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Nehru was educated by tutors at home.
They were mainly English women. He was also tutored in Hindi and
Sanskrit by an Indian teacher. After he was sixteen years of
age, he was sent to Harrow and from there he went to Trinity
College, Cambridge, pursuing an honors degree in natural
science. After graduation, he took up law and became a barrister
after two years’ of study at the Inner Temple in London. He
returned to India and after four years, he married Kamala. The
Nehru couple had a daughter Indira Priyadarshini, who later
became Indira Gandhi after marrying Feroze Gandhi. She too
played an important role in Indian history and politics.
On the professional front, although Nehru
was qualified to be a barrister, he was not very keen on pursuing
the profession. It was the time when the nationalist movement was
gathering momentum and Nehru was drawn towards that. The Nehrus met
Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru was floored by Gandhi’s concept of fighting
the British without fear and hatred. The first meeting between the
two great leaders was at the annual meeting of the Indian National
Congress in Lucknow. Nehru met Gandhi for the first time in 1916 at
the annual meeting of the Indian National Congress Party in Lucknow.
It was only after the First World War that
Nehru began to be closely associated with the Congress Party. Nehru
went to prison for the first time in the year 1921, when prominent
Congress leaders were outlawed in some provinces. In the next
twenty-four years, Nehru was detained in prison on eight occasions.
He used his time in prison well. He studied Karl Marx. Although he
did not agree with Marx, the yardstick for his economic thinking was
Marxist.
As his experience and involvement grew,
Nehru’s standing in the Congress party too made an upward move and
he became general secretary of the party on two occasions. Nehru
toured the provinces and the overwhelming poverty and degradation of
the peasantry left a deep impression on his mind. It was from these
experiences that ideas for addressing the problems arose.
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Nehru and the Independence Movement
Nehru was promoted as president of the Congress Party by
Mahatma Gandhi who felt that the young Nehru would attract
India’s youth. After his father's death in 1931, Jawaharlal
moved into the inner councils of the Congress Party and became
closer to the Mahatma. By then it was beginning to be clear that
Nehru would be Mahatma Gandhi’s political heir, although Gandhi
had made no such commitment.
When provincial autonomy was
introduced, elections and the Congress came to power in many of
the provinces. At this time the Muslim League, under the
leadership of Mohammed Ali Jinnah (who was to become the creator
of Pakistan) had fared badly at the polls.
The Congress, therefore, rejected Jinnah's plea for |
Jawaharlal Nehru with Mahatma Gandhi |
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the formation of coalition
Congress-Muslim League governments in some of the provinces.
Nehru is said to have had a strong say against the coalition.
The subsequent fallout between the Congress and the Muslim
League metamorphosed into a clash between the Hindus and the
Muslims and ultimately led to the partition of India and the
creation of Pakistan. |
Nehru had some differences with Mahatma
Gandhi during the Second World War, but no major problems arose and
the two continued working together. Two years after the end of the
World War, India attained independence and Nehru became the first
prime minister of independent India.
Nehru imparted modern values and ways of
thinking, which he adapted to Indian conditions. He was very keen on
carrying India forward into the modern age of scientific discovery
and technological development. At the same time, he made people
aware of the necessity of social concern with the poor and the
outcast. One of his remarkable achievements was reforming the Hindu
civil code, enabling widows to have equal claims on property and
inheritance. In the international scene too, Nehru was making his
presence felt.
Even during Nehru’s time, the problem of
Kashmir was a sensitive issue between India and Pakistan. His
efforts to settle the issue were fruitless. He had better success
with Goa, where he strove to get the Portuguese to move out. When
persuasion failed, he sent a group of unarmed Indians to march into
Portuguese territory in a non-violent demonstration, in August 1955.
The Portuguese opened fire on the demonstrators, killing nearly 30,
Nehru stayed his hand for six years. India was ultimately
successful.
As age caught on, Nehru’s health began to
deteriorate. He suffered a stroke in 1963 and a debilitating attack
in January 1964. He died a few months later, after he suffered a
third and fatal stroke. He died on May 27, 1964. After him, Indira
Gandhi served as the prime minister between 1966 and 1977 and again
from 1980 to 1984. Her son, Rajiv Gandhi became the prime minister
in 1984 and served up to 1989.
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