pandit Motilal Nehru and Swarup Rani.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Jawahar Lal Nehru: Top 10 facts about Chacha Nehru - Times of India|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/jawahar-lal-nehru-top-10-facts-about-chacha-nehru-that-you-dont-know/articleshow/72039062.cms|access-date=2022-03-22|website=The Times of India}}</ref> His father Motilal Nehru, a lawyer, served twice as the president of Indian National Congress<ref>{{Cite web|last1=DelhiFebruary 6|first1=India Today Web Desk New|last2=May 6|first2=2017UPDATED|last3=Ist|first3=2017 10:55|title=Remembering Motilal Nehru, founder of the Nehru-Gandhi family|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/motilal-nehru-959215-2017-02-06|access-date=2022-03-23|website=India Today|language=en}}</ref> and was an important figure in the Indian freedom struggle. His sister, Vijayalakshmi Pandit was the first woman president of [[United Nations General Assembly]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2020-12-02|title=Jawaharlal Nehru: Freedom struggle icon, maker of modern India|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/ht-school/jawaharlal-nehru-freedom-struggle-icon-maker-of-modern-india/story-VdEiIZ6OtVV2NFtTuToL2I.html|access-date=2022-03-23|website=Hindustan Times|language=en}}</ref> His daughter [[Indira Gandhi]] and grandson [[Rajiv Gandhi]] became prime ministers of India.


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 system|multi-party]] democracy. In foreign affairs, he played a leading role in establishing the [[Non-Aligned Movement]], a group of nations that did not seek membership in the two main ideological blocs of the 1950s.
Nehru received his early education at home and later went to [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] and graduated with the honors degree in [[Natural sciences|natural science]]. He studied Law at Inns of Court school. Nehru returned to India in 1912.<ref name=":0" />


Under Nehru's leadership, the Congress emerged as a [[catch-all party]], dominating national and state-level politics and winning elections in [[Indian general election, 1951–52|1951]], [[1957 Indian general election|1957]] and [[1962 Indian general election|1962]]. Nehru remained popular with the Indian people despite India's defeat in the [[Sino-Indian War]] of 1962 for which he was widely blamed. His premiership spanning 16 years, 286 days—which is, to date, longest in India—ended with his death on 27 May 1964 due to a [[heart attack]]. His birthday is celebrated as [[Children's Day (India)|Children's Day]] in India. His legacy has been hotly debated by Indians and international observers alike.  In the years following his death, Nehru  was hailed as the "architect of Modern India", who secured [[democracy]] in India and prevented an ethnic civil war.{{efn|<ref>{{Cite web|title=Architect of modern India|url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/article25402011.ece|access-date=4 December 2021|website=Frontline|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title='Architect of modern India': Congress pays tributes to Jawaharlal Nehru on death anniversary|url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2021/may/27/architect-of-modern-india-congress-pays-tributes-to-jawaharlal-nehru-on-death-anniversary-2308208.html|access-date=4 December 2021|website=The New Indian Express}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=14 November 2019|title=Jawaharlal Nehru: Architect of modern India|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/inspiring-lives/jawaharlal-nehru-architect-of-modern-india/story-Ch4DgrerxtY448l0yxulTO.html|access-date=4 December 2021|website=Hindustan Times|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Ian Hall|first=The Conversation|title=Nehru, the architect of modern India, also helped discredit European imperialism|url=https://scroll.in/article/1002353/nehru-the-architect-of-modern-india-also-helped-discredit-european-imperialism|access-date=4 December 2021|website=Scroll.in|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Dixit |first1=J. N.  |title=From the archives: How Jawaharlal Nehru shaped India in the 20th century |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india-today-insight/story/from-the-archives-how-jawaharlal-nehru-shaped-india-in-the-20th-century-1876654-2021-11-14 |date=14 November 2021 |website=India Today |language=en |access-date=4 December 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Editorial: Master's voice|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/kangana-ranauts-statement-is-a-testament-to-the-quid-pro-quo-arrangement-between-the-current-regime-and-its-pets/cid/1838908|access-date=4 December 2021|website=www.telegraphindia.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=26 May 2021|title=Opinion: Nehruvian legacy is his idea of India|url=https://www.siasat.com/nehruvian-legacy-is-his-idea-of-india-2141877/|access-date=4 December 2021|website=The Siasat Daily|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=12 November 2020|title=Remembering Jawaharlal Nehru: The Man Who Shaped Modern India|url=https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2020/11/jawaharlal-nehru-the-architect-of-modern-india/|access-date=4 December 2021|website=Youth Ki Awaaz|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Service|first=Tribune News|title=A thousand lies can't dwarf the giant Nehru was|url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/a-thousand-lies-cant-dwarf-the-giant-nehru-was-258860|access-date=4 December 2021|website=Tribuneindia News Service|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=16 November 2014|title=Nehru, the real architect of modern India|url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/141116/commentary-op-ed/article/nehru-real-architect-modern-india|access-date=4 December 2021|website=Deccan Chronicle|language=en}}</ref>}} In more recent years, criticism of Nehru has emerged from right wing political figures in India, particularly since the onset of [[Narendra Modi]]'s premiership.<ref name="Gupta">{{Cite web|last=Gupta|first=Shekhar|date=8 February 2020|title=Why Modi is using Nehru to try and demolish the Gandhi dynasty and Congress|url=https://theprint.in/national-interest/why-modi-is-using-nehru-to-try-and-demolish-the-gandhi-dynasty-and-congress/361680/|access-date=7 November 2021|website=ThePrint|language=en-US|quote=Of course, an entire Nehruvian intellectual ecosystem grew around him to dominate India's thought for seven decades.}}</ref><ref name="A legacy that Nehru left behind">{{Cite news |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2005-05-27/india/27865559_1_pandit-nehru-independent-india-nehruvian-socialism |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130426072721/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2005-05-27/india/27865559_1_pandit-nehru-independent-india-nehruvian-socialism |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 April 2013 |title=A legacy that Nehru left behind |date=27 May 2005 |work=[[The Times of India]]}}</ref> [[File:TMstudy.png|thumb|alt=See caption |Nehru's study in [[Teen Murti Bhavan]], which is now converted into a museum.]]<!-- PER WP:LEADCITE, INFO IN THE LEAD IS CITED IN THE BODY -->
==References==
 
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== Early life and career (1889–1912) ==
=== Birth and family background ===
[[File:Anand Bhawan, Allahabad.jpg|thumb|[[Anand Bhawan]] the Nehru family home in [[Allahabad]]]]
Jawaharlal Nehru was born on 14&nbsp;November 1889 in [[Allahabad]] in [[British Raj|British India]]. His father, [[Motilal Nehru]] (1861–1931), a self-made wealthy [[barrister]] who belonged to the [[Kashmiri Pandit]] community, served twice as [[president of the Indian National Congress]], in 1919 and 1928.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/nehru-and-the-kashmir-quandary/article28362589.ece|title=Nehru and the Kashmir quandary|first=D. Shyam|last=Babu|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|date=11 July 2019|access-date=15 November 2021|url-access=limited}}</ref> His mother, [[Swarup Rani Nehru|Swarup Rani Thussu]] (1868–1938), who came from a well-known Kashmiri Brahmin family settled in [[Lahore]],{{sfn|Moraes|2007|p=21}} was Motilal's second wife, his first having died in [[childbirth]]. Jawaharlal was the eldest of three children.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iiwpDwAAQBAJ|isbn=978-0-19-908793-8|title=The Nehrus: Motilal and Jawaharlal|date=15 October 2007|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|first=B. R.|last=Nanda|author-link=Bal Ram Nanda|page=25}}</ref> His elder sister, [[Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit|Vijaya Lakshmi]], later became the first female president of the [[United Nations General Assembly]].<ref>[[Bonnie G. Smith|Smith, Bonnie G.]] 2008.''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History''. Oxford: [[Oxford University Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-19-514890-9}}. pp. 406–07.</ref> His youngest sister, [[Krishna Hutheesing]], became a noted writer and authored several books on her brother.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/ht-school/jawaharlal-nehru-freedom-struggle-icon-maker-of-modern-india/story-VdEiIZ6OtVV2NFtTuToL2I.html|title=Jawaharlal Nehru: Freedom struggle icon, maker of modern India|date=2 December 2020|website=Hindustan Times|access-date=15 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Mrs. Krishna Hutheesing, an Author and a Sister of Nehru, Dies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/11/10/archives/mrs-krishna-hutheesing-an-author-and-a-sister-of-nehru-dies.html |access-date=2 July 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=10 November 1967}}</ref>
 
=== Childhood ===
[[File:Jawaharlal Nehru as a young child with his parents.png|thumb|upright=0.9|left|alt=Photograph of Nehru and his parents |Jawaharlal with his parents [[Swarup Rani Nehru]] (left) and [[Motilal Nehru]] in the 1890s]]
Nehru described his childhood as a "sheltered and uneventful one". He grew up in an atmosphere of privilege at wealthy homes, including a [[Palace|palatial]] estate called the [[Anand Bhavan]]. His father had him educated at home by private [[governess]]es and tutors.{{sfn|Moraes|2007|p=22}} Influenced by the Irish theosophist Ferdinand T. Brooks' teaching,<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/2504742|title=Nehru and History|author=Gokhale, Balkrishna Govind|year=1978|journal=History and Theory|volume=17|issue=3|pages=311–322|via=JSTOR|doi=10.2307/2504742|jstor=2504742}}</ref> Nehru became interested in science and [[Theosophy (Blavatskian)|theosophy]].<ref name="OPM">[[Om Prakash Mishra|Misra, Om Prakash]]. 1995. ''Economic Thought of Gandhi and Nehru: A Comparative Analysis''. M.D. Publications. {{ISBN|978-81-85880-71-6}}. pp. 49–65.</ref> A family friend, [[Annie Besant]] subsequently initiated him into the [[Theosophical Society]] at age thirteen. However, his interest in theosophy did not prove to be enduring, and he left the society shortly after Brooks departed as his tutor.{{sfn|Moraes|2007|p=23}} He wrote: "for nearly three years [Brooks] was with me and in many ways, he influenced me greatly".<ref name="OPM" />
 
Nehru's theosophical interests had induced him to the study of the [[Buddhist texts|Buddhist]] and [[Hindu texts|Hindu scriptures]].<ref name="BRN">{{citation|last=Nanda|first=B. R.|title=The Nehrus: Motilal and Jawaharlal|publisher=Oxford University Press, orig. George Allen and Unwin Ltd|location=Delhi, orig. London|year=2007|orig-year=1962|author-link=Bal Ram Nanda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iiwpDwAAQBAJ|page=65|isbn=978-0-19-569343-0}}</ref> According to [[Bal Ram Nanda|B. R. Nanda]], these scriptures were Nehru's "first introduction to the religious and cultural heritage of [India].&nbsp;...[They] provided Nehru the initial impulse for [his] long intellectual quest which culminated…in ''[[The Discovery of India]]''."<ref name="BRN" />
 
=== Youth ===
[[File:Nehru at Harrow.png|thumb|upright=0.9|alt= Photograph of Nehru dressed in a cadet uniform |A young Nehru dressed in a cadet's uniform at [[Harrow School]] in England]]
Nehru became an ardent nationalist during his youth.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=enmjrZiAe9EC&pg=PA12 |title=Encyclopaedia of eminent thinkers |last=Bharathi |first=K. S. |year=1998 |isbn=978-81-7022-684-0|publisher=Concept Publishing Company Pvt. Ltd}}</ref> The [[Second Boer War]] and the [[Russo-Japanese War]] intensified his feelings. Of the latter he wrote, "[The] Japanese victories [had] stirred up my enthusiasm.&nbsp;...[[Nationalism|Nationalistic]] ideas filled my mind.&nbsp;... I mused of Indian freedom and Asiatic freedom from the [[thraldom]] of Europe."<ref name="OPM" /> Later, in 1905, when he had begun his institutional schooling at [[Harrow School|Harrow]], a leading school in England where he was nicknamed "Joe",<ref>{{Cite book|last=Tharoor|first=Shashi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9_R5DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22joe%22+%22nehru%22&pg=PT32|title=Nehru: The Invention of India|date=27 November 2018|publisher=Penguin Random House India Private Limited|isbn=978-93-5305-355-0|language=en}}</ref> [[G. M. Trevelyan]]'s [[Giuseppe Garibaldi|Garibaldi]] books, which he had received as prizes for academic merit, influenced him greatly.{{sfn|Moraes|2007|p=36}} He viewed Garibaldi as a revolutionary hero. He wrote: "Visions of similar deeds in India came before, of [my] gallant fight for [Indian] freedom and in my mind, India and Italy got strangely mixed together."<ref name="OPM" />
 
=== Graduation ===
[[File:Motilal Nehru with his family in England.jpg|left|thumb| Swarup Rani and Motilal Nehru in England with their children from l. to r. [[Krishna Hutheesing|Krishna]] (b. November 1907), [[Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit|Vijaya Lakshmi]] (b. August 1900) and Jawaharlal]]
Nehru went to [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], in October 1907 and graduated with an honours degree in [[natural science]] in 1910.{{sfn|Moraes|2007|p=43}} During this period, he studied politics, economics, history and literature with interest. The writings of [[George Bernard Shaw|Bernard Shaw]], [[H. G. Wells]], [[John Maynard Keynes]], [[Bertrand Russell]], [[Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson|Lowes Dickinson]] and [[Meredith Townsend]] moulded much of his political and economic thinking.<ref name="OPM" />
 
After completing his degree in 1910, Nehru moved to London and studied law at the [[Inner temple]] Inn.<ref name="jstor.org">Sen, Zoë Keshap C. 1964. "Jawaharlal Nehru." ''Civilisations'' 14(1/2):25–39. {{JSTOR|41230788}}.</ref> During this time, he continued to study [[Fabian Society]] scholars including [[Beatrice Webb]].<ref name="OPM" /> He was [[Call to the bar|called to the Bar]] in 1912.<ref name="jstor.org" />{{sfn|Moraes|2007|p=47}}
 
=== Advocate practice ===
[[File:Nehru barrister.png|thumb|upright=0.9|right|alt= Photograph if Nehru in his barrister's attire |Jawaharlal Nehru, Barrister-at-Law]]
After returning to India in August 1912, Nehru enrolled as an advocate of the [[Allahabad High Court]] and tried to settle down as a barrister. But, unlike his father, he had very little interest in his profession and relished neither the practice of law nor the company of lawyers: "Decidedly the atmosphere was not intellectually stimulating and a sense of the utter insipidity of life grew upon me."<ref name="OPM" /> His involvement in nationalist politics was to gradually replace his legal practice.<ref name="OPM" />
 
== Nationalist movement (1912–1938) ==
 
=== Britain and return to India: 1912–1913 ===
Nehru had developed an interest in Indian politics during his time in Britain as a student and a barrister.{{sfn|Moraes|2007|p=37}} Within months of his return to India in 1912, Nehru attended an annual session of the Indian National Congress in [[Patna]].{{sfn|Ghose|1993|p=25}} Congress in 1912 was the party of moderates and elites,{{sfn|Ghose|1993|p=25}} and he was disconcerted by what he saw as "very much an English-knowing [[Upper class|upper-class]] affair".{{sfn|Moraes|2007|p=49}} Nehru doubted the effectiveness of Congress but agreed to work for the party in support of the [[Satyagraha|Indian civil rights movement]] led by [[Mahatma Gandhi]] in South Africa,{{sfn|Moraes|2007|p=50}} collecting funds for the movement in 1913.{{sfn|Ghose|1993|p=25}} Later, he campaigned against [[indentured labour]] and other such discrimination faced by Indians in the British colonies.<ref name="auto">In Jawaharlal Nehru's autobiography, ''An Autobiography'' (1936) p. 33.</ref>
 
=== World War I: 1914–1915 ===
When [[World War&nbsp;I]] broke out, sympathy in India was divided. Although educated Indians "by and large took a vicarious pleasure" in seeing the British rulers humbled, the ruling upper classes sided with the [[Triple Entente|Allies]]. Nehru confessed he viewed the war with mixed feelings. As [[Frank Moraes]] writes, "[i]f [Nehru's] sympathy was with any country it was with France, whose culture he greatly admired".{{sfn|Moraes|2007|p=52}} During the war, Nehru volunteered for the [[St John Ambulance|St. John Ambulance]] and worked as one of the organisation's provincial secretaries Allahabad.{{sfn|Ghose|1993|p=25}} He also spoke out against the censorship acts passed by the British government in India.{{sfn|Moraes|2007|p=53}}
 
Nehru emerged from the war years as a leader whose political views were considered radical. Although the political discourse at the time had been dominated by the moderate, [[Gopal Krishna Gokhale]],{{sfn|Moraes|2007|p=50}} who said that it was "madness to think of independence,"{{sfn|Ghose|1993|p=25}} Nehru had spoken, "openly of the politics of non-cooperation, of the need of resigning from honorary positions under the government and of not continuing the futile politics of representation".{{sfn|Ghose|1993|p=26}} He ridiculed the [[Indian Civil Service (British India)|Indian Civil Service]] for supporting British policies. He noted someone had once defined the Indian Civil Service, "with which we are unfortunately still afflicted in this country, as neither Indian, nor civil, nor a service".<ref name="ics">Nehru, Jawaharlal ''Glimpses of world history: being further letters to his daughter'' (Lindsay Drummond Ltd., 1949), p. 94</ref> Motilal Nehru, a prominent moderate leader, acknowledged the limits of constitutional agitation, but counselled his son that there was no other "practical alternative" to it. Nehru, however, was dissatisfied with the pace of the national movement. He became involved with aggressive nationalists leaders demanding [[Indian Home Rule movement|Home Rule]] for Indians.{{sfn|Moraes|2007|p=56}}
 
The influence of moderates on Congress' politics waned after Gokhale died in 1915.{{sfn|Ghose|1993|p=25}} Anti-moderate leaders like Annie Besant and [[Bal Gangadhar Tilak]] took the opportunity to call for a national movement for Home Rule. However, in 1915, the proposal was rejected because of the reluctance of the moderates to commit to such a radical course of action.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Argov |first=Daniel |title=The Ideological Differences between Moderates and Extremists in the Indian National Movement with Special Reference to Surendranath Banerjea and Lajpat Rai 1885–1919 |date=June 1964 |degree=PhD |publisher=University of London School of Oriental and African Studies |url=https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/33772/1/11010545.pdf|page=11}}</ref>
 
=== Home rule movement: 1916–1917 ===
[[File:Kamala and Jawaharlal Nehru 1916.jpg|thumb|200px|alt=See captionKamala and Jawaharlal Nehru marriage ceremony|Nehru and Kamala Kaul at their wedding in Delhi, 1916]]
[[File:Jawaharlal Nehru and his family in 1918.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|right|alt=Family portrait of Nehru, his wife and daughter |Nehru in 1919 with wife [[Kamala Nehru|Kamala]] and daughter [[Indira Gandhi|Indira]]]]
Nehru married [[Kamala Nehru|Kamala Kaul]] in 1916. Their only daughter Indira was born a year later in 1917. Kamala gave birth to a boy in November 1924, but he lived for only a week.<ref name="windsor">{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tzA_AAAAIBAJ&pg=4355,5162968&dq=kamala+nehru |title=Nehru Gave Up Life Of Ease, Wealth |pages=24 |date=27 May 1964 |work=[[The Windsor Star]] |access-date=19 January 2013}}</ref>
 
Nevertheless, Besant formed a league for advocating Home Rule in 1916. Tilak, after releasing from a term in prison, had formed his own league in April 1916.{{sfn|Ghose|1993|p=25}} Nehru joined both leagues, but worked primarily for the former.{{sfn|Moraes|2007|p=55}} He remarked later that "[Besant] had a very powerful influence on me in my childhood &nbsp;... even later when I entered political life her influence continued."{{sfn|Moraes|2007|p=55}} Another development that brought about a radical change in Indian politics was the espousal of [[Hindu–Muslim unity|Hindu-Muslim unity]] with the [[Lucknow Pact]] at the annual meeting of the Congress in December 1916. The pact had been initiated earlier in the year at Allahabad at a meeting of the [[All India Congress Committee]], which was held at the Nehru residence at Anand Bhawan. Nehru welcomed and encouraged the [[rapprochement]] between the two Indian communities.{{sfn|Moraes|2007|p=55}}
 
Several nationalist leaders banded together in 1916 under the leadership of Annie Besant to voice a demand for [[self-governance]], and to obtain the status of a [[Dominion]] within the [[British Empire]] as enjoyed at the time by Australia, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Newfoundland. Nehru joined the movement and rose to become secretary of Besant's Home Rule League.{{sfn|Moraes|2007|p=55}}<ref name="JNACA">{{Cite web |url=http://www.jnmf.in/chrono.html |title=Jawaharlal Nehru – a chronological account |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120604220450/http://www.jnmf.in/chrono.html |archive-date=4 June 2012 |access-date=23 June 2012|website=Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund (JNMF)}}</ref>
 
In June 1917, the British government arrested and interned Besant. The Congress and other Indian organisations threatened to launch protests if she was not freed. Subsequently, the British government was forced to release Besant and make [[Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms|significant concessions]] after a period of intense protest.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Remya |first=K. |title=War in City Scape Popular Responses in Kozhikode 1914 1918 |date=2017 |degree=PhD |publisher=University of Calicut, Department of History  |hdl=10603/208789 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/10603/208789}}</ref>
 
=== Non-cooperation: 1920–1927 ===
Nehru's first big national involvement came at the onset of the [[non-cooperation movement]] in 1920.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thehindu.com/features/kids/remembering-chacha-nehru-on-childrens-day/article7869012.ece|title=Man for All seasons|first=Madhuvanti S.|last=Krishnan|date=12 November 2015|website=thehindu}}</ref> He led the movement in the United Provinces (now [[Uttar Pradesh]]). Nehru was arrested on charges of anti-governmental activities in 1921 and released a few months later.<ref name="auto3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/ht-school/jawaharlal-nehru-freedom-struggle-icon-maker-of-modern-india/story-VdEiIZ6OtVV2NFtTuToL2I.html|title=Jawaharlal Nehru: Freedom struggle icon, maker of modern India|date=2 December 2020|website=Hindustan Times}}</ref> In the rift that formed within the Congress following Gandhi's sudden halting of the non-Cooperation movement after the [[Chauri Chaura incident]], Nehru remained loyal to him and did not join the [[Swaraj Party]] formed by his father Motilal Nehru and [[Chittaranjan Das|CR Das]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gLIixRjaz9sC&pg=PT47 |title=Indian National Movement & Constitutional Development |last=Pratiyogita Darpan Editorial Board |publisher=Upkar Prakashan |series=Pratiyogita Darpan Extra Issue Series, Volume 12 |access-date=2 October 2018}}</ref>  In 1923, Nehru was imprisoned in [[Nabha State|Nabha]], a [[princely state]], when he went there to see the struggle that was being waged by the [[Sikhs]] against the corrupt [[Mahant]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/nation/story/20140811-parkash-singh-badal-bhupinder-singh-hooda-hsgmc-row-sikhs-804806-2014-08-01|title=Nehru went to jail for Sikhs, Hooda is playing politics with them|first1=Asit|last1=Jolly|date=1 August 2014|website=[[India Today]]}}</ref><ref name="hindustantimes.com">{{Cite web|date=15 November 2014|title=Nehru's Nabha jail ordeal lost in past|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/chandigarh/nehru-s-nabha-jail-ordeal-lost-in-past/story-EBrTBPS8u8UPMHndqThAjP.html|first1=Vishav|last1=Bharti|website=Hindustan Times}}</ref>
 
==== Internationalising the struggle for Indian independence: 1927 ====
Nehru played a leading role in the development of the internationalist outlook of the Indian independence struggle. He sought foreign allies for India and forged links with movements for independence and democracy around the world.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zE7VJZoHbzYC&q=Nehru+played+a+leading+role+in+the+development+of+the+internationalist+outlook+of+the+Indian+independence+struggle.&pg=PP4 | title=Jawaharlal Nehru: A Study in Ideology and Social Change| isbn=978-81-7099-071-0| last1=Dube| first1=Rajendra Prasad| year=1988|publisher=Mittal Publications}}</ref> In 1927, his efforts paid off, and the Congress was invited to attend the congress of oppressed nationalities in Brussels, Belgium. The meeting was called to coordinate and plan a common struggle against [[imperialism]]. Nehru represented India and was elected to the Executive Council of the League against Imperialism that was born at this meeting.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45071841|jstor = 45071841|title = The Indian Nationalist Movement and the League of Nations: Prologue to the United Nations|last1 = Keenleyside|first1 = T. A.|journal = [[India Quarterly]]|year = 1983|volume = 39|issue = 3|pages = 281–298|doi = 10.1177/097492848303900303|s2cid = 150520531}}</ref>
 
Increasingly, Nehru saw the struggle for independence from [[British imperialism]] as a multinational effort by the various colonies and dominions of the Empire; some of his statements on this matter, however, were interpreted as complicity with the rise of [[Hitler]] and his [[The Final Solution|espoused intentions]]. Faced with these allegations, Nehru responded:<ref>{{Cite book|last=Roland|first=Joan G.|title=The Jewish Communities of India: Identity in a Colonial Era|year=1998|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=978-0-7658-0439-6|edition=Second|page=193}}</ref><blockquote>We have sympathy for the national movement of [[Arabs]] in [[Palestinian territories|Palestine]] because it is directed against British Imperialism. Our sympathies cannot be weakened by the fact that the national movement coincides with Hitler's interests.</blockquote>
 
=== Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy: 1929 ===
[[File:Jawaharlal Nehru and Motilal Nehru in 1929.jpg|thumb|Nehru, President-elect of the Lahore session of the Indian National Congress in 1929, with the outgoing President, his father Motilal]]
[[File:Gandhi Nehru 1929.jpg|thumb|Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi in 1929]]
Nehru drafted the policies of the Congress and a future Indian nation in 1929.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Maheshwari|first=Neerja|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=okUSbReaevUC&pg=PA41|title=Economic Policy of Jawaharlal Nehru|date=1997|publisher=Deep & Deep|isbn=978-81-7100-850-6|pages=41|access-date=9 November 2018}}</ref> He declared the aims of the congress were [[freedom of religion]]; [[Freedom of association|right to form associations]]; [[Freedom of speech|freedom of expression of thought]]; [[Equality before the law|equality before law]] for every individual without distinction of [[Caste system in India|caste]], colour, [[creed]], or [[Religion in India|religion]]; protection of [[Languages of India|regional languages]] and cultures, safeguarding the interests of the [[Poverty in India|peasants]] and labour; abolition of [[untouchability]]; introduction of adult franchise; imposition of [[Alcohol prohibition in India|prohibition]], [[Nationalization|nationalisation]] of industries; [[Socialism in India|socialism]]; and the establishment of a [[Secularism in India|secular India]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kochar|first=R. C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DuFW7RKqpt4C&pg=PA22|title=Congress and Socialism: Economic Programmes and Policies|year=1997|isbn=978-81-86565-24-7|pages=22|publisher=Anamika Publishers & Distributors}}</ref> All these aims formed the core of the "Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy" resolution drafted by Nehru in 1929–1931 and were ratified in 1931 by the Congress party session at [[Karachi]] chaired by [[Vallabhbhai Patel]].<ref name="NA2015">{{Cite book |editor-last=Pandey |editor-first=BN |title=The Indian Nationalist Movement 1885–1947: Select Documents |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KauwCwAAQBAJ&pg=PR7 |year=2015 |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-349-86215-3 |page=45}}</ref>
 
==== Declaration of independence ====
Nehru was one of the first leaders to demand that the Congress Party should resolve to make a complete and explicit break from all ties with the British Empire. The Madras session of Congress in 1927, approved his resolution for independence despite Gandhi's criticism. At that time, he formed the Independence for India League, a pressure group within the Congress.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dutt|first=R.C.|url={{Google books|2WI31XdK8pkC|page=PR9|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|title=Socialism of Jawaharlal Nehru|date=1981|publisher=Shakti Malik, Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-81-7017-128-7|location=New Delhi|pages=54–55|access-date=8 September 2017}}</ref><ref name="auto4">{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/patellife00rajm|title=Patel: A Life|date=28 November 1991|publisher=Navajivan Publishing House|via=Internet Archive|pages=171|first=Rajmohan|last=Gandhi|author-link=Rajmohan Gandhi}}</ref> In 1928, Gandhi agreed to Nehru's demands and proposed a resolution that called for the British to grant Dominion status to India within two years.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Nag|first=Kingshuk|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=duHwCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT61|title=Netaji: Living Dangerously|year=2015|isbn=978-93-84439-70-5|publisher=Paranjoy Guha Thakurta}}</ref> If the British failed to meet the deadline, the Congress would call upon all Indians to fight for complete independence. Nehru was one of the leaders who objected to the time given to the British—he pressed Gandhi to demand immediate actions from the British. Gandhi brokered a further compromise by reducing the time given from two years to one.<ref name="auto4" />
The British rejected demands for Dominion status in 1929.<ref name="auto4" /> Nehru assumed the presidency of the Congress party during the Lahore session on 29&nbsp;December 1929 and introduced a successful resolution calling for [[Purna Swaraj|complete independence]].<ref name="auto4" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Purna Swaraj: The Demand for Full Independence 26 January 1930|url=http://www.indiaofthepast.org/contribute-memories/read-contributions/major-events-pre-1950/283-purna-swaraj-the-demand-for-full-independence-26-january-1930-|access-date=6 July 2015|publisher=indiaofthepast.org|archive-date=8 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108144457/http://www.indiaofthepast.org/contribute-memories/read-contributions/major-events-pre-1950/283-purna-swaraj-the-demand-for-full-independence-26-january-1930-|url-status=dead}}</ref> Nehru drafted the Indian declaration of independence, which stated:
 
<blockquote>We believe that it is the inalienable right of the Indian people, as of any other people, to have freedom and to enjoy the fruits of their toil and have the necessities of life, so that they may have full opportunities for growth. We believe also that if any government deprives a people of these rights and oppresses them the people have a further right to alter it or abolish it. The British government in India has not only deprived the Indian people of their freedom but has based itself on the exploitation of the masses, and has ruined India economically, politically, culturally, and spiritually. We believe, therefore, that India must sever the British connection and attain Purna Swaraj or complete independence.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/empire/transcript/g3cs3s2t.htm|title=Learning Curve British Empire|first=Public Record|last=Office|website=Public Record Office, The National Archives}}</ref></blockquote>
 
At midnight on New Year's Eve 1929, Nehru hoisted the [[Tricolour (flag)|tricolour]] [[flag of India]] upon the banks of the [[Ravi River|Ravi]] in Lahore.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Haroon|last=Khalid|url=https://scroll.in/article/866428/republic-day-story-on-ravis-banks-a-pledge-that-shaped-the-course-of-modern-india-88-years-ago|title=Republic Day story: On Ravi's banks, a pledge that shaped the course of modern India 88 years ago|website=[[Scroll.in]]|date=26 January 2018|access-date=16 August 2021}}</ref> A pledge of independence was read out, which included a readiness to withhold taxes. The massive gathering of the public attending the ceremony was asked if they agreed with it, and the majority of people were witnessed raising their hands in approval. 172 Indian members of central and provincial legislatures resigned in support of the resolution and in accordance with Indian public sentiment. The Congress asked the people of India to observe 26&nbsp;January as Independence Day.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/why-january-26-is-celebrated-as-republic-day-6230037/|title=Explained: Why India celebrates January 26 as Republic Day|date=30 January 2021}}</ref> Congress volunteers, nationalists, and the public hoisted the flag of India publicly across India. Plans for mass civil disobedience were also underway.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Education|first=Pearson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ADFpDwAAQBAJ&pg=SA1-PA145|title=SSC topic-wise Previous Years Solved Papers General Awareness|isbn=978-93-5286-640-3|publisher=Pearson Education India}}</ref>
 
After the Lahore session of the Congress in 1929, Nehru gradually emerged as the paramount leader of the Indian independence movement. Gandhi stepped back into a more spiritual role. Although Gandhi did not explicitly designate Nehru as his political heir until 1942, as early as the mid-1930s, the country saw Nehru as the natural successor to Gandhi.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/opinion/op-ed/151118/the-greatest-indian-after-the-mahatma-why-gandhi-chose-nehru-to-lead.html|title=The greatest Indian after the Mahatma? Why Gandhi chose Nehru to lead India|first=Praveen|last=Davar|date=15 November 2018|website=Deccan Chronicle}}</ref>
 
=== Salt March: 1930 ===
Nehru and most of the Congress leaders were ambivalent initially about Gandhi's plan to begin [[civil disobedience]] with a ''satyagraha'' aimed at the British [[salt tax]]. After the protest had gathered steam, they realised the power of salt as a symbol. Nehru remarked about the unprecedented popular response, "it seemed as though a spring had been suddenly released".<ref name="gopalgandhi">[[Gopalkrishna Gandhi|Gandhi, Gopalkrishna]]. [http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article388858.ece "The Great Dandi March – eighty years after"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717030642/http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article388858.ece|date=17 July 2012}}, ''[[The Hindu]]'', 5 April 2010</ref> He was arrested on 14&nbsp;April 1930 while on a train from Allahabad for [[Raipur]]. Earlier, after addressing a huge meeting and leading a vast procession, he had ceremoniously manufactured some contraband salt. He was charged with breach of the salt law and sentenced to six months of imprisonment at Central Jail.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Vinod|last=Khanal|title=Mahatma Gandhi describes Nehru's arrest in 1930 as 'rest' |website= [[Times of India]]|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/allahabad/Mahatma-Gandhi-describes-Nehrus-arrest-in-1930-as-rest/articleshow/45140212.cms|date=13 November 2014|access-date=16 August 2021}}</ref>
 
He nominated Gandhi to succeed him as the Congress president during his absence in jail, but Gandhi declined, and Nehru nominated his father as his successor.{{sfn|Moraes|2007|p=167}} With Nehru's arrest, the civil disobedience acquired a new tempo, and arrests, firing on crowds and [[Baton charge|lathi charges]] grew to be ordinary occurrences.{{sfn|Moraes|2007|p=168}}
 
==== Salt satyagraha success ====
The [[Salt March|salt satyagraha]] ("pressure for reform through passive resistance") succeeded in attracting world attention. Indian, British, and world opinion increasingly recognised the legitimacy of the claims by the [[Indian National Congress|Congress party]] for independence. Nehru considered the salt satyagraha the high-water mark of his association with Gandhi,<ref>Fisher, Margaret W. June 1967. "India's Jawaharlal Nehru." ''[[Asian Survey]]'' 7(6):363–73. {{DOI|10.2307/2642611}}. {{Jstor|2642611}}. p. 368.</ref> and felt its lasting importance was in changing the attitudes of Indians:<ref>Johnson, Richard L. 2005. ''Gandhi's Experiments With Truth: Essential Writings By And About Mahatma Gandhi''. [[Lexington Books]]. {{ISBN|978-0-7391-1142-0}}. p. 37.</ref>
 
<blockquote>Of course these movements exercised tremendous pressure on the British Government and shook the government machinery. But the real importance, to my mind, lay in the effect they had on our own people, and especially the village masses.&nbsp;... Non-cooperation dragged them out of the mire and gave them self-respect and self-reliance.&nbsp;... They acted courageously and did not submit so easily to unjust oppression; their outlook widened and they began to think a little in terms of India as a whole.&nbsp;... It was a remarkable transformation and the Congress, under Gandhi's leadership, must have the credit for it.</blockquote>
 
=== Electoral politics, Europe, and economics: 1936–1938 ===
[[File:Jawaharlal Nehru at Karachi on return from Lausanne with Kamala Nehru’s ashes.jpg|thumb|Nehru in [[Karachi]] after returning from [[Lausanne]], [[Switzerland]] with the ashes of his wife [[Kamla Nehru]] in March 1936]]
[[File:Jawaharlal Nehru with Rabindranath Tagore,1936.jpg|thumb|Nehru with Indian Nobel-prize-winning poet [[Rabindranath Tagore]] in 1936]]
[[File:Jawaharlal Nehru in a procession at Peshawar,North West Frontier Province, 14 October 1937.jpg|thumb|alt=Photograph of 1000s of people in a procession |Nehru in a procession at [[Peshawar]], [[North-West Frontier Province]], 14 October 1937]]
[[File:Jawaharlal Nehru on visit to Egypt, June 1938.jpg|thumb|right|Nehru on a visit to Egypt in June 1938]]
Nehru's trip to Europe in 1936 happened to be the turning point in his political and economic mindset. It's the visit that sparked his interest in [[Marxism]] and his socialist thought pattern. Time later spent incarcerated enabled him to research Marxism more deeply. Appealed by its ideas but repelled by some of its tactics, he never could bring himself to buy [[Karl Marx]]'s words as revealed gospel. However, from that time on, the benchmark of his [[Marxian economics|economic]] view remained Marxist, adapted, where necessary, to Indian circumstances.
<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hoiberg|first=Dale|url=https://archive.org/details/studentsbritanni04hoib/page/108/mode/2up|title=Students' Britannica India|publisher=[[Popular Prakashan]]|year=2000|isbn=978-0-85229-760-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/studentsbritanni03hoib/page/107 107]|url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="Metcalf Metcalf 2006">{{Cite book|first1=Barbara D. |last1=Metcalf|author-link1=Barbara D. Metcalf|first2=Thomas R. |last2=Metcalf|author-link2=Thomas R. Metcalf|url= https://archive.org/details/concisehistoryof0000metc_s2n2/page/176/mode/2up|title=A Concise History of Modern India|year=2006|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-1-139-45887-0|page=176}}</ref>
 
Nehru spent the early months of 1936 in [[Switzerland]] visiting his ailing wife in [[Lausanne]], where she died in March. While in Europe, he became very concerned with the possibility of another world war.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/studentsbritanni04hoib/page/108/mode/2up|title=Students' Britannica India|first1=Dale|last1=Hoiberg|first2=Indu|last2=Ramchandani|date=21 November 2000|publisher=New Delhi : Encyclopaedia Britannica (India)|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> At that time, he emphasised that, in the event of war, India's place was alongside the democracies, though he insisted India could only fight in support of Great Britain and France as a free country.<ref name="Hoiberg2000">{{Cite book|last=Hoiberg, Dale|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ISFBJarYX7YC&pg=PA108|title=Students' Britannica India|publisher=[[Popular Prakashan]]|year=2000|isbn=978-0-85229-760-5|pages=108–}}</ref>
 
At its 1936 Lucknow session, despite opposition from the newly elected Nehru as the party president, the Congress party agreed to contest the [[1937 Indian provincial elections|provincial elections]] to be held in 1937 under the [[Government of India Act 1935]].<ref name="Tomlinson 1976">{{Cite book|last=B. R. Tomlinson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h5OuCwAAQBAJ&pg=PP7|title=The Indian National Congress and the Raj, 1929–1942: The Penultimate Phase|year=1976|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] UK|isbn=978-1-349-02873-3|pages=57–60}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/312372|title=Congress-Muslim League Relations 1937–39: 'The Parting of the Ways'|author=Pandey, Deepak|year=1978|journal=Modern Asian Studies|volume=12|issue=4|pages=629–654|doi=10.1017/S0026749X00006351|jstor=312372|s2cid=143450107|via=JSTOR}}</ref> The elections brought the Congress party to power in a majority of the provinces with increased popularity and power for Nehru. Since the Muslim League under Muhammad Ali Jinnah (who was to become the creator of Pakistan) had fared badly at the polls, Nehru declared that the only two parties that mattered in India were the British colonial authorities and the Congress. Jinnah's statements that the Muslim League was the third and "equal partner" within Indian politics were widely rejected.<ref>https://archive.org/details/concisehistoryof0000metc_s2n2/page/196/mode/2up reference</ref> Nehru had hoped to elevate [[Abul Kalam Azad|Maulana Azad]] as the preeminent leader of [[Islam in India|Indian Muslims]], but Gandhi, who continued to treat Jinnah as the voice of Indian Muslims, undermined him in this.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Ayoob|first1=Mohammed|date=25 May 2018|title=Remembering Maulana Azad|author-link=Mohammed Ayoob|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|url=https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/remembering-azad/article23980998.ece}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=21 May 2019|title=Triumph of Nehruvianism – Part 2|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/blogs/courts-commerce-and-the-constitution/triumph-of-nehruvianism-part-2/}}</ref>
 
In the 1930s, under the leadership of [[Jayaprakash Narayan]], [[Narendra Deo]], and others, the [[Congress Socialist Party]] group was formed within the INC. Though Nehru never joined the group, he acted as a bridge between them and Gandhi.<ref name="Dutt1981">{{Cite book|last=Rabindra Chandra Dutt|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2WI31XdK8pkC&pg=PR9|title=Socialism of Jawaharlal Nehru|publisher=Abhinav Publications|year=1981|isbn=978-81-7017-128-7|page=178}}</ref> He had the support of left-wing Congressmen Maulana Azad and [[Subhas Chandra Bose]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/on-parakram-diwas-a-look-at-bose-s-indian-national-army-101611393163491.html|title=On Parakram Diwas, a look at Bose's Indian National Army|last1=Soni|first1=Mallika|date=23 January 2021|website=Hindustan Times}}</ref><ref name="auto6">{{Cite web|url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/galleries/nation/2017/dec/05/indian-national-congress-presidents-over-the-ages-the-ones-who-changed-course-of-history-101085.html|title=Indian National Congress Presidents over the ages: The ones who changed course of history|date=5 December 2017|website=The New Indian Express}}</ref> The trio combined to oust [[Rajendra Prasad]] as the Congress president in 1936.<ref name="auto6" /> Nehru was elected in his place and held the presidency for two years (1936–37).{{sfn|Moraes|2007|pp=234–38}} His socialist colleagues Bose (1938–39) and Azad (1940–46) succeeded him. During Nehru's second term as general secretary of the Congress, he proposed certain resolutions concerning the [[foreign policy of India]].{{sfn|Moraes|2007|p=129}} From then on, he was given ''[[carte blanche]]'' ("blank cheque") in framing the foreign policy of any future Indian nation.<ref>Sharma, Rinkal. 2016. "[https://www.academia.edu/33066114/Nehru_a_passionate_advocate_of_education_for_Indias_children_and_youth_believing_it_essential_for_Indias_future_progress Nehru: a passionate advocate of education for India's children and youth, believing it essential for India's future progress]." ''International Research Journal of Management Sociology & Humanity'' 7(7):256–59.</ref> Nehru worked closely with Bose in developing good relations with governments of free countries all over the world.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.news18.com/news/india/jawaharlal-nehru-birth-anniversary-pandit-nehru-and-his-freedom-struggle-2386021.html|title=Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Anniversary: Pandit Nehru and His Freedom Struggle|date=14 November 2019|website=news18}}</ref>
 
Nehru was one of the first nationalist leaders to realise the sufferings of the people in the states ruled by Indian princes.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Modern_India/5tkTAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Nehru+was+one+of+the+first+nationalist+leaders+to+realise+the+sufferings+of+the+people+in+the+states+ruled+by+Indian+princes.&dq=Nehru+was+one+of+the+first+nationalist+leaders+to+realise+the+sufferings+of+the+people+in+the+states+ruled+by+Indian+princes.&printsec=frontcover|title = Modern India: A Textbook of History for Middle Schools|year = 1973|publisher = [[National Council of Educational Research and Training]]}}</ref> The nationalist movement had been confined to the territories under direct British rule. He helped to make the struggle of the people in the princely states a part of the nationalist movement for independence.<ref name="hindustantimes.com" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Chowdhary|first=Rekha|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9-2oCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA21|title=Jammu and Kashmir: Politics of identity and separatism|year=2015|isbn=978-1-317-41405-6|publisher=[[Routledge]]}}</ref> Nehru was also given the responsibility of planning the economy of a future India and appointed the [[National Planning Commission of India|National Planning Commission]] in 1938 to help frame such policies.<ref>{{Cite web|title=3rd Five Year Plan (Chapter 1)|url=http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiveyr/3rd/3planch1.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326094741/http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiveyr/3rd/3planch1.html|archive-date=26 March 2012|access-date=16 June 2012|publisher=Government of India}}</ref> However, many of the plans framed by Nehru and his colleagues would come undone with the unexpected [[partition of India]] in 1947.<ref name="auto7">{{Cite web|url=https://thewire.in/history/past-continuous-nehru-independence|title=Past Continuous: Those Who Think Nehru Was Power Hungry Should Review Events Leading to Independence|website=The Wire|first=Nilanjan|last=Mukhopadhyay|date=14 November 2018}}</ref>
 
The [[All India States Peoples Conference]] (AISPC) was formed in 1927 and Nehru, who had supported the cause of the people of the princely states for many years, was made the organisation's president in 1939.<ref name="Bandyopādhyāẏa2004">{{Cite book|last=Śekhara Bandyopādhyāẏa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-EpNz0U8VEQC|title=From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India|publisher=[[Orient Blackswan]]|year=2004|isbn=978-81-250-2596-2|page=410}}</ref> He opened up its ranks to membership from across the political spectrum. AISPC was to play an important role during the political integration of India, helping Indian leaders Vallabhbhai Patel and [[V. P. Menon]] (to whom Nehru had delegated integrating the princely states into India) negotiate with hundreds of princes.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lumby|1954|p=232}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Brown|1984|p=667}}</ref>
 
== Nationalist movement (1939–1947) ==
[[File:Jawaharlal Nehru with Mahatma Gandhi during a meeting of Working Committee of the Congress at Wardha.jpg|thumb|Gandhi, Nehru, and [[Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan]] at the Congress Working Committee meeting in Wardha in September 1939]]
When [[World War&nbsp;II]] began, [[Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow|Viceroy Linlithgow]] had unilaterally declared India a [[belligerent]] on the side of Britain, without consulting the elected Indian representatives.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Saraf|first=Nandini|url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/The_Life_and_Times_of_Lokmanya_Tilak/A5YkBQAAQBAJ?|date=2012|title=The Life and Times of Lokmanya Tilak|isbn=978-81-84301-52-6|publisher=Ocean Books|pages=119}}</ref> Nehru hurried back from a visit to China, announcing that, in a conflict between democracy and [[fascism]], "our sympathies must inevitably be on the side of democracy,&nbsp;... I should like India to play its full part and throw all her resources into the struggle for a new order".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gk3WCgAAQBAJ&q=In+a+conflict+between+democracy+and+fascism%2C+that+%22our+sympathies+must+inevitably+be+on+the+side+of+democracy.%E2%80%A6+i+should+like+india+to+play+its+full+part+and+throw+all+her+resources+into+the+struggle+for+a+new+order.+Jawaharlal+Nehru&pg=PA60|title=Transfer of Power in India|first=Vapal Pangunni|last=Menon|author-link=V. P. Menon|date=8 December 2015|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|isbn=978-1-4008-7937-3|pages=60}}</ref>
 
After much deliberation, the Congress under Nehru informed the government that it would cooperate with the British but on certain conditions. First, Britain must give an assurance of full independence for India after the war and allow the election of a [[Constituent Assembly of India|constituent assembly]] to frame a new constitution; second, although the Indian armed forces would remain under the [[British Commander-in-chief]], Indians must be included immediately in the central government and given a chance to share power and responsibility.<ref name="plassey-to-partition">{{Cite book|last=Bandyopadhyay|first=Sekhara|url={{Google books|-EpNz0U8VEQC|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|title=From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India|date=2004|publisher=[[Orient Longman]]|isbn=978-81-250-2596-2|location=India|page=412}}</ref> When Nehru presented Lord Linlithgow with these demands, he chose to reject them. A [[deadlock]] was reached: "The same old game is played again," Nehru wrote bitterly to Gandhi, "the background is the same, the various epithets are the same and the actors are the same and the results must be the same".<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Jawaharlal Nehru|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jawaharlal-Nehru|last=Moraes|first=Frank R.|access-date=2 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=W. Sears|first=Stephen|author-link=Stephen W. Sears|url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/The_Horizon_History_of_the_British_Empir/ABQqAAAAYAAJ|title=The Horizon History of the British Empire Volume 2|date=1973|publisher=American Heritage Publishing Company|pages=465|isbn=978-0-07-030354-6|via=Google Books}}</ref>
 
On 23 October 1939, the Congress condemned the Viceroy's attitude and called upon the Congress ministries in the various provinces to resign in protest.<ref name="gandhis-passions">{{cite book |title=Gandhi's Passion: The Life and Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi |last=Wolpert |first=Stanley  |year=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-515634-X |pages=[https://archive.org/details/gandhispassionli00wolp/page/192 192]–193|url=https://archive.org/details/gandhispassionli00wolp |url-access=registration |access-date=4 December 2007 }}</ref> Before this crucial announcement, Nehru urged Jinnah and the Muslim League to join the protest, but Jinnah declined.<ref name="plassey-to-partition" /><ref name="british-empire-fall">{{cite web |url=http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/kenanderson/histempsequel/page5.html |title=Gandhi – The Great Soul |access-date=4 December 2007 |last=Anderson |first=Ken |work=The British Empire: Fall of the Empire |archive-date=23 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180723053926/http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/kenanderson/histempsequel/page5.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
 
As Nehru had firmly placed India on the path of democracy and freedom at a time when the world was under the threat of Fascism, he and Bose split in the late 1930s when the latter agreed to seek the help of Fascists in driving the British out of India.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/20150420-subhas-chandra-bose-jawahar-lal-nehru-spying-a-misguided-patriot-818140-2015-04-09|title=Unlike Nehru, Netaji believed that authoritarian rule was essential for achieving radical social goals|first1=Mridula|last1=Mukherjee|date=9 April 2015|access-date=16 August 2021|website=[[India Today]]}}</ref> At the same time, Nehru had supported the Republicans who were fighting against [[Francisco Franco]]'s forces in the [[Spanish Civil War]].<ref>{{Cite web|first=Shirsho|last=Dasgupta|url=https://thewire.in/history/80-years-later-a-homage-to-catalonia-indians-and-the-spanish-civil-war|title=Eighty Years Later, A Homage to Catalonia: Indians and the Spanish Civil War|website=[[The Wire (India)|The Wire]]|date=22 May 2016|access-date=16 August 2021}}</ref> Nehru and his aide [[V. K. Krishna Menon]] visited Spain and declared support for the Republicans. When [[Benito Mussolini]], dictator of Italy, expressed his desire to meet, Nehru refused him.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q3rTCwAAQBAJ&q=Nehru+refused+to+meet+Benito+Mussolini&pg=PA119|title=Neonationalist Mythology in Postwar Japan: Pal's Dissenting Judgment at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal|first=Nariaki|last=Nakazato|date=27 April 2016|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]]|isbn=978-1-4985-2836-8|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|first=R.|last=Prasannan|url=https://www.theweek.in/theweek/cover/2020/07/23/birth-of-a-nation.html|title=Birth of a nation|website=[[The Week (Indian magazine)|The Week]]|date=2 August 2020|access-date=16 August 2021}}</ref>
 
=== Civil disobedience, Lahore Resolution, August Offer: 1940 ===
[[File:Seva Dal.jpg|right|260px|thumb|Nehru with the Seva Dal volunteer corps in Allahabad, 1940]]
In March 1940, Muhammad Ali Jinnah passed what came to be known as the [[Pakistan Resolution]], declaring that, "Muslims are a nation according to any definition of a nation, and they must have their [[homeland]]s, their territory and their State." This state was to be known as Pakistan, meaning 'Land of the Pure'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40961603|title=How Jinnah's ideology shapes Pakistan's identity|first=Secunder|last=Kermani|date=18 August 2017|website=BBC}}</ref> Nehru angrily declared that "all the old problems&nbsp;... pale into insignificance before the latest stand taken by the Muslim League leader in Lahore".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chand|first=Attar|url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/India_and_Asia_Pacific_Security/mgUJAQAAMAAJ?|title=India and Asia-Pacific Security Volume 2|pages=223|date=21 May 2010|publisher=Amar Prakashan|isbn=978-81-8542-031-8|via=Google Books}}</ref> Linlithgow made Nehru an [[August Offer|offer]] on 8&nbsp;October 1940, which stated that [[Dominion of India|Dominion status for India]] was the objective of the British government.<ref>Radhey Shyam Chaurasia (2002). ''History of Modern India, 1707 A. D. to 2000 A.'' Atlantic Publishers. pp. 281-283</ref> However, it referred neither to a date nor a method to accomplish this. Only Jinnah received something more precise: "The British would not contemplate transferring power to a Congress-dominated national government, the authority of which was denied by various elements in India's national life".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sears|first=Stephen W.|author-link=Stephen W. Sears|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7xt6BAAAQBAJ&pg=PT616|title=The British Empire|date=10 September 2014|publisher=New Word City|isbn=978-1-61230-809-8|via=Google Books}}</ref>
 
In October 1940, Gandhi and Nehru, abandoning their original stand of supporting Britain, decided to launch a limited civil disobedience campaign in which leading advocates of Indian independence were selected to participate one by one. Nehru was arrested and sentenced to four years' imprisonment.<ref name="auto3" /> On 15&nbsp;January 1941, Gandhi had stated:
 
<blockquote>Some say Jawaharlal and I were estranged. It will require much more than a difference of opinion to estrange us. We had differences from the time we became co-workers and yet I have said for some years and say so now that not Rajaji but Jawaharlal will be my successor.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Science & culture, Volume 30|publisher=Indian Science News Association|year=1964}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Aditit De|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AcQDAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT91|title=Jawaharlal Nehruh – The Jewel of India|date=8 September 2009|publisher=[[Puffin Books]]|isbn=978-81-8475-866-5|via=Google Books}}</ref></blockquote> After spending a little more than a year in jail, Nehru was released, along with other Congress prisoners, three days before the [[bombing of Pearl Harbor]] in Hawaii.<ref name="auto5">{{Cite book|last=Hoiberg|first=Dale|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ISFBJarYX7YC&pg=PA109|title=Students' Britannica India|date=19 December 2018|publisher=Popular Prakashan|isbn=978-0-85229-760-5|via=Google Books}}</ref>
 
=== Japan attacks India, Cripps' mission, Quit India: 1942 ===
[[File:Gandhi and Nehru 1942.jpg|thumb|Gandhi and Nehru during the drafting of [[Quit India Resolution]] in [[Bombay]], August 1942, ]]
When the Japanese [[Burma campaign|carried their attack through Burma]] (now [[Myanmar]]) to the borders of India in the spring of 1942, the British government, faced by this new military threat, decided to make some overtures to India, as Nehru had originally desired.<ref>{{Cite book|editor=Amy McKenna|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f3Lc8XRHz7kC&pg=PA223|title=The 100 Most Influential World Leaders of All Time|date=20 December 2009|publisher=[[Rosen Publishing|The Rosen Publishing Group|pages=223]], Inc|isbn=978-1-61530-015-0|via=Google Books}}</ref> Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] dispatched Sir [[Stafford Cripps]], a member of the [[War Cabinet]] who was known to be politically close to Nehru and knew Jinnah, with proposals for a settlement of the constitutional problem.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hoiberg|first=Dale|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ISFBJarYX7YC&pg=PA109|title=Students' Britannica India|date=19 December 2018|publisher=Popular Prakashan|isbn=978-0-85229-760-5|pages=108–109|volume=4|via=Google Books}}</ref> As soon as he arrived, he discovered that India was more deeply divided than he had imagined. Nehru, eager for a compromise, was hopeful; Gandhi was not. Jinnah had continued opposing the Congress: "Pakistan is our only demand, and by God, we will have it," he declared in the Muslim League newspaper [[Dawn (newspaper)|''Dawn'']].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mansergh|first=Nicholas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tZiAAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA145|title=Survey of British Commonwealth Affairs: Problems of Wartime Cooperation and Post-War Change 1939–1952|date=21 August 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-24289-2|pages=145|via=Google Books}}</ref> [[Cripps Mission|Cripps' mission]] failed as Gandhi would accept nothing less than independence. Relations between Nehru and Gandhi cooled over the latter's refusal to cooperate with Cripps, but the two later reconciled.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The National Archives – Homepage|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/the-road-to-partition/cripps-nehru-gandhi/|work=[[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|nationalarchives.gov.uk]]|access-date=16 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201235944/http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/the-road-to-partition/cripps-nehru-gandhi/|archive-date=1 December 2021|url-status=dead}}</ref>
 
In 1942, Gandhi called on the British to leave India; Nehru, though reluctant to embarrass the allied war effort, had no alternative but to join Gandhi. Following the [[Quit India Movement|Quit India resolution]] passed by the Congress party in Bombay on 8&nbsp;August 1942, the entire Congress working committee, including Gandhi and Nehru, was arrested and imprisoned.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/1942-quit-india-movement|title=1942 Quit India Movement|website=[[Open University|open.ac.uk]]}}</ref> Most of the Congress working committee including Nehru, Abdul Kalam Azad, Sardar Patel were incarcerated at the [[Ahmednagar Fort]]<ref name="Mufti2009">{{Cite book|last=Aamir R. Mufti|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y5C1uRIotD4C&pg=PA129|title=Enlightenment in the Colony: The Jewish Question and the Crisis of Postcolonial Culture|date=10 January 2009|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|isbn=978-1-4008-2766-4|pages=129–131}}</ref> until 15&nbsp;June 1945.<ref>{{Cite book|editor=Amy McKenna|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f3Lc8XRHz7kC&pg=PA224|title=The 100 Most Influential World Leaders of All Time|date=20 December 2009|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc|isbn=978-1-61530-015-0|pages=224|via=Google Books}}</ref>
 
=== In prison 1943–1945 ===
[[File:Jawaharlal Nehru's room at Ahmednagar fort - 20151226 031536.jpg|thumb|right|alt=See caption |Nehru's room at Ahmednagar fort where he was incarcerated from 1942 to 1945, and where he wrote ''[[The Discovery of India]]'']]
During the period when all the Congress leaders were in jail, the Muslim League under Jinnah grew in power.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lS1LuJbhl9YC&pg=PA228|title=Civics & History|publisher=Pitambar Publishing|isbn=978-81-209-1088-1|first=N. N|last=Kher|via=Google Books}}</ref> In April 1943, the League captured the governments of Bengal and, a month later, that of the [[North-West Frontier Province]]. In none of these provinces had the League previously had a majority—only the arrest of Congress members made it possible. With all the Muslim dominated provinces except Punjab under Jinnah's control, the concept of a separate Muslim State was turning into a reality.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7xt6BAAAQBAJ&q=In+April+1943%2C+the+League+captured+the+government+of+Bengal+and%2C+a+month+later%2C+that+of+the+North+West+Frontier+Province.&pg=PT619|title=The British Empire|first=Stephen W.|last=Sears|date=10 September 2014|publisher=New Word City|isbn=978-1-61230-809-8|via=Google Books}}</ref> However, by 1944, Jinnah's power and prestige were waning.<ref name="auto8">{{Cite book|url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Break_Up_of_British_India/ajxdDwAAQBAJ?|title=Break Up of British India|first=Pandey|last=B. N|pages=169|date=May 1969|publisher=Macmillan Education UK|isbn=978-1-349-15307-7|via=Google Books}}</ref>
 
A general sympathy towards the jailed Congress leaders was developing among Muslims, and much of the blame for the disastrous [[Bengal famine of 1943]]–44 during which two million died had been laid on the shoulders of the province's Muslim League government. The numbers at Jinnah's meetings, once counted in thousands, soon numbered only a few hundred. In despair, Jinnah left the political scene for a stay in Kashmir. His prestige was restored unwittingly by Gandhi, who had been released from prison on medical grounds in May 1944 and had met Jinnah in Bombay in September.<ref name="auto8" /> There, he offered the Muslim leader a plebiscite in the Muslim areas after the war to see whether they wanted to separate from the rest of India. Essentially, it was an acceptance of the principle of Pakistan—but not in so many words. Jinnah demanded that the exact words be used. Gandhi refused and the talks broke down. Jinnah, however, had greatly strengthened his own position and that of the League. The most influential member of Congress had been seen to negotiate with him on equal terms.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sears|first=Stephen W.|url={{Google books|7xt6BAAAQBAJ|page=PT619|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|title=The British Empire|date=10 September 2014|isbn=978-1-61230-809-8|publisher=NewWord City}}</ref>
 
=== Cabinet mission, Interim government 1946–1947 ===
[[File:Nehru with members of Interim gov't faction leaving Viceroy's home after Swearing in.jpg|thumb|left|Nehru and the Congress party members of his interim government after being sworn in by the Viceroy, [[Lord Wavell]], 2 September 1946]]
Nehru and his colleagues were released prior to the arrival of the British [[1946 Cabinet Mission to India]] to propose plans for the transfer of power.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/features/nehru-s-belongings-still-intact-in-almora-jail-157835|title=Nehru's belongings still intact in Almora jail|first=BD|last=Kasniyal|website=Tribuneindia News Service|date=13 November 2015}}</ref><ref name="auto7" /> The agreed plan in 1946 led to elections to the provincial assemblies. In turn, the members of the assemblies elected members of the Constituent Assembly. Congress won the majority of seats in the assembly and headed the [[Interim Government of India|interim government]], with Nehru as the prime minister. The Muslim League joined the government later with [[Liaquat Ali Khan]] as the Finance member.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/september-2-when-indias-interim-govt-was-formed-in-1946-5959889/|title=Explained: When India's interim government was formed in 1946|date=3 September 2019|first=Om|last=Marathe|website=The Indian Express}}</ref><ref>V. Krishna Ananth. [https://books.google.com/books?id=X62Sc3muOyQC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false ''India Since Independence: Making Sense of Indian Politics'']. Pearson Education India. 2010. pp 28–30.</ref>
 
== Prime Minister of India (1947–1964) ==
[[File:Teen Murti Bhavan in New Delhi.jpg|thumb|alt=See caption |[[Teen Murti Bhavan]], Nehru's official residence as prime minister, is now a museum.]]
Nehru served as prime minister for 18 years, first as the interim prime minister and from 1950 as the prime minister of the Republic of India.
 
=== Republicanism ===
In July 1946, Nehru pointedly observed that no princely state could prevail militarily against the army of independent India.<ref name="books.google.co.in">{{Cite book|last1=Menon|first=Shivshankar|url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/India_and_Asian_Geopolitics/eaWWDwAAQBAJ?|title=India and Asian Geopolitics: The Past, Present|date=20 April 2021|isbn=978-0-670-09129-4|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|pages=34}}</ref> In January 1947, he said that independent India would not accept the [[divine right of kings]].<ref>Lumby, E. W. R. 1954. ''The Transfer of Power in India, 1945–1947''. London: [[George Allen and Unwin|George Allen & Unwin]]. p. 228</ref> In May 1947, he declared that any [[princely state]] which refused to join the [[Constituent Assembly of India|Constituent Assembly]] would be treated as an enemy state.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pib.gov.in/newsite/printrelease.aspx?relid=172053|title=Sardar Patel – Man who United India|date=30 October 2017|first=Aaditya|last=Tiwari|website=pib.gov.in}}</ref> Vallabhbhai Patel and V. P. Menon were more conciliatory towards the princes, and as the men charged with integrating the states, were successful in the task.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/research/how-vallabhbhai-patel-v-p-menon-and-mountbatten-unified-india-4915468/|title=How Vallabhbhai Patel, V P Menon and Mountbatten unified India|date=31 October 2017}}</ref> During the drafting of the Indian constitution, many Indian leaders (except Nehru) were in favour of allowing each princely state or covenanting state to be independent as a federal state along the lines suggested originally by the Government of India Act 1935. But as the drafting of the constitution progressed, and the idea of forming a republic took concrete shape, it was decided that all the princely states/covenanting states would merge with the Indian republic.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/2753451|title=The Unification of India, 1947–1951|author=Furber, Holden|year=1951|journal=[[Pacific Affairs]]|volume=24|issue=4|pages=352–371|via=JSTOR|doi=10.2307/2753451|jstor=2753451}}</ref>
 
Nehru's daughter, [[Indira Gandhi]], as prime minister, derecognised all the rulers by presidential order in 1969, a decision struck down by the [[Supreme Court of India]]. Eventually, her government by the [[Privy Purse in India|26th amendment]] to the constitution was successful in derecognising these former rulers and ending the privy purse paid to them in 1971.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/20030818-56-events-that-changed-india-dissolution-of-princely-states-in-1950-791861-2003-08-18|title=56 events that changed India: Dissolution of princely states in 1950|date=18 August 2003|access-date=16 August 2021|website=[[India Today]]}}</ref>
 
=== Independence, Dominion of India: 1947–1950 ===
[[File:Lord Mountbatten swears in Jawaharlal Nehru as the first Prime Minister of free India on Aug 15, 1947.jpg|thumb|300px|alt=See caption |[[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Lord Mountbatten]] swears in Nehru as the first Prime Minister of independent India on 15 August 1947]]
 
The period before independence in early 1947 was impaired by outbreaks of communal violence and political disorder, and the opposition of the [[All-India Muslim League|Muslim League]] led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who were demanding a separate Muslim state of Pakistan.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Encyclopaedia_Indica_Independent_India_a/lfcvAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=After+failed+bid+to+form+coalition,+Nehru+reluctantly+supported+the+partition+of+India,+according+to+a+plan+released+by+the+British+on+3+June+1947.&dq=After+failed+bid+to+form+coalition,+Nehru+reluctantly+supported+the+partition+of+India,+according+to+a+plan+released+by+the+British+on+3+June+1947.&printsec=frontcover|isbn = 978-81-7041-859-7|title = Encyclopaedia Indica: Independent India and wars – I|year = 1996|publisher = Anmol Publications}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Encyclopaedia_of_Indian_War_of_Independe/x1MwAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=After+failed+bid+to+form+coalition,+Nehru+reluctantly+supported+the+partition+of+India,+according+to+a+plan+released+by+the+British+on+3+June+1947.&dq=After+failed+bid+to+form+coalition,+Nehru+reluctantly+supported+the+partition+of+India,+according+to+a+plan+released+by+the+British+on+3+June+1947.&printsec=frontcover|isbn = 978-81-261-3745-9|title = Encyclopaedia of Indian War of Independence, 1857–1947: Gandhi era : Jawahar Lal Nehru and Sardar Patel|year = 2009|publisher = Anmol Publications}}</ref>
 
==== Independence ====
He took office as the [[prime minister of India]] on 15&nbsp;August and delivered his inaugural address titled "[[Tryst with Destiny]]".
 
<blockquote>Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history when we step out from the old to the new when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.<ref name="Tryst">{{Cite news|first=Jawaharlal|last=Nehru|date=30 April 2007|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2007/may/01/greatspeeches|title=A Tryst with Destiny|access-date=16 August 2021 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140524211546/https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2007/may/01/greatspeeches |archive-date=24 May 2014|work=[[TheGuardian.com]]}}</ref></blockquote>
 
==== Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi: 1948 ====
[[File:Nehru visiting Srinagar Brigade Headquarters Military Hospital in May 1948.jpg|thumb|right|Nehru visiting an Indian soldier recovering from injuries at the Brigade Headquarters Military Hospital in Srinagar, Kashmir]]
{{Main|Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi|The light has gone out of our lives|l2 = Nehru's address on Gandhi}}
On 30 January 1948, Gandhi was shot while he was walking in the garden of Birla House on his way to address a prayer meeting. The assassin, [[Nathuram Godse]], was a [[Hindu nationalism|Hindu nationalist]] with links to the extremist [[Hindu Mahasabha]] party, who held Gandhi responsible for weakening India by insisting upon a payment to Pakistan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/the-politics-of-an-assassination-who-killed-gandhi-and-why/story-iUJqKjuw0sP9nAfc5KcOII.html|title=The politics of an assassination: Who killed Gandhi and why?|date=15 August 2015|first=Abhishek|last=Saha|website=Hindustan Times}}</ref> Nehru addressed the nation by radio:
 
<blockquote>Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives, and there is darkness everywhere, and I do not quite know what to tell you or how to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the father of the nation, is no more. Perhaps I am wrong to say that; nevertheless, we will not see him again, as we have seen him for these many years, we will not run to him for advice or seek solace from him, and that is a terrible blow, not only for me but for millions and millions in this country.<ref name="Jai1996">{{Cite book|last=Janak Raj Jai|url={{Google books|5Wrc1K0uJTgC|page=PA45|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|title=1947–1980|publisher=Regency Publications|year=1996|isbn=978-81-86030-23-3|pages=45–47}}</ref></blockquote>
 
[[Yasmin Khan]] argued that Gandhi's death and funeral helped consolidate the authority of the new Indian state under Nehru and Patel. The Congress tightly controlled the epic public displays of grief over a two-week period—the funeral, mortuary rituals and distribution of the martyr's ashes with millions participating at different events.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/boundaries-of-belonging/performing-the-state-in-post1947-india-and-pakistan/51E29D5CE278C3362B5D10B45D35C71F/core-reader|title=Boundaries of Belonging|chapter='Performing the State' in Post-1947 India and Pakistan|date=31 October 2019|publisher=Cambridge University Press|first1=Sarah|last1=Ansari|first2=William|last2=Gould|pages=23–66|doi=10.1017/9781108164511.003|isbn=978-1-107-19605-6|s2cid=211394653}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/78902926.pdf|title=Performing Peace: Gandhi's assassination as a critical moment in the consolidation of the Nehruvian state|first=Yasmin|last=Khan|website=[[CORE (research service)|core.ac.uk]]}}</ref> The goal was to assert the power of the government, legitimise the Congress party's control and suppress all religious paramilitary groups. Nehru and Patel suppressed the [[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]] (RSS), the Muslim National Guards, and the [[Khaksars]], with some 200,000 arrests.<ref name="Khan2011">{{cite journal |last1=Khan |first1=Yasmin |year=2011|title=Performing Peace: Gandhi's assassination as a critical moment in the consolidation of the Nehruvian state |journal=[[Modern Asian Studies]] |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=57–80 |doi=10.1017/S0026749X10000223|s2cid=144894540 }} {{subscription required}}</ref> Gandhi's death and funeral linked the distant state with the Indian people and helped them to understand the need to suppress religious parties during the transition to independence for the Indian people.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-asian-studies/article/performing-peace-gandhis-assassination-as-a-critical-moment-in-the-consolidation-of-the-nehruvian-state/B13C16345C0092DF55010CDEFA9ACACF|title=Performing Peace: Gandhi's assassination as a critical moment in the consolidation of the Nehruvian state|first=Yasmin|last=Khan|date=12 January 2011|journal=Modern Asian Studies|volume=45|issue=1|pages=57–80|via=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/S0026749X10000223|s2cid=144894540}}</ref> In later years, there emerged a revisionist school of history which sought to blame Nehru for the partition of India, mostly referring to his highly [[Centralisation|centralised]] policies for an independent India in 1947, which Jinnah opposed in favour of a more [[Decentralization|decentralised]] India.<ref name="ibn">{{Cite web |url=http://ibnlive.in.com/news/gandhi-jinnah-both-failed-jaswant/99323-37.html |title=Gandhi, Jinnah both failed: Jaswant |last=Thapar |first=Karan |date=17 August 2009 |author-link=Karan Thapar |publisher=ibnlive.in.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140703195004/http://ibnlive.in.com/news/gandhi-jinnah-both-failed-jaswant/99323-37.html |archive-date=3 July 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/After-Advani-Jaswant-turns-Jinnah-admirer/articleshow/4900326.cms |title=After Advani, Jaswant turns Jinnah admirer |date=17 August 2009 |access-date=15 August 2021 |work=[[The Economic Times]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020021442/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/After-Advani-Jaswant-turns-Jinnah-admirer/articleshow/4900326.cms |archive-date=20 October 2017 |location=India}}</ref>
 
==== Integration of states and Adoption of New Constitution: 1947–1950 ====
{{See also|Political integration of India|States Reorganisation Act, 1956}}
[[File:Indira Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi.jpg|thumb|alt=See caption |[[Indira Gandhi]], Nehru, [[Rajiv Gandhi]] and [[Sanjay Gandhi]] in June 1949]]
The British Indian Empire, which included present-day India, Pakistan, and [[Bangladesh]], was divided into two types of territories: the Provinces of British India, which were governed directly by British officials responsible to the [[Viceroy]] of India; and princely states, under the rule of local hereditary rulers who recognised British [[suzerainty]] in return for local autonomy, in most cases as established by a treaty.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thehindu.com/thread/politics-and-policy/article8366115.ece |title=Maps are malleable. Even Bharat Mata's |last=Ghosh |first=Bishwanath |date=17 March 2016 |access-date=15 August 2021 |work=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref> Between 1947 and about 1950, the territories of the princely states were politically integrated into the Indian Union under Nehru and Sardar Patel. Most were merged into existing provinces; others were organised into new provinces, such as [[Rajputana]], Himachal Pradesh, [[Madhya Bharat]], and [[Vindhya Pradesh]], made up of multiple princely states; a few, including Mysore, Hyderabad, Bhopal and Bilaspur, became separate provinces.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Adrija|last=Roychowdhury|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/research/five-states-that-refused-to-join-india-after-independence/ |title=Five states that refused to join India after Independence |date=17 August 2017|access-date=15 August 2021|work=[[The Indian Express]]}}</ref> The Government of India Act 1935 remained the constitutional law of India pending adoption of a new Constitution.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/time-to-recall-efforts-made-to-create-the-constitution/article8177274.ece|title=Time to recall efforts made to create the Constitution|first=Mohamed Imranullah|last=S.|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|date=1 February 2016|access-date=15 August 2021}}</ref>
 
[[File:Nehrucon.jpg|thumb|alt=See caption |Nehru signing the [[Indian Constitution]] c.1950]]
The new Constitution of India, which came into force on [[Republic Day (India)|26&nbsp;January 1950]] (Republic Day), made India a sovereign democratic republic. The new republic was declared to be a "Union of States".<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VWJ2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT167 |title=Patel: Political Ideas and Policies |last1=Sinha |first1=Shakti |last2=Roy |first2=Himanshu |date=5 November 2018 |isbn=978-93-5280-854-0}}</ref>
 
=== Election of 1952 ===
[[File:Jawaharlal Nehru 1951-52 election poster.jpg|thumb|232x232px|Nehru as the main campaigner of the Indian National Congress, 1951–52 elections]]
After the adoption of the constitution on 26&nbsp;November 1949, the Constituent Assembly continued to act as the interim parliament until new elections. Nehru's interim cabinet consisted of 15 members from diverse communities and parties.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/september-2-when-indias-interim-govt-was-formed-in-1946-5959889/|title=Explained: When India's interim government was formed in 1946|first=Om|last=Marathe|date=3 September 2019|access-date=15 August 2021|website=The Indian Express}}</ref> The first elections to Indian legislative bodies (National parliament and State assemblies ) under the new constitution of India were held in [[1951–52 Indian general election|1952]].<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/3024683|title=India's General Elections|author=Park, Richard Leonard|year=1952|journal=[[Far Eastern Survey]]|volume=21|issue=1|pages=1–8|via=JSTOR|doi=10.2307/3024683|jstor=3024683}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Indian_and_Foreign_Review/4kNnAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=The+first+elections+to+Indian+legislative+bodies+(National+parliament+and+State+assemblies+)+under+the+new+constitution+of+India+were+held+in+%5B%5B1951%E2%80%9352+Indian+general+election%7C1952%5D%5D.&dq=The+first+elections+to+Indian+legislative+bodies+(National+parliament+and+State+assemblies+)+under+the+new+constitution+of+India+were+held+in+%5B%5B1951%E2%80%9352+Indian+general+election%7C1952%5D%5D.&printsec=frontcover|title = Indian and Foreign Review|year = 1969|publisher = Publications Division of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India}}</ref> Various members of the cabinet resigned from their posts and formed their own parties to contest the elections. During that period, the then Congress party president, [[Purushottam Das Tandon]], also resigned his post because of differences with Nehru and since Nehru's popularity was needed for winning elections. Nehru, while being the prime minister, was elected the president of Congress for 1951 and 1952.<ref name="Weiner2015">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xz_WCgAAQBAJ&pg=PR11 |title=Party Politics in India |first=Myron |last=Weiner |author-link=Myron Weiner |date=8 December 2015 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-1-4008-7841-3 |pages=78–79}}</ref><ref name="indianexpress1">Varshney, Ashutosh. 28 March 2015. "[http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/faults-and-lines/99/ Faults and lines]." ''[[The Indian Express]]''. Retrieved on 16 June 2020.</ref> In the election, despite numerous competing parties, the Congress party under Nehru's leadership won large majorities at both state and national level.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/40209795|title=Democracy's Biggest Gamble: India's First Free Elections in 1952|author=Guha, Ramachandra|author-link=Ramachandra Guha|year=2002|journal=[[World Policy Journal]]|volume=19|issue=1|pages=95–103|doi=10.1215/07402775-2002-2005|jstor=40209795|via=JSTOR}}</ref>
 
=== First term as Prime Minister: 1952–1957 ===
==== State reorganization ====
In December 1953, Nehru appointed the [[States Reorganisation Commission]] to prepare for the creation of states on linguistic lines. Headed by Justice [[Fazal Ali]], the commission itself was also known as the Fazal Ali Commission.<ref name="Koshi">{{Cite web |url=https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/explainer-reorganization-states-india-and-why-it-happened-52273 |title=Explainer: The reorganization of states in India and why it happened |last=Koshi |first=Luke |date=2 November 2016 |website=[[The News Minute]] |access-date=3 April 2019}}</ref> [[Govind Ballabh Pant]], who served as Nehru's [[Minister of Home Affairs (India)|home minister]] from December 1954, oversaw the commission's efforts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.news18.com/news/india/govind-ballabh-pants-death-anniversary-remembering-the-first-chief-minister-of-uttar-pradesh-3507449.html|title=Govind Ballabh Pant's Death Anniversary: Remembering the First Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh|date=7 March 2021|access-date=15 August 2021|website=[[CNN-News18|news18.com]]}}</ref> The commission created a report in 1955 recommending the reorganisation of India's states.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/state-of-the-nation/307830/0|title=STATE OF THE NATION|date=11 May 2008|access-date=15 August 2021|website=[[The Indian Express|archive.indianexpress.com]]}}</ref>
 
Under the [[Seventh Amendment of the Constitution of India|Seventh Amendment]], the existing distinction between Part A, Part B, Part C, and Part D states was abolished. The distinction between Part A and Part B states was removed, becoming known simply as [[States of india|''states''']].<ref>{{Cite book|first=Suraj Surjit|last=Chaudhary|url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Critical_Commentary_on_the_Banning_of_Un/Nj8jEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0|isbn=978-93-90252-05-3|title=Critical Commentary on the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act, 2019 and Allied Laws|date=15 March 2021|publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]]}}</ref> A new type of entity, the ''[[union territory]]'', replaced the classification as a Part C or Part D state. Nehru stressed commonality among Indians and promoted [[pan-Indianism]], refusing to reorganise states on either religious or ethnic lines.<ref name="Koshi" />
 
=== Subsequent elections: 1957, 1962 ===
In the [[1957 Indian general election|1957 elections]], Under the leadership of Nehru, the [[Indian National Congress]] easily won a second term in power, taking 371 of the 494 seats. They gained an extra seven seats (the size of the Lok Sabha had been increased by five) and their vote share increased from 45.0% to 47.8%. The INC won nearly five times more votes than the [[Communist Party of India|Communist Party]], the second largest party.<ref>{{Cite web|title=1957 India General (2nd Lok Sabha) Elections Results|url=https://www.elections.in/parliamentary-constituencies/1957-election-results.html|access-date=31 August 2020|website=www.elections.in}}</ref>
 
In 1962, Nehru led the Congress to victory with a diminished majority. The numbers who voted for [[Indian Communist Party|Communist]] and socialist parties grew, although some right-wing groups like [[Bharatiya Jana Sangh]] also did well.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://zeenews.india.com/lok-sabha-general-elections-2019/the-story-of-1962-lok-sabha-election-all-you-need-to-know-2185457.html|title=INKredible India: The story of 1962 Lok Sabha election – All you need to know|date=6 March 2019|first=Shubhodeep|last=Chakravarty|website=Zee News}}</ref>
 
=== Popularity ===
[[File:Jawaharlal Nehru with Einstein, 1949.jpg|thumb|alt=See caption |Nehru with Albert Einstein in Princeton, New Jersey, 1949]]
[[File:Jawaharlal Nehru's motorcade passing through the crowded streets of Djakarta, Indonesia,1950.jpg|thumb|right|Nehru with Indonesian president [[Sukarno]] in [[Jakarta]] in 1950]]
[[File:Jawaharlal Nehru with tiger cubs.jpg|thumb|Nehru playing with a tiger cub at his home in 1955]]
To date, Nehru is considered the most popular prime minister winning three consecutive elections with around 45% of the vote.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/elections/lok-sabha/india/after-nehru-and-indira-modi-is-only-pm-to-come-back-to-power-with-full-majority/articleshow/69464495.cms?from=mdr|title = After Nehru and Indira, Modi is only PM to come back to power with full majority|date=23 May 2019|newspaper = The Economic Times}}</ref> A [[Pathé News]] archive video reporting Nehru's death remarks "neither on the political stage nor in moral stature was his leadership ever challenged".<ref>{{Citation|title=World Mourns Nehru (1964)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pcR3eceOf4|language=en|access-date=31 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210731192854/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pcR3eceOf4|archive-date=31 July 2021}}</ref> In his book ''Verdicts on Nehru'' [[Ramachandra Guha]] cited a contemporary account that described what Nehru's 1951–52 Indian general election campaign looked like:<blockquote>Almost at every place, city, town, village or wayside halt, people had waited overnight to welcome the nation's leader. Schools and shops closed; milkmaids and cowherds had taken a holiday; the kisan and his helpmate took a temporary respite from their dawn-to-dusk programme of hard work in field and home. In Nehru's name, stocks of soda and lemonade sold out; even water became scarce . . . Special trains were run from out-of-the-way places to carry people to Nehru's meetings, enthusiasts travelling not only on footboards but also on top of carriages. Scores of people fainted in milling crowds.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Guha|first=Ramachandra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tDikAwAAQBAJ&q=Almost+at+every+place,+city,+town,+village+or+wayside+halt,+people+had+waited+overnight+to+welcome+the+nation%E2%80%99s+leader.+Schools+and+shops+closed;+milkmaids+and+cowherds+had+taken+a+holiday;+the+kisan+and+his+helpmate+took+a+temporary+respite+from+their+dawn-to-dusk+programme+of+hard+work+in+field+and+home.+In+Nehru%E2%80%99s+name,+stocks+of+soda+and+lemonade+sold+out;+even+water+became+scarce+.+.+.+Special+trains+were+run+from+out-of-the-way+places+to+carry+people+to+Nehru%E2%80%99s+meetings,+enthusiasts+travelling+not+only+on+footboards+but+also+on+top+of+carriages.+Scores+of+people+fainted+in+milling+crowds.&pg=PT9|title=Verdicts on Nehru|date=26 May 2013|publisher=[[Penguin Books]]|isbn=978-93-5118-757-8|language=en}}</ref></blockquote>
 
In the 1950s, Nehru was admired by world leaders such as British prime minister Winston Churchill, and US president [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]. A letter from Eisenhower to Nehru, dated 27 November 1958, read: <Blockquote>Universally you are recognised as one of the most powerful influences for peace and conciliation in the world. I believe that because you are a world leader for peace in your individual capacity, as well as a representative of the largest neutral nation....<ref>{{Cite web|series=Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, South and Southeast Asia, Volume XV – Office of the Historian|url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v15/d222|access-date=31 July 2021|title=Letter From President Eisenhower to Prime Minister Nehru|date=27 November 1958|website=history.state.gov}}</ref></blockquote> In 1955, Churchill called Nehru, the light of Asia, and a greater light than [[Gautama Buddha]].<ref name="Sahgal2010">{{cite book|author=Nayantara Sahgal|title=Jawaharlal Nehru: Civilizing a Savage World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KycnN-MlfY4C&pg=PP9|year=2010|publisher=[[Penguin Books India]]|isbn=978-0-670-08357-2|page=59}}</ref> Nehru is time and again described as a charismatic leader with a rare charm.{{efn|<ref>{{Cite web|last=Ian Hall|first=The Conversation|title=Nehru, the architect of modern India, also helped discredit European imperialism|url=https://scroll.in/article/1002353/nehru-the-architect-of-modern-india-also-helped-discredit-european-imperialism|access-date=15 November 2021|website=Scroll.in|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=How the ANC could fade away – OPINION {{!}} Politicsweb|url=https://www.politicsweb.co.za/opinion/how-the-anc-could-fade-away|access-date=15 November 2021|website=www.politicsweb.co.za|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=15 November 2021|title=UP Next: How Nehru, Swami Prabhu Dutt Brahmachari's ideas of India resonate in 2022 polls|url=https://www.firstpost.com/india/up-next-how-nehru-swami-prabhu-dutt-brahmacharis-ideas-of-india-resonate-in-2022-polls-10136981.html|access-date=15 November 2021|website=Firstpost|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=PM Modi is A 'Charismatic' Leader Like Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi: Rajinikanth|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-pm-modi-is-a-chrarismatic-leader-like-jawaharlal-nehru-rajiv-gandhi-rajnikanth/331096|access-date=15 November 2015|website=outlookindia|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Service|first=Tribune News|title=A thousand lies can't dwarf the giant Nehru was|url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/a-thousand-lies-cant-dwarf-the-giant-nehru-was-258860|access-date=15 November 2021|website=Tribuneindia News Service|language=en}}</ref>}}
 
== Vision and governing policies ==
[[File:Jawaharlal Nehru with school children at Durgapur copy.jpg|thumb|left|alt= Nehru with schoolchildren at the Durgapur Steel Plant |Nehru with schoolchildren at the [[Durgapur Steel Plant]]. Durgapur, [[Rourkela Steel Plant|Rourkela]] and [[Bhilai Steel Plant|Bhilai]] were three integrated steel plants set up under India's [[Five-Year Plans of India#Second Plan (1956–1961)|Second Five-Year Plan]] in the late 1950s.]]
According to [[Bhikhu Parekh]], Nehru can be regarded as the founder of the modern Indian state. Parekh attributes this to the national philosophy Nehru formulated for India. For him, modernisation was the national philosophy, with seven goals: national unity, parliamentary democracy, industrialisation, socialism, development of the scientific temper, and non-alignment. In Parekh's opinion, the philosophy and the policies that resulted from this benefited a large section of society such as public sector workers, industrial houses, middle and upper peasantry. However, it failed to benefit the urban and rural poor, the unemployed and the [[Hindu fundamentalist]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Parekh |first=Bhiku |date=1991 |title=Nehru and the National Philosophy of India |journal=[[Economic and Political Weekly]] |volume=26 |issue=5–12 Jan 1991 |pages=35–48 |jstor=4397189}}</ref>
 
After the exit of Subhash Chandra Bose from mainstream Indian politics (because of his support of violence in driving the British out of India),<ref>{{Cite news|first=Narendra|last=Kaushik|date=11 October 2016|title=How Gandhi softened stance towards Bose|work=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]]|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/mobi/news/comment/how-gandhi-softened-stance-towards-bose/307731.htmlc|access-date=2 October 2018}}</ref> the power struggle between the socialists and conservatives in the Congress party balanced out. However, the death of Vallabhbhai Patel in 1950 left Nehru as the sole remaining iconic national leader, and soon the situation became such that Nehru could implement many of his basic policies without hindrance<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/The_Triangle_India_Nepal_China/5rtGvnMrCTQC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=The+death+of+Vallabhbhai+Patel+in+1950+left+Nehru+as+the+sole+remaining+iconic+national+leader&pg=PA506&printsec=frontcover|title=Across The Himalayan Gap|date=1998|pages=506|publisher=Gyan Publishing House|editor=Tan Chung|isbn=81-212-0585-9}}</ref> Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi, was able to fulfil her father's dream by the [[Forty-second Amendment of the Constitution of India|42nd amendment]] (1976) of the Indian constitution by which India officially became "socialist" and "secular", during the state of [[The Emergency (India)|emergency]] she imposed.<ref>{{Cite web|title=THE Constitution (Amendment)|url=http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/amend/amend42.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150328040620/http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/amend/amend42.htm|archive-date=28 March 2015|access-date=18 May 2017|first=H. R.|last=Gokhale|website=indiacode.nic.in}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=27 December 2017|first=Adrija|last=Roychowdhury|title=Secularism: Why Nehru dropped and Indira inserted the S-word in the Constitution|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/research/anant-kumar-hegde-secularism-constitution-india-bjp-jawaharlal-nehru-indira-gandhi-5001085/|website=The Indian Express}}</ref>
 
=== Economic policies ===
[[File:Hermann Josef Abs - mit Adenauer und Nehru 1956.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Photograph of Nehru and German chancellor Konrad Adenauer and Deutsche Bank chairman Hermann Josef Abs |Nehru meeting with Chancellor [[Konrad Adenauer]] and [[Deutsche Bank]] chairman [[Hermann Josef Abs]] during a state visit to West Germany in June 1956.]]
[[File:Jawaharlal Nehru at Bhakra, 1953.jpg|thumb|left|Nehru during the construction of the [[Bhakra Dam]] in the Punjab, 1953]]
[[File:Jawaharlal Nehru at the Penicillin Factory, Pune, 1956.jpg|left|thumb|Nehru at an [[antibiotics]] manufacturing facility, [[Poona]], 1956]]
Nehru implemented policies based on [[Import substitution industrialization|import substitution industrialisation]] and advocated a [[mixed economy]] where the government-controlled [[public sector]] would co-exist with the [[private sector]].{{sfn|Ghose|1993|p=243}} He believed the establishment of basic and heavy industry was fundamental to the development and modernisation of the Indian economy. The government, therefore, directed investment primarily into key [[Public sector undertakings in India|public sector]] industries—steel, iron, coal, and power—promoting their development with subsidies and protectionist policies.{{sfn| Kopstein|2005|p=364}}
 
The policy of non-alignment during the [[Cold War]] meant that Nehru received financial and technical support from both power blocs in building India's industrial base from scratch.<ref name="Walsh">{{Cite book |url={{Google books|iekF9X3OwwMC|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |title=A Brief History of India |last=Walsh |first=Judith E. |publisher=[[Infobase Publishing]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-4381-0825-4 |page=190}}</ref> [[Steel mill]] complexes were built at [[Bokaro Steel City|Bokaro]] and [[Rourkela Steel Plant|Rourkela]] with assistance from the [[Soviet Union]] and [[West Germany]]. There was substantial industrial development.<ref name="Walsh" /> Industry grew 7.0% annually between 1950 and 1965—almost trebling industrial output and making India the world's seventh largest [[Industrial nation|industrial country]].<ref name="Walsh" /> Nehru's critics, however, contended that India's import substitution industrialisation, which was continued long after the Nehru era, weakened the international competitiveness of its manufacturing industries.<ref name="Yokokawa">{{Cite book |publisher=[[Routledge]] |page=213 |url={{Google books |mypg8XYiwxUC |keywords= |text= |plainurl=yes}} |isbn=978-1-134-09387-8 |last=Yokokawa |first=Nobuharu |author2=Jayati Ghosh |author3=Bob Rowthorn |title=Industrialization of China and India: Their Impacts on the World Economy |year=2013}}</ref> India's share of world trade fell from 1.4% in 1951–1960 to 0.5% between 1981 and 1990.<ref name="Grabowski">{{Cite book| publisher = [[M.E. Sharpe]]| page = 161|url={{Google books|5W2IMK7ivigC|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|isbn=978-1-134-09387-8| last = Grabowski| first = Richard| author2=Sharmistha Self |author3=Michael P. Shields| title = Economic Development: A Regional, Institutional, And Historical Approach| year = 2007}}</ref> However, India's export performance is argued to have showed actual sustained improvement over the period. The volume of exports grew at an annual rate of 2.9% in 1951–1960 to 7.6% in 1971–1980.<ref name="Shand">{{Cite book| publisher = [[Edward Elgar Publishing]]| page = 39|url={{Googlebooks|2Su6YPIgUBsC|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|isbn=978-1-78195-943-5| last = Shand| first = R. Richard Tregurtha| author2 = K. P. Kalirajan |author3=Ulaganathan Sankar| title = Economic Reform and the Liberalisation of the Indian Economy: Essays in Honour of Richard T. Shand; papers Presented at a Major Conference on Second Generation Reforms in Chennai from 8 – 10 December 1999| year = 2003}}</ref>
 
GDP and [[Gross national income|GNP]] grew 3.9 and 4.0% annually between 1950 and 1951 and 1964–1965.<ref name="Thakur">{{Cite book| publisher = Deep and Deep Publications| page = 14|url={{Google books|qH4FFyi4-i4C|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|isbn=978-81-8450-272-5| last = Thakur| first = Anil Khumar| author2=Debes Mukhopadhayay| title = Economic Philosophy of Jawaharlal Nehru| year = 2010}}</ref><ref name="Chandra">{{Cite book| publisher = [[Penguin Books India]]| page = 449|url={{Google books|dE9qEg-NgHMC|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|isbn=978-0-14-310409-4| last = Chandra| first = Bipan| author2=Aditya Mukherjee |author3=Mridula Mukherjee| title = India Since Independence| year = 2008}}</ref> It was a radical break from the British colonial period,<ref name="Kapila1">{{Cite book| publisher = Academic Foundation| page = 132|url={{Google books|KTbA2R_6gjAC|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|isbn=978-81-7188-711-8 | last = Kapila| first = Uma| title = Indian Economic Developments Since 1947 (3Rd Ed.)| year = 2009}}</ref> but the growth rates were considered anaemic at best compared to other industrial powers in Europe and East Asia.<ref name="Grabowski" /><ref name="Kapila2">{{Cite book| publisher = Academic Foundation| page =66|url={{Google books|KTbA2R_6gjAC|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|isbn=978-81-7188-711-8| last = Kapila| first = Uma| title = Indian Economic Developments Sinc 1947 (3Rd Ed.)| year = 2009}}</ref> India lagged behind the miracle economies (Japan, West Germany, France, and Italy).<ref name="Giersch">{{Cite book | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]| page = 4|url={{Google books|kkXGk_HyIBAC|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|isbn=978-0-521-35869-9| last = Giersch | first = Herbert| author2 = Karl-Heinz Paqué| author3 = Holger Schmieding| title = The Fading Miracle: Four Decades of Market Economy in Germany| year = 1994
}}</ref> State planning, controls, and regulations were argued to have impaired economic growth.{{sfn| Kopstein|2005|p=366}} While India's economy grew faster than both the United Kingdom and the United States, low initial income and rapid population increase meant that growth was inadequate for any sort of catch-up with rich income nations.<ref name="Kapila2" /><ref name="Giersch" /><ref name="Parker">{{Cite book| publisher = Routledge| page = 306|url={{Google books|9ydqHszxqEEC|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|isbn=978-0-415-67703-5| last = Parker| first = Randall E.| author2=Robert M. Whaples| title = The Routledge Handbook of Major Events in Economic History| year = 2013}}</ref>
 
Nehru's preference for big state-controlled enterprises created a complex system of quantitative regulations, quotas and tariffs, industrial licenses, and a host of other controls. This system, known in India as [[Licence Raj]], was responsible for economic inefficiencies that stifled entrepreneurship and checked economic growth for decades until the liberalisation policies initiated by the Congress government in 1991 under [[P. V. Narasimha Rao]].<ref name="Permit Raj">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uNYzPUhXhJYC&pg=PR20 |title=The Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy |last1=Daniel Yergin |last2=Joseph Stanislaw |date=15 June 2002 |publisher=[[Simon and Schuster]] |isbn=978-0-7432-2963-0}}</ref>
 
=== Agriculture policies ===
Under Nehru's leadership, the government attempted to develop India quickly by embarking on [[agrarian reform]] and rapid industrialisation.<ref>{{Cite book |url={{Google books|w2fXAwAAQBAJ|page=PA149|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |title=Nehru |last=Brown |first=Judith M. |date=17 June 2014 |isbn=978-1-317-87476-8|publisher=Routledge}}</ref> A successful [[land reform]] was introduced that abolished giant [[landholding]]s, but efforts to redistribute land by placing limits on landownership failed. Attempts to introduce large-scale cooperative farming were frustrated by landowning rural elites, who formed the core of the powerful right-wing of the Congress and had considerable political support in opposing Nehru's efforts.<ref name="Varshney1998">{{Cite book |url={{Google books|bnNPJKw9CDsC|page=PR9|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |title=Democracy, Development, and the Countryside: Urban-Rural Struggles in India |last=Ashutosh Varshney |date=18 September 1998 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-64625-3 |pages=30–31}}</ref> Agricultural production expanded until the early 1960s, as additional land was brought under cultivation and some irrigation projects began to have an effect. The establishment of agricultural universities, modelled after land-grant colleges in the United States, contributed to the development of the economy.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/India_Today/2GYZAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=The+establishment+of+agricultural+universities,+modelled+after+land-grant+colleges+in+the+United+States,+contributed+to+the+development+of+the+economy.&dq=The+establishment+of+agricultural+universities,+modelled+after+land-grant+colleges+in+the+United+States,+contributed+to+the+development+of+the+economy.&printsec=frontcover|title = India Today|year = 1963|publisher = New Horizons}}</ref> These universities worked with high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice, initially developed in Mexico and the Philippines, that in the 1960s began the [[Green Revolution]], an effort to diversify and increase crop production. At the same time, a series of failed monsoons would cause serious food shortages, despite the steady progress and an increase in agricultural production.<ref name="Farmer 1993 120">{{Cite book |url={{Google books|UNINAAAAQAAJ|page=PA120|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |title=An Introduction to South Asia |last=Farmer |first=B. H. |publisher=Routledge |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-415-05695-3 |page=120}}</ref>
 
=== Social policies ===
==== Education ====
Nehru was a passionate advocate of education for India's children and youth, believing it essential for India's future progress. His government oversaw the establishment of many institutions of higher learning, including the [[All India Institute of Medical Sciences]], the [[Indian Institutes of Technology]], the [[Indian Institutes of Management]] and the [[National Institutes of Technology]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.news18.com/news/lifestyle/childrens-day-2021-heres-why-jawaharlal-nehrus-birthday-celebrated-as-bal-diwas-4439072.html|title=Children's Day 2021: Here's Why Jawaharlal Nehru's Birthday Celebrated as Bal Diwas|date=14 November 2021|website=News18}}</ref> Nehru also outlined a commitment in his [[Five-Year Plans of India|five-year plans]] to guarantee free and compulsory primary education to all of India's children. For this purpose, Nehru oversaw the creation of mass village enrolment programs and the construction of thousands of schools. Nehru also launched initiatives such as the provision of free milk and meals to children to fight [[Malnutrition in India|malnutrition]]. Adult education centres, vocational and technical schools were also organised for adults, especially in the rural areas.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FJu9Dkv_2zEC&pg=PA132 |title=Freedom Fighters of India |last=Lion M.G. Agrawal |publisher=Isha Books |year=2008 |isbn=978-81-8205-470-7 |volume=2 |page=132 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
 
==== Hindu marriage law ====
Under Nehru, the Indian Parliament enacted many changes to [[Hindu law]] to criminalise [[caste]] discrimination and increase the legal rights and social freedoms of women.<ref>{{Cite journal| volume = 28| issue = 1| pages = 165–194| last = Som| first = Reba| title = Jawaharlal Nehru and the Hindu Code: A Victory of Symbol over Substance?| journal = [[Modern Asian Studies]]| date = February 1994| doi = 10.1017/S0026749X00011732| jstor = 312925| s2cid = 145393171}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| publisher = [[SUNY Press]]| page = 3|isbn=978-81-86706-49-7| quote = The Hindu Code Bill was visualised by Ambedkar and Nehru as the flagship of modernisation and a radical revision of Hindu law...it is widely regarded as dramatic benchmark legislation giving Hindu women equitable if not superior entitlements as legal subjects.| last = Basu| first = Srimati| title = She Comes to Take Her Rights: Indian Women, Property, and Propriety| year = 2005|url={{Googlebooks|mXgX8rrW6JsC|page=PA3|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}}}</ref>
 
Nehru specifically wrote Article 44 of the Indian constitution under the [[Directive Principles of State Policy]] which states: "The State shall endeavor to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India." The article has formed the basis of secularism in India.<ref>Erckel, Sebastian (2011). ''India and the European Union – Two Models of Integration'', GRIN Verlag, {{ISBN|978-3-656-01048-7}}, p. 128</ref> However, Nehru has been criticised for the inconsistent application of the law. Most notably, he allowed [[Muslim personal law in India|Muslims to keep their personal law]] in matters relating to marriage and inheritance. In the small state of [[Goa]], a civil code based on the old Portuguese Family Laws was allowed to continue, and Nehru prohibited Muslim personal law. This resulted from the [[annexation of Goa]] in 1961 by India, when Nehru promised the people that their laws would be left intact. This has led to accusations of selective secularism.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Minhaz|last=Merchant|url=https://theprint.in/opinion/nehrus-noble-intent-of-treating-muslims-fairly-put-india-on-slippery-slope-of-faux-secularism/489174/|title=Nehru's noble intent of treating Muslims fairly put India on slippery slope of faux secularism|date=27 August 2020|access-date=15 August 2021|work=[[ThePrint]]}}</ref><ref name="auto2">{{Cite book| publisher = Routledge| page = 328| quote = One subject that particularly interested Nehru was the reform of Hindu law, particularly with regard to the rights of Hindu women...| last = Kulke| first = Hermann| author2=Dietmar Rothermund| title = A History of India|url={{Google books|TPVq3ykHyH4C|page=PA328|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}| year = 2004|isbn=978-0-415-32919-4}}</ref>
 
While Nehru exempted Muslim law from legislation and they remained unreformed, he passed the [[Special Marriage Act, 1954|Special Marriage Act]] in 1954.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Vaibhav|last=Purandare|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/uniform-code-nehru-okayed-principle-but-didnt-make-it-a-directive/articleshow/60183225.cms|title=triple talaq: Uniform code: Nehru okayed principle, but didn't make it a directive|date=23 August 2017|access-date=15 August 2021|website=[[The Times of India]]}}</ref> The idea behind this act was to give everyone in India the ability to marry outside the personal law under a [[civil marriage]]. The law applied to all of India, except [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]], again leading to accusations of selective secularism.<ref name="auto2" /> In many respects, the act was almost identical to the [[The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955|Hindu Marriage Act, 1955]], demonstrates how secularised the law regarding Hindus had become. The Special Marriage Act allowed Muslims to marry under it and keep the protections, generally beneficial to Muslim women, that could not be found in the personal law. Under the act, [[polygamy]] was illegal, and inheritance and succession would be governed by the Indian Succession Act, rather than the respective Muslim personal law. Divorce would be governed by the secular law, and maintenance of a divorced wife would be along the lines set down in the civil law.<ref>{{Cite web|first1=Zakia|last1=Soman|first2=Noorjehan|last2=Niaz|url=https://thewire.in/religion/why-triple-talaq-needs-to-be-abolished|title=Why Triple Talaq Needs to Be Abolished|date=17 June 2016|access-date=15 August 2021|website=[[The Wire (India)|The Wire]]}}</ref>
 
==== Reservations for socially-oppressed communities ====
A system of [[Reservation in India|reservations]] in government services and educational institutions was created to eradicate the social inequalities and disadvantages faced by peoples of the [[Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes]]. Nehru convincingly succeeded secularism and [[Religious harmony in India|religious harmony]], increasing the representation of minorities in government.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lmg9EAAAQBAJ&q=Nehru+championed+secularism+and+%5B%5BReligious+harmony+in+India%7Creligious+harmony%5D%5D%2C+increasing+the+representation+of+minorities+in+government.&pg=PA20|title=Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru|first=Ravi Ranjan & M. K.|last=Singh|date=14 August 2021|publisher=K.K. Publications|pages=20|via=Google Books}}</ref>
 
==== Language policy ====
Nehru led the faction of the Congress party, which promoted Hindi as the [[lingua franca]] of the Indian nation.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/43134213|title=The Effectiveness of Establishing Hindi as a National Language|author=Gusain, Lakhan|year=2012|journal=[[Georgetown Journal of International Affairs]]|volume=13|issue=1|pages=43–50|jstor=43134213|via=JSTOR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|first=Nandini|last=Rathi|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/hindi-diwas-2017-journey-of-hindi-from-pre-partition-india-to-post-independence-language-politics-4843807/|title=Hindi Diwas: Journey of Hindi from pre-Partition India to post-independence language politics|date=15 September 2017|access-date=15 August 2021|website=The Indian Express}}</ref> After an exhaustive and divisive debate with the non-Hindi speakers, Hindi was adopted as the official language of India in 1950, with English continuing as an associate official language for 15 years, after which Hindi would become the sole official language. Efforts by the Indian Government to make Hindi the sole official language after 1965 were unacceptable to many non-Hindi Indian states, which wanted the continued use of English. The [[Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam]] (DMK), a descendant of [[Dravidar Kazhagam]], led the opposition to Hindi.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/Language-issue-again-the-need-for-a-clear-headed-policy/article16854068.ece |title=Language issue again: The need for a clear-headed policy |last=Viswanathan |first=S. |date=6 December 2009 |access-date=15 August 2021 |work=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref> To allay their fears, Nehru enacted the [[Official Languages Act in 1963]] to ensure the continuing use of English beyond 1965. The text of the Act did not satisfy the DMK and increased their scepticism that future administrations might not honour his assurances. The Congress Government headed by Indira Gandhi eventually amended the Official Languages Act in 1967 by to guarantee the indefinite use of Hindi and English as official languages. This effectively ensured the current "virtual indefinite policy of [[bilingualism]]" of the Indian Republic.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tjEdaFbEo0MC&pg=PA392 |title=Indian Government and Politics |last=Ghosh |first=P.E.U |date=3 September 2012 |isbn=978-81-203-4649-9|publisher = PHI Learning}}</ref>
 
=== Foreign policy ===
{{see|List of state visits made by Jawaharlal Nehru}}
{{See also|India and the Non-Aligned Movement}}
Throughout his long tenure as the prime minister, Nehru also held the portfolio of [[Minister of External Affairs (India)|External Affairs]].  His idealistic approach focused on giving India a leadership position in nonalignment. He sought to build support among the newly independent nations of Asia and Africa in opposition to the two hostile superpowers contesting the Cold War.
 
==== The Commonwealth ====
 
[[File:Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth Nations, at Windsor Castle (1960 Commonwealth Prime Minister's Conference).jpg|thumb|alt=Photograph of Queen Elizabeth II with Nehru and other Commonwealth leaders |[[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth&nbsp;II]] with Nehru and other Commonwealth leaders, taken at the [[1960 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference|1960 Commonwealth Conference]], [[Windsor Castle]]]]
 
After independence, Nehru wanted to maintain good relations with Britain and other British commonwealth countries.  As prime minister of the [[Dominion of India]], he signed the 1949 [[London Declaration]], under which India agreed to remain within the [[Commonwealth of Nations]] after becoming a republic in January 1950, and to recognise the British monarch as a "symbol of the free association of its independent member nations and as such the Head of the Commonwealth".<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DGU-AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA265 |title=The Journal of Korean Studies, Volume 18, Number 2 (Fall 2013) |last1=Sorensen |first1=Clark W. |last2=Baker |first2=Donald |date=10 December 2013 |isbn=978-1-4422-3336-2|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield}}</ref><ref name="Srinivasan2005">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5FbNCwAAQBAJ&pg=PR2 |title=The Rise, Decline and Future of the British Commonwealth |last=K. Srinivasan |date=7 November 2005 |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] UK |isbn=978-0-230-24843-4 |page=11}}</ref> The other nations of the Commonwealth recognised India's continuing membership of the association.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thecommonwealth.org/london-declaration|title = London Declaration|date = 16 May 2019}}</ref>
 
==== Non-aligned movement ====
[[File:Jawaharlal Nehru’s tour of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1961 (01).jpg|thumb|alt= See caption |Nehru with [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] and [[Josip Broz Tito]] in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1961]]
On the international scene, Nehru was an opponent of military action and military alliances. He was a strong supporter of the United Nations, except when it tried to resolve the Kashmir question. He pioneered the policy of non-alignment and co-founded the [[Non-Aligned Movement]] of nations professing neutrality between the rival blocs of nations led by the US and the USSR.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/jawaharlal-nehru-the-architect-of-indias-foreign-policy/articleshow/58767014.cms|title=Non-Aligned Movement: Jawaharlal Nehru – The architect of India's foreign policy|date=20 May 2017|first=Affanul|last=Haque|website=The Times of India}}</ref> Recognising the People's Republic of China soon after its founding (while most of the Western bloc continued relations with [[Taiwan]]), Nehru argued for its inclusion in the United Nations and refused to brand the Chinese as the aggressors in their conflict with Korea.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Robert Sherrod |author-link=Robert Sherrod|date=19 January 1963 |title=Nehru:The Great Awakening |journal=[[The Saturday Evening Post]] |volume=236 |issue=2 |pages=60–67}}</ref> He sought to establish warm and friendly relations with China in 1950 and hoped to act as an intermediary to bridge the gulf and tensions between the communist states and the Western bloc.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Encyclopaedia_Indica_Great_political_per/bf8vAQAAIAAJ?|title = Encyclopaedia Indica: Great political personalities of Post Colonial Era-I|date = 1996|pages=81|first= Shyam Singh|last=Shashi|publisher = Anmol Publications|isbn = 9788170418597}}</ref>
 
Nehru was a key organiser of the [[Bandung Conference]] of April 1955, which brought 29 newly independent nations together from Asia and Africa, and was designed to galvanise the nonalignment movement under Nehru's leadership. He envisioned it as his key leadership opportunity on the world stage, where he would bring together the emerging nations.<ref>[[Sarvepalli Gopal]],''"Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography" Vol.2'', 2:232-35.</ref> Instead, the Chinese representative, [[Zhou Enlai]], who downplayed revolutionary communism and acknowledged the right of all nations to choose their own economic and political systems, including even capitalism upstaged him. Nehru and his top foreign-policy aide, [[V.K. Krishna Menon]], by contrast gained an international reputation as rude and undiplomatic. Zhou said privately, "I have never met a more arrogant man than Mr. Nehru." A senior Indian foreign office official characterised Menon as "an outstanding world statesman but the world's worst diplomat," adding that he was often "overbearing, churlish and vindictive".<ref>[[H. W. Brands]], ''India and the United States'' (1990) pp 78, 85</ref>
 
==== Defence and nuclear policy ====
While averse to war, Nehru led the campaigns against Pakistan in Kashmir. He used military force to annex [[Indian annexation of Hyderabad|Hyderabad in 1948]] and Goa in 1961.  While laying the foundation stone of the [[National Defence Academy (India)|National Defence Academy]] in 1949, he stated:<blockquote>We, who for generations had talked about and attempted in everything a peaceful way and practised non-violence, should now be, in a sense, glorifying our army, navy and air force. It means a lot. Though it is odd, yet it simply reflects the oddness of life. Though life is logical, we have to face all contingencies, and unless we are prepared to face them, we will go under. There was no greater prince of peace and apostle of non-violence than Mahatma Gandhi...but yet, he said it was better to take the sword than to surrender, fail or run away. We cannot live carefree assuming that we are safe. Human nature is such. We cannot take the risks and risk our hard-won freedom. We have to be prepared with all modern defense methods and a well-equipped army, navy, and air force."<ref>''[[Indian Express]],'' 6 October 1949 at Pune at the time of lying of the foundation stone of [[National Defence Academy (India)|National Defence Academy]].</ref><ref>Mahatma Gandhi's relevant quotes, "My non-violence does not admit of running away from danger and leaving dear ones unprotected. Between violence and cowardly flight, I can only prefer violence to cowardice. Non-violence is the summit of bravery."
"I do believe that, where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence." "I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honour than that she should in a cowardly manner become or remain a helpless witness to her own dishonour." – All Men Are Brothers Life and Thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi as told in his own words. UNESCO. pp. 85–108.</ref></blockquote>
 
Nehru entrusted [[Homi J. Bhabha]], a nuclear physicist, with complete authority over all nuclear-related affairs and programs and answerable only to the prime minister.<ref name="http://nuclearweaponarchive.org">{{cite web |last = Sublet |first = Carrie |title = Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha |work  = nuclearweaponarchive.org |url = http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/India/Bhabha.html |access-date = 8 August 2011|url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110807160029/http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/India/Bhabha.html |archive-date = 7 August 2011}}</ref>
 
Many hailed Nehru for working to defuse global tensions and the threat of [[nuclear weapon]]s after the [[Korean War]] (1950–1953).<ref>{{Cite book | publisher = Panchsheel Publishers| page = 131| last = Bhatia| first = Vinod| title = Jawaharlal Nehru, as Scholars of Socialist Countries See Him| year = 1989}}</ref> He commissioned the first study of the [[effects of nuclear explosions on human health]] and campaigned ceaselessly for the [[Nuclear disarmament|abolition]] of what he called "these frightful engines of destruction". He also had pragmatic reasons for promoting de-nuclearization, fearing a nuclear arms race would lead to over-militarisation that would be unaffordable for developing countries such as his own.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = [[C. Hurst & Co.]] Publishers| pages = 141, 261|url={{Google books|X90G8gnoqv4C|page=PA141|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|isbn=978-1-85065-180-2| last = Dua| first = B. D. | author2=James Manor| title = Nehru to the Nineties: The Changing Office of Prime Minister in India| year = 1994}}</ref>
 
==== Defending Kashmir ====
[[File:Nehru visiting Srinagar Brigade Headquarters Military Hospital.jpg|right|thumb|Nehru inspecting the troops on a visit to the Srinagar Brigade Headquarters Military Hospital, April 1948]]
At [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Lord Mountbatten's]] urging, in 1948, Nehru had promised to hold a [[referendum|plebiscite]] in [[Kashmir]] under the auspices of the UN.<ref name="Bose2004">{{Cite book |url={{Google books|4Rh7DAdsK0gC|page=PA137|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |title=Raj, Secrets, Revolution: A Life of Subhas Chandra Bose |last=Mihir Bose |publisher=Grice Chapman Publishing |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-9545726-4-8 |page=291}}</ref> Kashmir was a disputed territory between India and Pakistan, the two having [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1947|gone to war]] over it in 1947. However, as Pakistan failed to pull back troops in accordance with the UN resolution, and as Nehru grew increasingly wary of the UN, he declined to hold a plebiscite in 1953. His policies on Kashmir and  integrating of the state into India were frequently defended before the United Nations by his aide, V. K. Krishna Menon, who earned a reputation in India for his passionate speeches.<ref name="nytimes1974">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/10/06/archives/vk-krishna-menon-india-defense-minister-un-aide-dies-a-year-of.html |title=V.K. Krishna Menon, India Defense Minister, U.N. Aide, Dies |date=6 October 1974 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>
 
In 1953, Nehru orchestrated the ouster and arrest of [[Sheikh Abdullah]], the prime minister of Kashmir, whom he had previously supported but now suspected of harbouring separatist ambitions; [[Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad]] replaced him.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sundaymagazine/A-fateful-arrest/article15401893.ece |title=A fateful arrest |first=Ramachandra|last=Guha|date=2 August 2008|access-date=15 August 2021 |work=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref><ref name="Ghose1993">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MUeyUhVGIDMC&pg=PA1 |title=Jawaharlal Nehru, a Biography |last=Sankar Ghose |publisher=Allied Publishers |year=1993 |isbn=978-81-7023-369-5 |pages=1888–190}}</ref>
 
Menon was instructed to deliver an unprecedented eight-hour speech defending India's stand on Kashmir in 1957; to date, the speech is the longest ever delivered in the [[United Nations Security Council]], covering five hours of the 762nd meeting on 23&nbsp;January, and two hours and forty-eight minutes on the 24th, reportedly concluding with Menon's collapse on the Security Council floor.<ref name="nytimes1974" /> During the [[filibuster]], Nehru moved swiftly and successfully to consolidate Indian power in Kashmir (then under great unrest). Menon's passionate defence of Indian sovereignty in Kashmir enlarged his base of support in India and led to the Indian press temporarily dubbing him the "Hero of Kashmir". Nehru was then at the peak of his popularity in India; the only (minor) criticism came from the far-right.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8272473.stm |title=A short history of long speeches |date=25 September 2009 |work=[[BBC News]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305174645/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8272473.stm |archive-date=5 March 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Majid, Amir A. |year=2007 |title=Can Self Determination Solve the Kashmir Dispute? |url=http://www.ier.ro/documente/rjea_vol7_no3/RJEA_Vol7_No3_Can_Self_Determination_Solve_the_Kashmir_Dispute.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Romanian Journal of European Affairs |volume=7 |issue=3 |page=38 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316211935/http://www.ier.ro/documente/rjea_vol7_no3/RJEA_Vol7_No3_Can_Self_Determination_Solve_the_Kashmir_Dispute.pdf |archive-date=16 March 2012}}</ref>
 
==== China ====
[[File:Prime Minister Nehru and Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong in Beijing.jpg|thumb|alt=Photograph of Nehru with Mao Zedong |Nehru and [[Mao Zedong]] in Beijing, China, October 1954]]
In 1954, Nehru signed with China the [[Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence]], known in India as the Panchsheel (from the Sanskrit words, ''panch'': five,'' sheel'': virtues), a set of principles to govern relations between the two states. Their first formal codification in treaty form was in an agreement between China and India in 1954, which recognised Chinese sovereignty over [[Tibet]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MUeyUhVGIDMC&pg=PA1 |title=Jawaharlal Nehru, a Biography |last=Sankar Ghose |publisher=Allied Publishers |year=1993 |isbn=978-81-7023-369-5 |pages=266–268}}</ref> They were enunciated in the preamble to the "Agreement (with exchange of notes) on Trade and Intercourse between Tibet Region of China and India", which was signed at Peking on 29&nbsp;April 1954. Negotiations took place in Delhi from December 1953 to April 1954 between the Delegation of the [[People's Republic of China]] (PRC) Government and the Delegation of the Indian Government on the relations between the two countries regarding the disputed territories of [[Aksai Chin]] and South Tibet. By 1957, Chinese premier Zhou Enlai had also persuaded Nehru to accept the Chinese position on Tibet, thus depriving Tibet of a possible ally, and of the possibility of receiving military aid from India.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Li |first1=Jianglin |last2=Wilf |first2=Susan |title=Tibet in agony : Lhasa 1959 |year=2016 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=40–41 |isbn=978-0-674-08889-4 |oclc=946579956}}</ref> The treaty was disregarded in the 1960s, but in the 1970s, the Five Principles again came to be seen as important in [[China–India relations]], and more generally as norms of relations between states. They became widely recognised and accepted throughout the region during the premiership of Indira Gandhi and the three-year rule of the [[Janata Party]] (1977–1980).<ref>The full text of this agreement (which entered into force on 3 June 1954): {{Cite web |url=http://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/unts/volume%20299/v299.pdf |title=Treaties and international agreements registered or filed and recorded with the Secretariat of the United Nations |year=1958 |website=[[United Nations Treaty Series]] |publisher=United Nations |location=New York |pages=57–81 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327031415/http://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/unts/volume%20299/v299.pdf |archive-date=27 March 2012 |access-date=14 August 2012 |volume=299}}</ref> Although the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence were the basis of the 1954 Sino-Indian border treaty, in later years, Nehru's foreign policy suffered from increasing Chinese assertiveness over border disputes and his decision to grant [[Right of asylum|asylum]] to the [[14th Dalai Lama]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/9x8RPd562DusWqVQQ91NfN/Nehrus-India.html |title=Nehru's India |date=23 May 2014 |access-date=15 August 2021 |work=[[Mint (newspaper)|Mint]]}}</ref>
 
[[Dag Hammarskjöld]], the second secretary-general of the United Nations, said that while Nehru was superior from a moral point of view, Zhou Enlai was more skilled in [[realpolitik]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Via ports : from Hong Kong to Hong Kong |last=Grantham |first=Alexander |date=2012 |publisher=[[Hong Kong University Press]] |isbn=978-988-8083-85-5 |edition=New |location=Hong Kong |page=184}}</ref>
 
==== United States ====
[[File:Indo US.jpg|thumb|alt=See caption |Nehru receiving US President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] at Parliament House, 1959]]
[[File:President John F. Kennedy Meets with Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru (1).jpg|right|thumb|Nehru with John F. Kennedy at the White House, 7 November 1961]]
In 1956, Nehru criticised the joint invasion of the [[Suez Canal]] by the British, French, and Israelis. His role, both as Indian prime minister and a leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, was significant; he tried to be even-handed between the two sides while vigorously denouncing [[Anthony Eden]] and co-sponsors of the invasion. Nehru had a powerful ally in the US president Dwight Eisenhower who, if relatively silent publicly, went to the extent of using America's clout at the [[International Monetary Fund]] to make Britain and France back down. During the [[Suez crisis]], Nehru's right-hand man, Menon attempted to persuade a recalcitrant [[Gamal Abdel Nasser|Gamal Nasser]] to compromise with the West and was instrumental in moving Western powers towards an awareness that Nasser might prove willing to compromise.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/indias-moment-in-the-suez-canal-crisis/article9320638.ece|title=India's moment in the Suez Canal crisis|first=Swapna Kona|last=Nayudu|date=8 November 2016|access-date=15 August 2021|website=[[Business Line]]}}</ref>
 
The US had hoped to court Nehru after its intervention in favour of Nasser during the Suez crisis. However, Cold War suspicions and American distrust of Nehruvian socialism cooled relations between India and the US, which suspected Nehru of tacitly supporting the Soviet Union. Nehru maintained good relations with Britain even after the Suez Crisis. He accepted the UK and World Bank's arbitration, signing the [[Indus Waters Treaty]] in 1960 with Pakistani ruler [[Ayub Khan (general)|Ayub Khan]] to resolve long-standing disputes about sharing the resources of the major rivers of the Punjab region.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://casi.sas.upenn.edu/iit/swapnakonanayudu2016|title=Nehru's India & the Suez Canal Crisis of 1956|date=7 November 2016|website=Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dbgUEAAAQBAJ&q=The+US+had+hoped+to+court+Nehru+after+its+intervention+in+favour+of+Nasser+during+the+Suez+crisis.&pg=PT48|title=Ruling Dynasties of Independent India – Volume 1|first=RAVINDRA|last=PADALKAR|date=16 January 2021|publisher=Notion Press|isbn=978-1-63714-799-3|via=Google Books}}</ref>
 
==== Goa ====
After years of failed negotiations, Nehru authorised the [[Indian Army]] to invade Portuguese-controlled [[Portuguese India]] (Goa) in 1961, and then he formally annexed it to India. It increased his popularity in India, but he was criticised by the communist opposition in India for the use of military force.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-liberation-of-goa/article22339624.ece |title=The liberation of Goa |last=Davar |first=Praveen |date=31 December 2017 |access-date=15 August 2021 |work=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref>
 
== Sino-Indian War of 1962 ==
{{See also|Sino-Indian War}}
From 1959, in a process that accelerated in 1961, Nehru adopted the "[[Forward policy (Sino-Indian conflict)|Forward Policy]]" of setting up military outposts in disputed areas of the Sino-Indian border, including in 43 outposts in territory not previously controlled by India.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Noorani |first=A.G. |title=Perseverance in the peace process |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2017/stories/20030829001604900.htm |date=29 August 2003 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050326174852/http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2017/stories/20030829001604900.htm |archive-date=26 March 2005 |work=[[Frontline (magazine)|Frontline]] |publisher=hinduonnet.com |access-date=15 August 2021}}</ref> China attacked some of these outposts, and the [[Sino-Indian War]] began, which India lost. China withdrew to pre-war lines in the eastern zone at [[Tawang]] but retained Aksai Chin, which was within British India, and was handed over to India after independence.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/india-china-war-1962-20-october-aksai-chin-nefa-arunchal-pradesh-1067703-2017-10-20|title=This day in 1962: China-India war started with synchronised attack on Ladakh, Arunachal|first1=Prabhash K.|last1=Dutta New|date=20 October 2017|website=[[India Today]]}}</ref> Later, Pakistan handed over some portion of Kashmir near [[Siachen Glacier|Siachen]] controlled by Pakistan since 1948 to China.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/kashmir-how-line-of-control-has-changed-in-70-years-1579118-2019-08-09|title=Kashmir: How Line of Control has changed in 70 years|first1=Prabhash K.|last1=Dutta|date=9 August 2019|website=[[India Today]]}}</ref>
 
The war exposed the unpreparedness of India's military, which could send only 14,000 troops to the war zone in opposition to the much larger [[Chinese Army]], and Nehru was widely criticised for his government's insufficient attention to defence. In response, Nehru sacked the defence minister V. K. Krishna Menon and sought [[United States military aid|US military aid]]. Nehru's improved relations with the US under [[John F. Kennedy]] proved useful during the war, as in 1962, the [[president of Pakistan]] (then closely aligned with the Americans) Ayub Khan was made to guarantee his neutrality regarding India,  threatened by "[[Communism|communist]] aggression from Red China".<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,842104-10,00.html |title=Asia: Ending the Suspense |date=17 September 1965 |access-date=15 August 2021 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521075607/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C842104-10%2C00.html |archive-date=21 May 2013 }}</ref> India's relationship with the Soviet Union, criticised by right-wing groups supporting [[Free market|free-market]] policies, was also seemingly validated. Nehru would continue to maintain his commitment to the non-aligned movement, despite calls from some to settle down on one permanent ally.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cold-wars/alternative-world-visions/2D0ABD3F6605FE74F3307698D7989643|title=Alternative World Visions|editor-first=Lorenz M.|editor-last=Lüthi|date=14 July 2020|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|pages=261–328|isbn=978-1-108-41833-1}}</ref>
 
The aftermath of the war saw sweeping changes in the Indian military to prepare it for similar conflicts in the future and placed pressure on Nehru, who was seen as responsible for failing to anticipate the Chinese attack on India. Under American advice (by American envoy [[John Kenneth Galbraith]] who made and ran American policy on the war as all other top policymakers in the US were absorbed in the coincident [[Cuban Missile Crisis]]) Nehru refrained<!--not according to the best choices available (???)---> from using the Indian air force to beat back the Chinese advances. The CIA later revealed that, at that time, the Chinese had neither the fuel nor runways long enough to use their air force effectively in Tibet. Indians, in general, became highly sceptical of China and its military. Many Indians view the war as a betrayal of India's attempts at establishing a long-standing peace with China and started to question Nehru's usage of the term ''Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai'' (Indians and Chinese are brothers). The war also put an end to Nehru's earlier hopes that India and China would form a strong Asian Axis to counteract the increasing influence of the Cold War bloc superpowers.<ref name="Garver">{{Cite web |url=http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~johnston/garver.pdf |title=China's Decision for War with India in 1962 by John W. Garver |date=26 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326032121/http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~johnston/garver.pdf |archive-date=26 March 2009 |access-date=14 August 2012}}</ref>
[[File:India disputed areas map.svg|thumb|alt=See caption |
Map showing [[List of disputed territories of India|disputed territories of India]]]]
The unpreparedness of the army was blamed on Defence Minister Menon, who "resigned" his government post to allow for someone who might modernise India's military further. India's policy of weaponization using indigenous sources and self-sufficiency began in earnest under Nehru, completed by his daughter Indira Gandhi, who later led India to a crushing military victory over rival Pakistan in 1971. Toward the end of the war, India had increased her support for Tibetan refugees and revolutionaries, some of them having settled in India, as they were fighting the same common enemy in the region. Nehru ordered the raising of an elite Indian-trained "Tibetan Armed Force" composed of Tibetan refugees, which served with distinction in future wars against Pakistan in 1965 and 1971.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/07/tibetans-in-exile-india-elections-right-to-vote |title=Tibetans-in-exile divided over right to vote in Indian elections |last=Sehgal |first=Saransh |date=7 May 2014 |work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>
 
During the conflict, Nehru wrote two urgent letters to US President John F. Kennedy, requesting 12 squadrons of fighter jets and a modern radar system. These jets were seen as necessary to increase Indian air strength so that air-to-air combat could be initiated safely from the Indian perspective (bombing troops was seen as unwise for fear of Chinese retaliatory action). Nehru also asked that these aircraft be manned by American pilots until Indian airmen were trained to replace them. The Kennedy Administration (which was involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis during most of the Sino-Indian War) rejected these requests, leading to a cooling of Indo-US relations. According to former Indian diplomat [[Gopalaswami Parthasarathy|G Parthasarathy]], "only after we got nothing from the US did arms supplies from the Soviet Union to India commence".<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Jawaharlal-Nehru-pleaded-for-US-help-against-China-in-1962/articleshow/6931810.cms |title=Jawaharlal Nehru pleaded for US help against China in 1962 |date=16 November 2010 |access-date=14 August 2021 |work=Times of India |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102020532/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Jawaharlal-Nehru-pleaded-for-US-help-against-China-in-1962/articleshow/6931810.cms |archive-date=2 January 2016 }}</ref> According to ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine's 1962 editorial on the war, however, this may not have been the case. The editorial states,<blockquote>When Washington finally turned its attention to India, it honoured the ambassador's pledge, loaded 60 US planes with $5,000,000 worth of automatic weapons, heavy mortars, and land mines. Twelve huge C-130 Hercules transports, complete with US crews and maintenance teams, took off for New Delhi to fly Indian troops and equipment to the battle zone. Britain weighed in with Bren and Sten guns and airlifted 150 tons of arms to India. Canada prepared to ship six transport planes. Australia opened Indian credits for $1,800,000 worth of munitions.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,829540,00.html |title=India: Never Again the Same |date=30 November 1962 |access-date=14 August 2021 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080601194950/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,829540,00.html |archive-date=1 June 2008 }}</ref></blockquote>
 
== Assassination attempts and security ==
{{See also|List of assassination attempts on the prime ministers of India}}
There were four known assassination attempts on Nehru. The first attempt was made during partition in 1947 while he was visiting the [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|North-West Frontier Province]] (now in Pakistan) in a car.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Reminiscences of the Nehru Age |last=Mathai |year=1978}}</ref> A second was by Baburao Laxman Kochale, a knife-wielding [[rickshaw]]-puller, near [[Nagpur]] in 1955.{{efn|<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2202&dat=19550312&id=xTAmAAAAIBAJ&pg=1451,3268287 |title=Assassination Attempt on Nehru Made in Car |date=22 March 1955 |access-date=14 August 2021 |work=[[Gettysburg Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19550314&id=99cbAAAAIBAJ&pg=3125,3067050 |title=Rickshaw Boy Arrested for Nehru Attack |date=14 March 1955 |access-date=14 August 2021 |work=[[Sarasota Herald Tribune]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=19550314&id=nmNTAAAAIBAJ&pg=6416,4776451 |title=Rickshaw Boy Arrested for Attempting to Kill Nehru |date=14 March 1955 |access-date=14 August 2021 |work=[[The Victoria Advocate]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=P4ZjAAAAIBAJ&pg=6064,1041556&dq=nehru+assassination |title=Knife Wielder Jumps on Car of Indian Premier |date=12 March 1955 |access-date=14 August 2021 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]}}</ref>}} The third attempt took place in [[Bombay Presidency|Bombay]] in 1956,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BDdEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3947,2134723&dq=nehru+assassination |title=Police Say Nehru's Assassination Plot is Thwarted |date=4 June 1956 |access-date=14 August 2021 |work=[[Altus Times-Democrat]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=G8RdAAAAIBAJ&pg=4365,3368509&dq=nehru+assassination |title=Bombay Police Thwart Attempt on Nehru's Life |date=4 June 1956 |access-date=14 August 2021 |work=[[Oxnard Press-Courier]]}}</ref> and the fourth was a failed bombing attempt on train tracks in [[Maharashtra]] in 1961.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19610930&id=v2cUAAAAIBAJ&pg=3440,1262437 |title=Bomb Explodes on Nehru's Route |date=30 September 1961 |access-date=14 August 2021 |work=[[Toledo Blade]]}}</ref> Despite threats to his life, Nehru despised having too much security around him and did not like to disrupt traffic because of his movements.<ref>{{Cite book |title=My Days with Nehru |last=Mathai |first=M.O. |publisher=Vikas Publishing House |year=1979}}</ref>
 
== Death ==
{{Main|Death and state funeral of Jawaharlal Nehru}}
{|class="toccolours" style="float: right; margin-left: 0.5em; margin-right: 0.5em; font-size: 83%; background:#white; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 30%;" cellspacing="5"
|style="text-align: left;"|If any people choose to think of me then I should like them to say, "This was the man who with all his mind and heart loved India and the Indian people. And they in turn were indulgent to him and gave him of their love most abundantly and extravagantly."
– Jawaharlal Nehru, 1954.<ref name=roberts-gandhi-nehru>{{citation|last=Roberts|first=Elizabeth Mauchline|title=Gandhi, Nehru and Modern India|publisher=Routledge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=De2oDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT143|series=Routledge Library Editions:British in India|year=2017|isbn=978-1-00-063959-9|orig-year=1974}}</ref>
|}
 
Nehru's health began declining steadily after 1962, and he spent months recuperating in Kashmir through 1963. Some historians attribute this dramatic decline to his surprise and chagrin over the Sino-Indian War, which he perceived as a betrayal of trust.<ref name="Encyclopedia of Asian History">{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Asia Society |title=Jawaharlal Nehru |editor-last=Embree |editor-first=Ainslie T. |editor-link=Ainslie Embree |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Asian History |year=1988 |volume=3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofas0000embr/page/98 98–100] |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofas0000embr/page/98 |location=New York |publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons]] |isbn=978-0-684-18899-7}}</ref> Upon his return from [[Dehradun]] on 26&nbsp;May 1964, he was feeling quite comfortable and went to bed at about 23:30 as usual. He had a restful night until about 06:30. Soon after he returned from the bathroom, Nehru complained of pain in the back. He spoke to the doctors who attended on him for a brief while, and almost immediately he collapsed. He remained unconscious until he died early in the afternoon. His death was announced in the [[Lok Sabha]] at 14:00 local time on 27&nbsp;May 1964; the cause of death was believed to be a heart attack.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/27/newsid_3690000/3690019.stm BBC ON THIS DAY {{!}} 27 {{!}} 1964: Light goes out in India as Nehru dies] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130811052528/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/27/newsid_3690000/3690019.stm |date=11 August 2013 }}. [[BBC News]]. Retrieved 17 March 2011.</ref> Draped in the Indian national Tri-colour flag, the body of Jawaharlal Nehru was placed for public viewing. "''[[Raghupati Raghava Rajaram]]''" was chanted as the body was placed on the platform. On 28&nbsp;May, Nehru was cremated in accordance with Hindu rites at the [[Raj Ghat and associated memorials|Shantivan]] on the banks of the [[Yamuna]], witnessed by 1.5&nbsp;million mourners who had flocked into the streets of Delhi and the cremation grounds.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/05/29/1-5-million-view-rites-for-nehru.html |title=1.5 Million View Rites for Nehrus; Procession Route Jammed as Indians and Foreigners Pay Last Respects |last=Brady|first=Thomas F.|date=29 May 1964 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=18 May 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802130344/http://www.nytimes.com/1964/05/29/1-5-million-view-rites-for-nehru.html |archive-date=2 August 2017 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
 
Nehru's death left India with no clear political heir to his leadership; later [[Lal Bahadur Shastri]] succeeded him as the prime minister.<ref>{{Cite news|date=28 May 2014|url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/28/nehru-india-death-1964-archive|title=From the archive, 28 May 1964: The death of Mr Nehru, hero and architect of modern India|access-date=14 August 2021|work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> The death was announced to the Indian parliament in words similar to Nehru's own at the time of Gandhi's assassination: "[[The light has gone out of our lives|The light is out]]."<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |url={{Google books|XUEEAAAAMBAJ|page=PA32|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |title=A Man Who, with All His Mind and Heart, Loved India |date=5 June 1964 |magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life Magazine]] |publisher=[[Time Inc.]]|pages=32 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0527.html |title=India Mourning Nehru, 74, Dead of a Heart Attack; World Leaders Honor Him |access-date=28 March 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170322235121/http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0527.html |archive-date=22 March 2017 |website=[[The New York Times|nytimes.com]]}}</ref> There, India's future prime minister [[Atal Bihari Vajpayee]] famously delivered Nehru an acclaimed eulogy.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Pathak|first=Vikas|date=17 August 2018|title=Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the orator: Speech that sounded like poetry|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/atal-bihari-vajpayee-the-orator/article24710175.ece|access-date=7 January 2022|issn=0971-751X}}</ref> He hailed Nehru as [[Bharat Mata]]'s "favourite prince" and likened him to mythological [[warrior]]-[[king]] [[Rama]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=16 August 2018|title=Vajpayee on Nehru's death: Bharat Mata has lost her favourite prince|url=https://theprint.in/opinion/vajpayee-on-nehrus-death-bharat-mata-has-lost-her-favourite-prince/99455/|access-date=7 January 2022|website=ThePrint|language=en-US|quote=In the Ramayana, Maharashi Valmiki has said of Lord Rama that he brought the impossible together. In Panditji's life, we see a glimpse of what the great poet said. He was a devotee of peace and yet the harbinger of revolution, he was a devotee of non-violence but advocated every weapon to defend freedom and honour.}}</ref>
 
== Key cabinet members and associates ==
Nehru served as the prime minister for eighteen years, first as interim prime minister during 1946–1947 during the last year of the [[British Raj]] and then as prime minister of independent India from 15 August 1947 to 27 May 1964.
 
[[B. R. Ambedkar]], the law minister in the interim cabinet, also chaired the Constitution Drafting Committee.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/we-ensured-b-r-ambedkar-was-chairman-of-drafting-committee-of-constitution-congress/articleshow/49987634.cms?from=mdr|title=We ensured B R Ambedkar was chairman of drafting committee of Constitution: Congress|work=[[The Economic Times]]|date=30 November 2015|access-date=14 August 2021}}</ref>
 
Vallabhbhai Patel served as home minister in the interim government. He was instrumental in getting the Congress party working committee to vote for partition. He is also credited with integrating peacefully most of the princely states of India. Patel was a long-time comrade to Nehru but died in 1950, leaving Nehru as the unchallenged leader of India until his own death in 1964.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=376oAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA88 |title=Vision and Strategy in Indian Politics: Jawaharlal Nehru's Policy Choices and the Designing of Political Institutions |last=Jivanta Schoettli |publisher=Routledge |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-136-62787-3 |page=88}}</ref>
 
Abul Kalam Azad was the First Minister of Education in the Indian government [[Minister of Human Resource Development]] (until 25&nbsp;September 1958, Ministry of Education). His contribution to establishing the education foundation in India is recognised by celebrating his birthday as National Education Day across India.<ref name="thehindu">{{cite news|title=International Urdu conference from Nov. 10|url=http://www.hindu.com/2010/11/07/stories/2010110754680500.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101111204425/http://www.hindu.com/2010/11/07/stories/2010110754680500.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 November 2010|date=7 November 2010|work=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=13 April 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Chawla, Muhammad |title=Maulana Azad and the Demand for Pakistan: A Reappraisal|journal=Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society|year= 2016|volume= 64|issue=3|pages= 7–24|url=https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-4269551701/maulana-azad-and-the-demand-for-pakistan-a-reappraisal}}</ref>
 
[[Jagjivan Ram]] became the youngest minister in Nehru's Interim government of India, a [[Ministry of Labour and Employment (India)|labour minister]] and also a member of the Constituent Assembly of India, where, as a member of the [[dalit]] caste, he ensured that [[social justice]] was enshrined in the [[Constitution of India|Constitution]]. He went on to serve as a minister with various portfolios during Nehru's tenure and in Shastri and Indira Gandhi governments.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=399UDwAAQBAJ&q=Jagjivan+Ram+became+the+youngest+minister+in+Nehru%27s+Interim+government+of+India+a+Labour+Minister+and+also+a+member+of+the+Constituent+Assembly+of+India,+where,+as+a+member+from+the+dalit+caste,+he+ensured+that+social+justice+was+enshrined+in+the+Constitution.&pg=PT591|title = Bihar General Knowledge Digest|isbn = 978-93-5266-769-7|last1 = Singh|first1 = Pradyuman|date = 19 January 2021|publisher=Prabhat Prakashan}}</ref>
 
[[Morarji Desai]] was a nationalist with anti-corruption leanings but socially conservative, pro-business, and in favour of free enterprise reforms, as opposed to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's socialistic policies. After serving as chief minister of [[Bombay state]], he joined Nehru's cabinet in 1956 as the finance minister of India. he held that position until 1963 when he along with other senior ministers in Nehru cabinet resigned under the [[K. Kamaraj|Kamaraj plan]].The
plan, as proposed by Madras chief Minister K.Kamaraj, was to revert government ministers to party positions after a
certain tenure and vice versa.With Nehru's age and health failing in the early 1960s, Desai was considered as a possible contender for the position of Prime Minister.<ref name="HaqqiAssociation1986">{{cite book|author1=Anwarul Haque Haqqi|author2=Indian Political Science Association|title=Indian Democracy at the Crossroads|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk7c6O2XlGwC&pg=PA150|year=1986|publisher=Mittal Publications|page=123|id=GGKEY:X2U27GYQ2L1}}</ref><ref name="Singh1981a">{{cite book|author=Mahendra Prasad Singh|title=Split in a Predominant Party: The Indian National Congress in 1969|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UOQRWuMXyRMC&pg=PAPR5|year=1981|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-81-7017-140-9|page=50}}</ref> Later  Desai alleged that Nehru used the Kamaraj Plan to remove all possible contenders ‘from the path of his daughter, Indira Gandhi.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Da |first1=S |title=The Nehru years in Indian politics |journal=Edinburgh Papers in South Asian Studies |date=2001 |volume=16 |page=24 |url=http://www.issti.ed.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/38480/WP16_Suranjan_Das.pdf |access-date=10 September 2021 |archive-date=10 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210910183407/http://www.issti.ed.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/38480/WP16_Suranjan_Das.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Desai succeeded Indira Gandhi as the prime minister in 1977 when he was selected by the victorious Janata alliance as their parliamentary leader.<ref name="Mirchandani2003">{{cite book|author=G.G. Mirchandani|title=320 Million Judges|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5xj0g8euumQC&pg=PA11|date=June 2003|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-81-7017-061-7|pages=177–178}}</ref>
 
Govind Ballabh Pant (1887–1961) was a key figure in the [[Indian independence movement]] and later a pivotal figure in the politics of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and in the Indian Government. Pant served in Nehru's cabinet as Union home minister from 1955 until his death in 1961.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2006-09-10/india/27791764_1_floral-tributes-homage-vice-president-bhairon-singh-shekhawat |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120701135017/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2006-09-10/india/27791764_1_floral-tributes-homage-vice-president-bhairon-singh-shekhawat |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 July 2012 |work=[[The Times of India]] |title=Nation pays homage to Govind Ballabh Pant |date=10 September 2006 }}</ref> As home minister, his chief achievement was the [[States Reorganisation Act, 1956|re-organisation of states along linguistic lines]]. He was also responsible for the establishment of [[Hindi]] as an official language of the [[Government of India|central government]] and a few states.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gbpec.net/gbpant.html |title=Govind Ballabh Pant Engineering College, Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand |publisher=Gbpec.net |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121225073145/http://www.gbpec.net/gbpant.html |archive-date=25 December 2012 |access-date=1 January 2013}}</ref> During his tenure as the home minister, Pant was awarded the [[Bharat Ratna]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/PadmaAwards1954-2007.pdf |title=Padma Awards Directory (1954–2007) |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410024701/http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/PadmaAwards1954-2007.pdf |archive-date=10 April 2009 |access-date=26 November 2010}}</ref>
 
[[C. D. Deshmukh]] was one of five members of the Planning Commission when it was constituted in 1950 by a cabinet resolution.<ref name="google106">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=376oAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA106 |title=Vision and Strategy in Indian Politics: Jawaharlal Nehru's Policy Choices and the Designing of Political Institutions |last=Jivanta Schoettli |publisher=Routledge |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-136-62787-3 |location=Oxon |page=106}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F_2KeZsYcjQC&pg=PT84 |title=Development Administration |last=S. A. Palekar |publisher=PHI Learning |year=2012 |isbn=978-81-203-4582-9 |location=New Delhi |page=74}}</ref> Deshmukh succeeded [[John Mathai]] as the [[Finance minister of India|Union Finance Minister]] in 1950 after Mathai resigned in protest over the transfer of certain powers to the Planning Commission.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/once-upon-a-plan/ |title=Once upon a plan |first=Inder |last=Malhotra |date=26 September 2014 |work=[[The Indian Express]] |access-date=11 July 2016}}</ref> As finance minister, Deshmukh remained a member of the Planning Commission.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://planningcommission.nic.in/aboutus/history/ref_man03032011.pdf |title=Reference Material 2010 Notes of the Functioning of Various DiviionsI |date=2010 |publisher=Planning Commission of India |access-date=11 July 2016 |archive-date=8 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161208211549/http://planningcommission.nic.in/aboutus/history/ref_man03032011.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Deshmukh's tenure—during which he delivered six budgets and an interim budget<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.newcenturypublications.com/servlet/ncpGetBiblio?bno=000106 |title=India: Central Government Budgets – 1947–48 to 2003–04 |last=M M Sury |date=2003 |publisher=New Century Publications |access-date=20 July 2016}}</ref>—is noted for the effective management of the Indian economy and its steady growth which saw it recover from the impacts of the events of the 1940s.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/specials/north-block-mavericks-197030101130_1.html |title=North Block Mavericks |date=1 March 1997 |work=[[Business Standard]] |access-date=11 July 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rDmPKwQQdokC&pg=PA134 |title=The Politics of Poverty: Planning India's Development |last=D K Rangnekar |publisher=SAGE Publications |year=2012 |isbn=978-81-321-0902-0 |location=New Delhi |page=134}}</ref> During Deshmukh's tenure, the [[State Bank of India]] was formed in 1955 through the nationalisation and amalgamation of the [[Imperial Bank of India|Imperial Bank]] with several smaller banks.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/2004/12/21/stories/2004122100050902.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221085824/http://www.thehindu.com/2004/12/21/stories/2004122100050902.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 December 2016 |title=dated December 21, 1954: State Bank of India |date=21 December 2004 |work=[[The Hindu]] |access-date=12 July 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030420/spectrum/book11.htm |title=Tracing history of the SBI |first=B. S.|last=Thaur |date=20 April 2003 |work=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]] |access-date=12 July 2016}}</ref> He accomplished the nationalisation of insurance companies and the formation of the [[Life Insurance Corporation of India]] through the Life Insurance Corporation of India Act, 1956.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QDqppvb19TsC&pg=PT180 |title=India: The Emerging Giant |last=Arvind Panagariya |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-19-989014-9 |location=New York}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KlN819nQS-wC&pg=PT41 |title=Insurance in India: Changing Policies and Emerging Opportunities |last1=P S Palande |last2=R S Shah |publisher=Response Books |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7619-9747-4 |location=New Delhi |page=31}}</ref> Deshmukh resigned over the Government's proposal to move a bill in Parliament bifurcating [[Bombay State]] into [[Gujarat]] and Maharashtra while designating the city of [[Mumbai|Bombay]] a Union territory.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uzNnwUasQ3wC&pg=PA280 |title=Dr. Zakir Hussain, Quest for Truth |last=Ziaul Hasan Faruqi |publisher=APH Publishing |year=1999 |isbn=978-81-7648-056-7 |location=Delhi |page=280}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/vSENKsR3LEwbCgaG4zMw8K/The-anxiety-that-lingers.html |title=The anxiety that lingers |last=Niranjan Rajadhyaksha |date=7 December 2012 |work=[[Mint (newspaper)|Mint]] |access-date=11 July 2016}}</ref>
 
[[Vengalil Krishnan Krishna Menon|V. K. Krishna Menon]] (1896–1974) was a close associate of Nehru, and has been described by some as the second most powerful man in India during Nehru's tenure as prime minister. Under Nehru, he served as India's high commissioner to the UK, UN ambassador, and union minister of defence. He was forced to resign after the debacle of the 1962 China war.<ref name="autogenerated3">{{Cite news|first=Norman D.|last=Palmer|date=12 January 2007|url= http://www.cs.nyu.edu/~kandathi/vkkm1962.pdf  |title=The 1962 Election in North Bombay|access-date=14 August 2021 |url-status=dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120318032815/http://www.cs.nyu.edu/~kandathi/vkkm1962.pdf |archive-date= 18 March 2012 |work= [[New York University|cs.nyu.edu]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yQM4AAAAIAAJ&q=vengalil+landowner&pg=PR6 |title=The Nayars today&nbsp;– Christopher John Fuller |last=Fuller |first=C. J. |date=30 December 1976 |isbn=978-0-521-29091-3 |access-date=11 July 2012 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>Michael Brecher, and Janice Gross Stein, eds., '' India and world politics: Krishna Menon's view of the world'' ([[Praeger Publishing]], 1968).</ref>
 
In the years following independence, Nehru frequently turned to his daughter Indira Gandhi for managing his personal affairs.<ref>{{Cite book |url={{Google books|EZIBxpeRXxsC|page=PR7|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |title=Women in power : the personalities and leadership styles of Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, and Margaret Thatcher |last=Steinberg |first=Blema S. |date=2008 |publisher=[[McGill-Queen's University Press]] |isbn=978-0-7735-3356-1 |location=Montreal |page=20 |access-date=2 December 2015}}</ref>  Indira moved into Nehru's official residence to attend to him and became his constant companion in his travels across India and the world. She would virtually become Nehru's chief of staff.<ref>{{Cite book |url={{Google books|EZIBxpeRXxsC|page=PR7|keywords=indira%20nehru%20hostess|text=|plainurl=yes}} |title=Women in power : the personalities and leadership styles of Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, and Margaret Thatcher |last=Steinberg |first=Blema S. |date=2008 |publisher=[[McGill-Queen's University Press]] |isbn=978-0-7735-3356-1 |location=Montreal |page=20 |access-date=2 December 2015}}</ref> Towards the end of the 1950s, Indira Gandhi served as the president of the Congress. In that capacity, she was instrumental in getting the Communist led [[Government of Kerala|Kerala]] State Government dismissed in 1959.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Upadhyaya |first=Prakash Chandra |date=1989 |title=Review of Marxist State Governments in India, Politics, Economics and Society by T. J. Nossiter |journal=Social Scientist |volume=17 |issue=1/2 January – February 1989 |pages=84–91 |doi=10.2307/3520112 |jstor=3520112}}</ref> Indira was elected as Congress party president in 1959, which aroused criticism for alleged [[nepotism]], although Nehru had actually disapproved of her election, partly because he considered that it smacked of "dynasticism"; he said, indeed it was "wholly undemocratic and an undesirable thing", and refused her a position in his cabinet.<ref name="Frank">{{Cite book| publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin]] Books| page = 250|url={{Google books|0eolM37FUWYC|page=PA250|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|isbn=978-0-395-73097-3| last = Frank| first = Katherine| title = Indira: The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi| year = 2002}}</ref> Indira herself was at loggerheads with her father over policy; most notably, she used his oft-stated personal deference to the [[Congress Working Committee]] to push through the dismissal of the [[Communist Party of India]] government in the state of [[Kerala]], over his own objections.<ref name="Frank" /> Nehru began to be embarrassed by her ruthlessness and disregard for parliamentary tradition and was "hurt" by what he saw as assertiveness with no purpose other than to stake out an identity independent of her father.<ref name="Marlay 1999 368">{{Cite book| publisher = [[Rowman & Littlefield]]| page = 368|url={{Googlebooks|7i0jGxysUUcC|page=PA368|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|isbn=978-0-8476-8442-7| last = Marlay| first = Ross| author2=Clark D. Neher| title = Patriots and Tyrants: Ten Asian Leaders| year = 1999}}{{dead link|date=August 2021}}</ref>
 
== Relationships ==
After Kamala's death in 1936, Nehru was rumoured to have relationships with several women. These included Shraddha Mata,<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article/if-i-werent-a-sanyasin-he-would-have-married-me/223036 |title=If I Weren't A Sanyasin, He Would Have Married Me |last=Reddy |first=Sheela |date=23 February 2004 |access-date=14 August 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150808052023/http://www.outlookindia.com/article/if-i-werent-a-sanyasin-he-would-have-married-me/223036 |archive-date=8 August 2015 |publisher=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]]}}</ref> [[Padmaja Naidu]]<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/mar/01nehru.htm |title=The Rediff Interview / Stanley Wolpert 'I have tried to tell Nehru's story as honestly as possible' |last=Srinivasan |first=Rajeev |access-date=6 August 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924160656/http://www.rediff.com/news/mar/01nehru.htm |archive-date=24 September 2015 |work=[[Rediff.com]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url={{Google books|Cg9uAAAAMAAJ|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |title=Nehru: A Tryst with Destiny |last=Wolpert |first=Stanley |date=1996 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-510073-0 |author-link=Stanley Wolpert |access-date=6 August 2015}}</ref> and [[Edwina Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma|Edwina Mountbatten]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=15 July 2007|url=http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/nehruedwina-were-in-deep-love-says-daughter/205099/ |title=Nehru-Edwina were in deep love, says daughter|access-date=13 August 2021|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813142417/http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/nehruedwina-were-in-deep-love-says-daughter/205099/ |archive-date=13 August 2021 |work= [[The Indian Express]]}}</ref> Countess Mountbatten's daughter [[Lady Pamela Hicks]] acknowledged Nehru's platonic relationship with Lady Mountbatten.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-04-21/people/28137788_1_lady-edwina-mountbatten-lord-mountbatten-edwina-and-nehru |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811065740/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-04-21/people/28137788_1_lady-edwina-mountbatten-lord-mountbatten-edwina-and-nehru |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 August 2011 |title=Love, longing & politics! |date=21 April 2010 |website=[[The Times of India]] |access-date=2 September 2012}}</ref> At Lady Edwina Mountbatten's burial at sea in 1960, Nehru requested an Indian Navy frigate [[INS Trishul (F143)|INS ''Trishul'']] to escort the [[HMS Wakeful (1943)|HMS ''Wakeful'']] from which the burial took place and to cast a wreath as a mark of the respect in which she was held in India.<ref>{{cite book|last=Morgan|first=Janet|author-link=Janet Morgan, Lady Balfour of Burleigh|title=Edwina Mountbatten – A Life of Her Own|year=1992|publisher=Fontana|location=London|isbn=0-00-637787-4|page=481|chapter=Leave-taking}}</ref>
 
[[File:NehruEd.jpg|thumb|alt=See caption |Prime Minister Nehru with Edwina Mountbatten in 1951]]
British historian [[Philip Ziegler]], with access to the private letters and diaries, concludes the relationship:
<blockquote>was to endure until Edwina Mountbatten's death: intensely loving, romantic, trusting, generous, idealistic, even spiritual. If there was any physical element it can only have been of minor importance to either party. [India's Governor-General] Mountbatten's reaction was one of pleasure....He liked and admired Nehru, it was useful to him that the Prime Minister should find such attractions in the Governor-General's home, it was agreeable to find Edwina almost permanently in good temper: the advantages of the alliance were obvious.<ref>Philip Ziegler, ''Mountbatten'' (1985) p. 473.</ref></blockquote>
 
Nehru's sister, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit told [[Pupul Jayakar]], Indira Gandhi's friend and biographer, that Padmaja Naidu and Nehru lived together for many years.<ref>{{Cite book |url={{Google books|gm5JGkb2rhkC|page=PR9|keywords=padmaja|text=%22padmaja+naidu" nehru relationship lovers|plainurl=yes}} |title=Indira Gandhi, a biography |last=Jayakar |first=Pupul |date=1995 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-011462-1 |edition=Rev. |location=New Delhi, India |pages=90–92}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Rh7DAdsK0gC&q=%22padmaja+naidu%22+nehru+love&pg=PA137 |title=Raj, secrets, revolution : a life of Subhas Chandra Bose |last=Bose |first=Mihir |date=2004 |publisher=Grice Chapman |isbn=978-0-9545726-4-8 |location=Norwich |pages=137, 160}}</ref>
 
== Religion and personal beliefs ==
[[File:Nehru sweets oratarians Nongpoh.jpg|thumb|alt=See captionNehru distributes sweets among children at [[Nongpoh]], Meghalaya]]
 
Described as [[Agnosticism#Hindu philosophy|Hindu Agnostic]],<ref>{{Cite book |title=Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography, Volume 3; Volumes 1956–1964 |last=Sarvepalii|first=Gopal|page=17|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2013/may/28/death-of-nehru-archive-1964|title = The death of Nehru: From the archive, 28 May 1964|website = [[TheGuardian.com]]|date = 28 May 2013}}</ref> and styling himself as a "[[secular humanism|scientific humanist]]",<ref>{{cite web|work=[[Times of India]]|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Nehrus-Scientific-Humanism/articleshow/8590304.cms|title=Nehru's Scientific Humanism|last=Vohra | first=Ashok |date=27 May 2011|access-date=18 August 2017}}</ref> Nehru thought that religious taboos were preventing India from moving forward and adapting to modern conditions: "No country or people who are slaves to dogma and dogmatic mentality can progress, and unhappily our country and people have become extraordinarily dogmatic and little-minded."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ypZ-BAAAQBAJ&pg=PP103|title=Jawaharlal Nehru;a Biography Volume 1 1889–1947|author=[[Sarvepalli Gopal]]|date=8 January 2015|isbn=978-1-4735-2187-2|publisher=[[Random House]]}}</ref>
 
{{blockquote|sign=|source=''[[An Autobiography (Nehru)|Toward Freedom: The Autobiography of Jawaharlal Nehru]]'' (1936); pp. 240–241.<ref>{{Cite book |url={{Google books|abcfAAAAIAAJ|page=PA1|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |title=Hindu-Muslim Relations in British India: A Study of Controversy, Conflict, and Communal Movements in Northern India 1923–1928 |last=Thursby |first=Gene R. |date=1975 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-04380-0 |pages=1 |language=en}}</ref>|The spectacle of what is called religion, or at any rate organised religion, in India and elsewhere, has filled me with horror and I have frequently condemned it and wished to make a clean sweep of it. Almost always it seemed to stand for blind belief and reaction, dogma and bigotry, superstition, exploitation and the preservation of vested interests.}}
 
As a humanist, Nehru considered that his afterlife was not in some mystical heaven or reincarnation but in the practical achievements of a life lived fully with and for his fellow human beings: “…Nor am I greatly interested in life after death. I find the problems of this life sufficiently absorbing to fill my mind,” he wrote.<ref name="auto4" /> In his Last Will and Testament he wrote: “I wish to declare with all earnestness that I do not want any religious ceremonies performed for me after my death. I do not believe in such ceremonies, and to submit to them, even as a matter of form, would be hypocrisy and an attempt to delude ourselves and others.”<ref name="auto4" />
 
In his autobiography, he analysed Christianity<ref>{{Cite book |title=Secularism and Hindutva, a Discursive Study |last=A. A. Parvathy |year=1994 |page=42|publisher=Codewood Process & Printing}}</ref> and [[Islam]],<ref>{{Cite book |title=Babri Masjid: a tale untold |last=Mohammad Jamil Akhtar |page=359|publisher=Genuine Publications}}</ref> and their impact on India. He wanted to model India as a [[secular state|secular country]]; his [[secularism|secularist]] policies remain a subject of debate.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Communal Threat to Secular Democracy |last=Ram Puniyani |year=1999 |page=113|publisher=Kalpaz Publications}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Jawaharlal Nehru, a Biography |last=Sankar Ghose |year=1993 |page=210|publisher=Alied Publishers}}</ref>
 
== Legacy ==
{{further|List of things named after Jawaharlal Nehru}}
{| class="toccolours" style="float: right; margin-left: 0.5em; margin-right: 0.5em; font-size: 79%; background:#white; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 30%;" cellspacing="5"
| style="text-align: left;" | Nehru was a great man... Nehru gave to Indians an image of themselves that I don't think others might have succeeded in doing. – [[Isaiah Berlin|Sir Isaiah Berlin]]<ref>Jahanbegloo, Ramin ''Conversations with Isaiah Berlin'' (London 2000), {{ISBN|978-1-84212-164-1}} pp. 201–202</ref>
|}
[[File:Jawaharlal Nehru statue in Aldwych 1.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=See Caption |Bust of Nehru at [[Aldwych]], London]]
 
As India's first Prime minister and external affairs minister, Jawaharlal Nehru played a major role in shaping modern India's government and political culture along with sound foreign policy.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|first=Karuna|last=Madan|date=13 November 2014|url=https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/india/the-relevance-of-jawaharlal-nehru-1.1411887|title=The relevance of Jawaharlal Nehru|website=[[Gulf News|gulfnews.com]]|access-date=13 August 2021}}</ref> He is praised for creating a system providing universal primary education,<ref>{{Cite news|date=September 1997|first=R. M. |last=Pal|url= http://www.pucl.org/from-archives/Academia/primary-education-pm.htm |title= Universal primary education first on the Prime Minster<!--sic-->'s agenda |access-date=13 August 2021 |url-status=dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150924083134/http://www.pucl.org/from-archives/Academia/primary-education-pm.htm |archive-date= 24 September 2015 |work= [[People's Union for Civil Liberties|pucl.org]]}}</ref> reaching children in the farthest corners of rural India. Nehru's education policy is also credited for the development of world-class educational institutions like the All India Institute of Medical Sciences,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.aiims.ac.in/aiims/aboutaiims/aboutaiimsintro.htm |title=Introduction |website=[[AIIMS]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140625122618/http://aiims.ac.in/aiims/aboutaiims/aboutaiimsintro.htm |archive-date=25 June 2014}}</ref> Indian Institutes of Technology,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/institute/history.php |title=Institute History |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070813213137/http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/institute/history.php |archive-date=13 August 2007 |work=[[Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur]]|access-date=13 August 2021}}</ref> and the Indian Institutes of Management.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/05/28/archives/nehru-a-queer-mixture-of-east-and-west-led-the-struggle-for-a.html|title=Nehru, a 'Queer Mixture of East and West,' Led the Struggle for a, Modern India; Devoted His Life to Nation's Cause; Blended Skill in Politics With the Spiritualism of His Mentor, Gandhi|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=28 May 1964}}</ref>
 
In addition, Nehru's stance as an unfailing nationalist led him to implement policies that stressed commonality among Indians while still appreciating regional diversities. This proved particularly important as post-Independence differences surfaced, since British withdrawal from the subcontinent prompted regional leaders to no longer relate to one another as allies against a common adversary. While differences in culture and, especially, language threatened the unity of the new nation, Nehru established programs such as the National Book Trust and the National Literary Academy which promoted the translation of regional literatures between languages and organised the transfer of materials between regions. In pursuit of a single, unified India, Nehru warned, "Integrate or perish."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Harrison, Selig S. |date=July 1956 |title=The Challenge to Indian Nationalism |journal=[[Foreign Affairs]] |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=620–636 |doi=10.2307/20031191 |jstor=20031191}}</ref>
 
Historian Ramachandra Guha writes, "[had] Nehru retired in 1958 he would be remembered as not just India's best prime minister, but as one of the great statesmen of the modern world".<ref>{{Cite news |first=Ramachandra |last=Guha |date=25 September 2012 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-19671397 |title=Manmohan Singh at 80 |access-date=13 August 2021 |work=[[BBC News]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120926160244/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-19671397 |archive-date=26 September 2012 }}</ref> Nehru, thus, left behind a disputed legacy, being "either adored as architect of Modern India {{efn|<ref>{{Cite web|title=Architect of modern India|url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/article25402011.ece|access-date=2021-12-04|website=Frontline|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title='Architect of modern India': Congress pays tributes to Jawaharlal Nehru on death anniversary|url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2021/may/27/architect-of-modern-india-congress-pays-tributes-to-jawaharlal-nehru-on-death-anniversary-2308208.html|access-date=2021-12-04|website=The New Indian Express}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-11-14|title=Jawaharlal Nehru: Architect of modern India|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/inspiring-lives/jawaharlal-nehru-architect-of-modern-india/story-Ch4DgrerxtY448l0yxulTO.html|access-date=2021-12-04|website=Hindustan Times|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Ian Hall|first=The Conversation|title=Nehru, the architect of modern India, also helped discredit European imperialism|url=https://scroll.in/article/1002353/nehru-the-architect-of-modern-india-also-helped-discredit-european-imperialism|access-date=2021-12-04|website=Scroll.in|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Dixit |first1=J. N.  |title=From the archives: How Jawaharlal Nehru shaped India in the 20th century |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india-today-insight/story/from-the-archives-how-jawaharlal-nehru-shaped-india-in-the-20th-century-1876654-2021-11-14 |date=14 November 2021 |website=India Today |language=en |access-date=2021-12-04}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Editorial: Master's voice|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/kangana-ranauts-statement-is-a-testament-to-the-quid-pro-quo-arrangement-between-the-current-regime-and-its-pets/cid/1838908|access-date=2021-12-04|website=www.telegraphindia.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-05-26|title=Opinion: Nehruvian legacy is his idea of India|url=https://www.siasat.com/nehruvian-legacy-is-his-idea-of-india-2141877/|access-date=2021-12-04|website=The Siasat Daily|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-11-12|title=Remembering Jawaharlal Nehru: The Man Who Shaped Modern India|url=https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2020/11/jawaharlal-nehru-the-architect-of-modern-india/|access-date=2021-12-04|website=Youth Ki Awaaz|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Service|first=Tribune News|title=A thousand lies can't dwarf the giant Nehru was|url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/a-thousand-lies-cant-dwarf-the-giant-nehru-was-258860|access-date=2021-12-04|website=Tribuneindia News Service|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-11-16|title=Nehru, the real architect of modern India|url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/141116/commentary-op-ed/article/nehru-real-architect-modern-india|access-date=2021-12-04|website=Deccan Chronicle|language=en}}</ref>}} or reviled for India's progress or lack of it".<ref name="A legacy that Nehru left behind"/> [[File:TMstudy.png|thumb|alt=See caption |Nehru's study in [[Teen Murti Bhavan]], which is now converted into a museum.]]
 
=== Commemoration ===
[[File:1989 CPA 6121.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=See caption |Nehru on a 1989 [[Soviet Union|USSR]] commemorative stamp]]
In his lifetime, Jawaharlal Nehru enjoyed an iconic status in India and was widely admired across the world for his idealism and statesmanship.<ref name="auto1" /> Nehru's ideals and policies continue shaping the Congress Party's [[manifesto]] and core political philosophy.<ref name="google2010" /> His birthday, 14&nbsp;November is celebrated in India as ''Bal Divas'' ("[[Children's Day in India|Children's Day]]") in recognition of his lifelong passion and work for the welfare, education and development of children and young people. Children across India remember him as ''Chacha Nehru'' ("Uncle Nehru").<ref name="google2010">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qtuRMJCIe0cC&pg=PA175 |title=Gandhi Nehru and Globalization |last=Thakur |first=Harish |year=2010 |isbn=978-81-8069-684-8|publisher=Concept Publishing}}</ref> Nehru remains a popular symbol of the Congress Party which frequently celebrates his memory. people often emulate his style of clothing, especially the [[Gandhi cap]] and the [[Nehru jacket]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/290519/remembering-jawaharlal-nehru.html|title=Remembering Jawaharlal Nehru|date=29 May 2019|website=Deccan Chronicle}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/modish-designs/294045|title=Modish Designs|website=outlookindia|date=4 February 2022}}</ref> Nehru's preference for the [[sherwani]] ensured it continues to be considered formal wear in North India today.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Tripti|last=Lahiri|url= http://www.jnmf.in/history.html |title=  A Profile of the Nehru Jacket|date=20 January 2012 |access-date=13 August 2021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=  https://web.archive.org/web/20150303195903/http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/01/20/a-profile-of-the-nehru-jacket/  |archive-date= 3 March 2015 |work= [[The Wall Street Journal|blogs.wsj.com]]}}</ref>
 
[[File:5 Rupees coin of India commemorating the birth centenary of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India.jpg|thumb|[[Indian 5-rupee coin|Indian 5 rupees coin]], [[Commemorative coin|commemorating]] the birth centenary of Nehru in 1989.]] Many public institutions and memorials across India are dedicated to Nehru's memory. The [[Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi|Jawaharlal Nehru University]] in Delhi is among the most prestigious universities in India. The [[Jawaharlal Nehru Port]] near the city of Mumbai is a modern port and [[dock (maritime)|dock]] designed to handle a huge cargo and traffic load. Nehru's residence in Delhi is preserved as the [[Teen Murti House]] now has [[Nehru Memorial Museum & Library]], and one of five [[Nehru Planetarium]]s that were set in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Allahabad and Pune. The complex also houses the offices of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, established in 1964 under the chairmanship of [[Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan]], then president of India. The foundation also gives away the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fellowship, established in 1968.<ref>{{Cite news |url= http://www.jnmf.in/history.html |title=  Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund  |access-date=13 August 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=  https://web.archive.org/web/20151107075119/http://www.jnmf.in/history.html  |archive-date= 7 November 2015 }}</ref> The Nehru family homes at Anand Bhavan and [[Swaraj Bhavan]] are also preserved to commemorate Nehru and his family's legacy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/india/the-relevance-of-jawaharlal-nehru-1.1411887|title=The relevance of Jawaharlal Nehru|website=gulfnews.com}}</ref> In 2012, Nehru was ranked number four in ''[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]]''{{'}}s poll of [[The Greatest Indian]].<ref>{{Cite web|first=Uttam|last=Sengupta|date=20 August 2012|url=https://magazine.outlookindia.com/story/a-measure-of-the-man/281949|title=A Measure Of The Man|website=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]]|access-date=13 August 2021}}</ref>
 
=== In the 21st century ===
Nehru and his policies have faced criticism from the Hindu Nationalists after the [[BJP]] led right-leaning [[National Democratic Alliance|NDA]] government came into power in India.<ref>{{Cite web|title=How 'WhatsApp university' has destroyed Nehru's legacy|url=https://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay?newsID=679933|access-date=3 November 2021|website=www.daijiworld.com|language=en}}</ref> Words such as '[[Liberalism|liberal]]', '[[Progressivism|progressive]]', '[[left-leaning]]', '[[secular]]', '[[scientific temper]]', '[[intelligentsia]]', '[[socialism]]', 'elite' are colloquially considered 'Nehruvian'.{{efn|<ref>{{Cite news|last=Jacob|first=Happymon|date=10 August 2017|title=When the paradigm shifts: on PM Modi's new brand of politics|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-the-paradigm-shifts-pm-modis-new-brand-of-politics/article19458952.ece|access-date=3 November 2021|issn=0971-751X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=26 May 2021|title=Opinion: Nehruvian legacy is his idea of India|url=https://www.siasat.com/nehruvian-legacy-is-his-idea-of-india-2141877/|access-date=3 November 2021|website=The Siasat Daily|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=View: Nehru and science in the age of coronavirus|work=The Economic Times|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/view-nehru-and-science-in-the-age-of-coronavirus/articleshow/74803294.cms?from=mdr|access-date=3 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Gupta|first=Rajeev Mantri,Harsh|date=4 June 2013|title=The Nehruvian condescension towards minorities|url=https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/h953KJCyrVIMah1Cp8OTwO/The-Nehruvian-condescension-towards-minorities.html|access-date=7 November 2021|website=mint|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Daniyal|first=Shoaib|title=Why Nehruvian secularism is still alive and kicking, despite BJP's body blows|url=http://scroll.in/article/689254/why-nehruvian-secularism-is-still-alive-and-kicking-despite-bjps-body-blows|access-date=7 November 2021|website=Scroll.in|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Jain|first1=Vinny|last2=Jain|first2=Vinnay|title=Authenticity and Derivativeness : Debating Nehruvian Secularism|date=2007|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41856329|journal=The Indian Journal of Political Science|volume=68|issue=2|pages=311–323|jstor=41856329|issn=0019-5510}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Going back to Nehru: Why secular nationalism is the only way to avoid balkanization of India|url=https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2020/04/06/going-back-to-nehru-why-secular-nationalism-is-the-only-way-to-avoid-balkanization-of-india.html|access-date=7 November 2021|website=The Week|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ram|first=Ronki|date=1 July 2014|title=Jawaharlal Nehru, Neo‐Liberalism and Social Democracy: Mapping the Shifting Trajectories of Developmental State in India|url=https://doi.org/10.1177/0974354520140203|journal=Voice of Dalit|language=en|volume=7|issue=2|pages=187–210|doi=10.1177/0974354520140203|s2cid=157353887|issn=0974-3545}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=14 November 2014|title=Nehruvian legacy|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/letters/nehruvian-legacy/article6595944.ece|access-date=7 November 2021|issn=0971-751X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Nehruvian Thoughts More Relevant In Present Day India, Says Hamid Ansari|url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/nehruvian-thoughts-more-relevant-now-says-hamid-ansari-1265113|access-date=7 November 2021|website=NDTV.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Deshmane|first=Akshay|title=Historians praise Jawaharlal Nehru at annual Indian History Congress Association meet|work=The Economic Times|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/historians-praise-jawaharlal-nehru-at-annual-indian-history-congress-association-meet/articleshow/45692898.cms?from=mdr|access-date=7 November 2021}}</ref>{{efn|"The very Nehruvian objectives embedded in the founding of the University – ‘national integration, social justice, secularism, the democratic way of life, international understanding and a scientific approach to the problems of society’, had built into them constant and energetic endeavour to renew knowledge through self- questioning."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Jawaharlal Nehru University at a Glance|url=https://www.jnu.ac.in/jnuataglance}}</ref>}}<ref>{{Cite news|last=Sampath|first=G.|date=14 July 2020|title=The politics of nepotism|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-politics-of-nepotism/article32072772.ece|access-date=7 November 2021|issn=0971-751X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Chandra|first=Uday|title=Modi embodies the new Kshatriya ideal in Indian democracy – and that could be its vulnerability|url=https://scroll.in/article/839275/modi-embodies-the-new-kshatriya-ideal-in-indian-democracy-till-the-image-shatters|access-date=7 November 2021|website=Scroll.in|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Ahmed|first=Hilal|date=23 August 2021|title=Non-BJP Hindu writers are correcting Nehruvian history. With little space for modern Muslims|url=https://theprint.in/opinion/non-bjp-hindu-writers-are-correcting-nehruvian-history-with-little-space-for-modern-muslims/720476/|access-date=7 November 2021|website=ThePrint|language=en-US}}</ref>{{efn|[[Ramachandra Guha]]: "I coined the term ‘Nehruvian Indian’ to describe those who, in their professional and personal lives, ‘transcended the divisions of race and religion, caste and class, gender and geography."<ref>{{Cite web|title=NEHRUVIAN INDIANS – Two men who identify with all of India|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/nehruvian-indians-two-men-who-identify-with-all-of-india/cid/409498|access-date=7 November 2021|website=www.telegraphindia.com}}</ref>}}
}} Nehru remains a popular figure among the contemporary academia. A certain 'Nehruvian intellectual ecosystem/academia' is, in political discourse, considered a warring side to [[Hindu Nationalism]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Baru|first=Sanjaya|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R4QmEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22nehruvian+intellectual%22&pg=PT47|title=India's Power Elite: Class, Caste and Cultural Revolution|date=12 April 2021|publisher=Penguin Random House India Private Limited|isbn=978-93-90914-76-0|pages=47|language=en|quote=Prime Minister Modi decided to alter the character of the premises as part of his campaign to liberate India from the Nehruvian intellectual inheritance.}}</ref><ref name="Gupta"/><ref>{{Cite web|date=23 May 2019|title=The Redundancy of the Elite|url=https://openthemagazine.com/features/politics-features/verdict-2019/the-redundancy-of-the-elite/|access-date=7 November 2021|website=Open The Magazine|language=en-GB|quote=Despite being accepted by the Nehruvian intellectual elite, neither Vajpayee nor Advani could challenge their agenda- setting prerogative.}}</ref>
 
=== In popular culture ===
{{See also|:Category:Cultural depictions of Jawaharlal Nehru}}
There have been many documentaries about Nehru's life, and he has been portrayed in fictionalised films. The canonical performance is probably that of [[Roshan Seth]], who played him three times: in [[Richard Attenborough]]'s 1982 film ''[[Gandhi (film)|Gandhi]]'',<ref name="Donnell2002">{{cite book|author=Suman Bhuchar|editor-link=Alison Donnell|editor=Alison Donnell|title=Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VfdpdZ9DwH0C&pg=PA276|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-70025-7|page=276|chapter=Seth, Roshan}}</ref> [[Shyam Benegal]]'s 1988 television series ''[[Bharat Ek Khoj]]'', based on Nehru's ''The Discovery of India'',<ref>{{cite news |title=What makes Shyam special... |url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/fr/2003/01/17/stories/2003011700990100.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030627193719/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/fr/2003/01/17/stories/2003011700990100.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 June 2003 |date= 17 January 2003 |newspaper=[[The Hindu]] |access-date=6 June 2013}}</ref> and in a 2007 TV film entitled ''The Last Days of the Raj''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/universal-studio-scraps-nehru-edwina-film/668111|title = Universal Studio Scraps Nehru-Edwina Film}}</ref> Benegal directed the 1983 documentary film ''Nehru'', covering his political career.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sharma |first1=Garima |title=Shyam Benegal on his film Nehru |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/shyam-benegal-on-his-film-nehru/articleshow/5651571.cms |website=[[The Times of India]] |language=en |date=7 March 2010|access-date=13 August 2021}}</ref> Indian film director [[Kiran Kumar]] made a film about Nehru titled ''Nehru: The Jewel of India'' in 1990 starring [[Partap Sharma]] in the titular role.<ref>{{cite book|title=Documentary Today|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oIeWcOf-_k8C|year=2010|page=7|publisher=[[Films Division of India|Films Division]], [[Government of India]]}}</ref> In [[Ketan Mehta]]'s film ''[[Sardar (1993 film)|Sardar]]'', [[Benjamin Gilani]] portrayed Nehru.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.culturalindia.net/leaders/jawaharlal-nehru.html |title=Jawaharlal Nehru Biography – Childhood, Facts & Achievements of India's First Prime Minister |access-date=25 August 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813223309/http://www.culturalindia.net/leaders/jawaharlal-nehru.html |archive-date=13 August 2017 |work=culturalindia.net |language=en-US}}</ref> ''[[Naunihal]]'' ({{lit|Young man}}), a 1967 Indian Hindi-language drama film by Raj Marbros, follows Raju, an orphan, who believes that Jawaharlal Nehru is his relative and sets out to meet him.<ref>{{cite web |title=Naunihal |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqwfCtoflUk | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609103731/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqwfCtoflUk| archive-date=9 June 2021 | url-status=dead|work=[[Shemaroo]]|publisher=[[YouTube]] |date=22 February 2016}}</ref> Similarly, in the 1957 film ''[[Ab Dilli Dur Nahin]]'' ({{lit|Now Delhi is not far away}}) by Amar Kumar, Rattan, a young boy, travels to Delhi and seeks to avert the death sentence of his wrongly convicted father by asking Prime Minister Nehru for help.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ab Dilli Dur Nahin (1957) |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ab-dilli-dur-nahin |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|access-date=13 August 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
 
[[Girish Karnad]]'s historical play, ''[[Tughlaq (play)|Tughlaq]]'' (1962) is an allegory about the Nehruvian era. It was staged by [[Ebrahim Alkazi]] with the [[National School of Drama]] Repertory at [[Purana Qila]], Delhi in the 1970s and later at the Festival of India, London in 1982.<ref name="hin">{{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20011230180843/http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1603/16031170.htm AWARDS: The multi-faceted playwright]}} ''[[Frontline (magazine)|Frontline]]'', Vol. 16, No. 3, 30 January – 12 February 1999.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Authors speak |last=Sachindananda |publisher=[[Sahitya Akademi]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-81-260-1945-8 |page=58 |chapter=Girish Karnad |chapter-url={{Google books|PGWa7v08JikC|page=PT82|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}}}</ref>
 
== Writings ==
Nehru was a prolific writer in English who wrote ''[[The Discovery of India]]'', ''[[Glimpses of World History]]'', ''[[An Autobiography (Nehru)|An Autobiography]]'' (released in the United States as "Toward Freedom,") and ''[[Letters from a Father to His Daughter]]'', all written in jail.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/most-searched-products/books/childrens-day-special-popular-books-by-and-on-jawaharlal-nehru/articleshow/72039865.cms|title=Children's Day: Popular Books On and By Jawaharlal Nehru |website=[[The Times of India]]}}</ref> ''Letters'' comprised 30 letters written to his daughter Indira Priyadarshani Nehru (later Gandhi) who was then 10 years old and studying at a boarding school in [[Mussoorie]]. It attempted to instruct her about natural history and world civilisations.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.hindu.com/yw/2006/08/04/stories/2006080402320600.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091112142131/http://www.hindu.com/yw/2006/08/04/stories/2006080402320600.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 November 2009 |title=Young World : From dad with love |last=Balakrishnan |first=Anima |date=4 August 2006 |access-date=31 October 2008 |work=[[The Hindu]] |location=Chennai, India}}</ref>
 
Nehru's books have been widely read. ''An Autobiography'', in particular, has been critically acclaimed. [[John Gunther]], writing in ''Inside Asia'', contrasted it with Gandhi's autobiography:<blockquote> The Mahatma's placid story compares to Nehru's as a cornflower to an orchid, a rhyming couplet to a sonnet by MacLeish or Auden, a water pistol to a machine gun.  Nehru's autobiography is subtle, complex, discriminating, infinitely cultivated, steeped in doubt, suffused with intellectual passion.  Lord Halifax once said that no one could understand India without reading it; it is a kind of 'Education of Henry Adams,' written in superlative prose—hardly a dozen men alive write English as well as Nehru ...<ref name=gunther-inside-asia-nehru>{{citation|last=Gunther|first=John|author-link=John Gunther|title=Inside Asia|page=429|year=1942|publisher=Harper and Brothers | location=New York and London|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.275215/page/n451/mode/2up}}</ref></blockquote>
 
Michael Brecher, who considered Nehru to be an intellectual for whom ideas were important aspects of Indian nationalism, wrote in ''Political Leadership and Charisma: Nehru, Ben-Gurion, and Other 20th-Century Political Leaders'':<blockquote> Nehru's books were not scholarly, nor were they intended to be. He was not a trained historian, but his feel for the flow of events and his capacity to weave together a wide range of knowledge in a meaningful pattern give to his books qualities of a high order. In these works, he also revealed a sensitive literary style.  ... ''Glimpses of World History'' is the most illuminating on Nehru as an intellectual.  The first of the trilogy, ''Glimpses'', was a series of thinly connected sketches of the story of mankind in the form of letters to his teenage daughter, Indira, later prime minister of India. ... Despite its polemical character in many sections and its shortcomings as an impartial history, ''Glimpses'' is a work of great artistic value, a worthy precursor of his noble and magnanimous ''Autobiography''.<ref name=brecher-nehru>{{citation|last=Brecher|first=Michael|title=Political Leadership and Charisma: Nehru, Ben-Gurion, and Other 20th-Century Political Leaders, Intellectual Odyssey I|date=23 September 2016|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=London|pages=80–81|isbn=978-3-319-32627-6|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Q1EiDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA81}}</ref></blockquote>
 
Michael Crocker thought ''An Autobiography'' would have given Nehru literary fame had the political fame eluded him:<blockquote>It is to his years in prison that we owe his three main books, ... Nehru's writings illustrate a cerebral life, and a power of self-discipline, altogether out of the ordinary. Words by the million bubbled up out of his fullness of mind and spirit. Had he never been prime minister of India he would have been famous as the author of the ''Autobiography'' and the autobiographical parts of ''The Discovery of India''. ''An Autobiography'', at least with some excisions here and there, is likely to be read for generations. ... There are, for instance, the characteristic touches of truism and anticlimax, strange in a man who could both think and, at his best, write so well ...<ref name=crocker-nehru>{{citation|last=Crocker|first=Walter|title=Nehru: A Contemporary's Estimate|year=2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hQ8p4XTRZgEC&pg=PT96|publisher=Penguin Random House India|isbn=9788184002133}}</ref></blockquote>
 
Nehru's speech ''[[Tryst With Destiny|A Tryst With Destiny]]'' was rated by the British newspaper ''[[The Guardian]]'' to be among the great speeches of the 20th-century.  Ian Jack wrote in his introduction to the speech: <blockquote>Dressed in a golden silk jacket with a red rose in the buttonhole, Nehru rose to speak. His sentences were finely made and memorable – Nehru was a good writer; his Discovery of India stands well above the level reached by most politician-writers. ... The nobility of Nehru's words – their sheer sweep – provided the new India with a lodestone that was ambitious and humane. Post-colonialism began here as well as Indian democracy, which has since outlived many expectations of its death.<ref name=jack-guardian-tryst>{{citation|last=Jack|first=Ian|title=Noble words|series=Great speeches of the 20th-century: Nehru|publisher=Guardian|date=1 May 2007|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/may/01/jawaharlal-nehru-tryst-with-dignity-speech-introduction}}</ref></blockquote>
 
== Awards and honours ==
In 1948, Nehru was conferred an honorary doctorate by the [[University of Mysore]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Khan|first=Laiqh A.|date=18 October 2020|title=Nehru's address at UoM convocation in 1948 remains untraceable|language=en-IN|work=[[The Hindu]]|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/nehrus-address-at-uom-convocation-in-1948-remains-untraceable/article32887599.ece|access-date=21 July 2021|issn=0971-751X}}</ref> He later received honorary doctorates from the [[University of Madras]], [[Columbia University]], and [[Keio University]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://globalcenters.columbia.edu/content/columbia-india|title=Who We Are|website=[[Columbia Global Centers|globalcenters.columbia.edu]]|access-date=5 July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Conferment of Honorary Degree of Doctor: Keio University|url=https://www.keio.ac.jp/en/about/learn-more/honorary-degrees/|access-date=21 July 2021|website=[[Keio University|keio.ac.jp]]|language=en}}</ref>
 
In 1955, Nehru was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/PadmaAwards1954-2007.pdf |title=Padma Awards Directory (1954–2007) |publisher=Ministry of Home affairs |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410024701/http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/PadmaAwards1954-2007.pdf |archive-date=10 April 2009 |access-date=26 November 2010}}</ref> President [[Rajendra Prasad]] awarded him the honour without taking advice from the Prime Minister as would be the normal constitutional procedure as Nehru himself was Prime Minister then.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.529211/2015.529211.speeches-of#page/n373/mode/2up|title=Speeches of President Rajendra Prasad 1952–1956|last=Prasad|first=Rajendra|publisher=The Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, GOI|year=1958|isbn=|location=|pages=340–341}}: "In doing so, for once, I may be said to be acting unconstitutionally, as I am taking this step on my own initiative and without any recommendation or advice from my Prime Minister ; but I know that my action will be endorsed most enthusiastically not only by my Cabinet and other Ministers but by the country as a whole."</ref>
{{clear}}
 
== See also ==
{{portal|Biography|Politics|India}}
* [[Foreign relations of India]]
* [[List of political families]]
* [[List of Indian writers]]
* [[Scientific temper]], a phrase popularised by Nehru
{{clear}}
 
== References ==
=== Notes ===
{{notelist}}
 
=== Citations ===
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
 
== Bibliography ==
 
*  Gopal, S. amd Uma Iyengar, eds ''The Essential Writings of Jawaharlal Nehru'' (Oxford University Press, 2003) {{ISBN|978-0-19-565324-3}}
* ''Autobiography: Toward freedom'', [[Oxford University Press]]
* ''Letters for a Nation: From Jawaharlal Nehru to His Chief Ministers 1947–1963'' (Penguin UK, 2015).
* ''Letters from a father to his daughter'' by Jawaharlal Nehru, [https://web.archive.org/web/20160208134134/http://www.childrensbooktrust.com/index.htm Children's Book Trust]
* '' Independence and After: A collection of the more important speeches of Jawaharlal Nehru from September 1946 to May 1949'' (1949). Delhi: The Publications Division, Government of India.
* [[s:A Tryst With Destiny|''A Tryst With Destiny'' historic speech made by Jawaharlal Nehru on 14 August 1947]]
* {{Cite book|last=Baru|first=Sanjaya|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R4QmEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22nehruvian+intellectual%22&pg=PT47|title=India's Power Elite: Class, Caste and Cultural Revolution|date=12 April 2021|publisher=Penguin Random House India Private Limited|isbn=978-93-90914-76-0|language=en|quote=Prime Minister Modi decided to alter the character of the premises as part of his campaign to liberate India from the Nehruvian intellectual inheritance.}}
 
== Further reading ==
{{Refbegin|40em}}
* Bayly, C. A. "The Ends of Liberalism and the Political Thought of Nehru's India." ''Modern Intellectual History'' 12.3 (2015): 605–626.
* ''Nehru: A Political Biography'' by Michael Brecher (1959). London:[[Oxford University Press]].
* "Nehru, Jawaharlal." in [[Ainslie Embree|Ainslie T. Embree]], ed., ''Encyclopedia of Asian History.'' Vol. 3. [[Charles Scribner's Sons]]. New York. (1988): 98–100.
* Fonseca, Rena. "Nehru and the Diplomacy of Nonalignment." ''The Diplomats, 1939–1979'' ([[Princeton University Press]], 2019) pp.&nbsp;371–397. [https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv8pz9nc.19 online]
* {{Cite book |title=Jawaharlal Nehru |last=Ghose, Sankar |publisher=Allied Publishers |year=1993 |isbn=978-81-7023-369-5 |ref=CITEREFGhose1993}}
* Gopal, Sarvapelli. "Nehru and minorities." ''Economic and Political Weekly'' (1988): 2463–2466. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4394015 online]
* Gopal, Sarvepalli. "The Formative Ideology of Jawaharlal Nehru." ''Economic and Political Weekly'' (1976): 787-792 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4364645 online].
* Gopal, Sarvepalli. '' Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography Volume 1 1889–1947'' (1975); ''Jawaharlal Nehru Vol.2 1947–1956'' (1979); ''Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography Volume 3 1956–1964'' (2014), a major scholarly biography; [https://www.amazon.com/Jawaharlal-Nehru-Biography-1-1889-1947-ebook/dp/B00N7F58Q6/ excerpt vol 1]
* Guha, Ramachandra. "Jawaharlal Nehru." in ''Makers of Modern Asia'' (Harvard University Press, 2014) pp.&nbsp;117–146.
*  Heimsath, C.H. and Surjit Mansingh. ''A diplomatic history of modern India'' (1971) [https://archive.org/details/diplomatichistor0000heim online]
* {{Cite book |title=Comparative Politics: Interests, Identities, and Institutions in a Changing Global Order |last=Kopstein, Jeffrey  |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-139-44604-4 |ref=CITEREFKopstein2005}}
* Louro, Michele L. ''Comrades against imperialism: Nehru, India, and interwar internationalism'' (Cambridge UP, 2018).
* Malone, David et al. eds. ''The Oxford Handbook of Indian Foreign Policy.'' (2015) [https://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Handbook-Indian-Foreign-Handbooks/dp/019874353X excerpt]; a comprehensive overview by over 50 leading experts.
*{{Cite book |last=Moraes |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Moraes |title=Jawaharlal Nehru |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0us3TambWogC |year=2007 |publisher=[[Jaico Publishing House]] |isbn=978-81-7992-695-6 |access-date=}}
* Purushotham, Sunil. "World history in the atomic age: Past, present and future in the political thought of Jawaharlal Nehru." ''Modern Intellectual History'' 14.3 (2017): 837–867.
* Raghavan, Srinath. ''War and peace in modern India'' (Springer, 2016); focus on Nehru's foreign policy
* Raghavan, Srinath. ''The Most Dangerous Place: A History of the United States in South Asia.'' (Penguin Random House India, 2018); also published as ''Fierce Enigmas: A History of the United States in South Asia.''(2018). [https://networks.h-net.org/node/22055/reviews/3515710/subramaniam-raghavan-fierce-enigmas-history-united-states-south-asia online review]
* {{Cite web |url=https://www-tc.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/pdf/prof_jawaharlalnehru.pdf |title=Commanding Heights |last=Joseph Stanislaw and Daniel A. Yergin |year=1988 |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster, Inc.]] |location=New York}}
* Tharoor, Shashi. ''Nehru: The Invention of India'' (2003) Arcade Books {{ISBN|978-1-55970-697-1}}
* Tyson, Geoffrey.  ''Nehru: The Years of Power'' (1966). London: Pall Mall Press.
* Zachariah, Benjamin. ''Nehru'' (2004) [https://www.amazon.com/Routledge-Historical-Biographies-Benjamin-Zachariah/dp/041525017X/ excerpt]
 
{{Refend}}
 
== External links ==
* [https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/legislativescrutiny/parliament-and-empire/collections1/collections2/nehrus-birthday-dinner-programme/ 70th Anniversary of Indian Independence – Nehru's Birthday Dinner Programme – UK Parliament Living Heritage]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20151103174317/http://www.india-today.com/itoday/millennium/100people/nehru.html Profile of Nehru] in ''[[India Today]]''
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=sI_I-jk8YWsC&dq=nehru+communalism&printsec=frontcover Nehru on Communalism]
* [http://www.saadigitalarchive.org/search/jawaharlal%20nehru Jawaharlal Nehru materials] in the [[South Asian American Digital Archive]] (SAADA)
* {{OL author}}
* {{IMDb name|624587}}
 
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