Jawaharlal Nehru (/ˈneɪru/ or /ˈnɛru/;[1] Hindi: [ˈdʒəʋɑːɦəɾˈlɑːl ˈneːɦɾuː] ⓘ; juh-WAH-hurr-LAHL NE-hǝ-ROO;

14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social
democrat,[2] and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a
principal leader of the Indian nationalist movement in the 1930s and 1940s. Upon India's independence in 1947,
he served as the country's first prime minister for 16 years.[3] Nehru promoted
parliamentary democracy, secularism, and 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 (1936) and The Discovery of India (1946), have been read around the world. The
honorific Pandit has been commonly applied before his name.
The son of Motilal Nehru, a prominent lawyer and Indian nationalist, Jawaharlal Nehru was educated in
England—at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge, and trained in the law at the Inner Temple. He
became a barrister, returned to India, enrolled at the Allahabad High Court and 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 complete independence from the British Raj.
Nehru and the Congress dominated Indian politics during the 1930s. Nehru promoted the idea of the secular
nation-state in the 1937 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 Lord
Linlithgow's decision to join the war without consulting them. After the All India Congress Committee's Quit India
Resolution of 8 August 1942, senior Congress leaders were imprisoned and for a time the organisation was
suppressed. Nehru, who had reluctantly heeded Gandhi's call for immediate independence, and had desired
instead to support the Allied war effort during World War II, came out of a lengthy prison term to a much altered
political landscape. The Muslim League, under Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had come to dominate Muslim politics in
the interim. In the 1946 provincial elections, Congress won the elections but the League won 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.
Upon India's independence on 15 August 1947, Nehru gave a critically acclaimed speech, "Tryst with Destiny";
he was sworn in as the Dominion of India's prime minister and raised the Indian flag at the Red Fort in Delhi. On
26 January 1950, when India became a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, Nehru became
the Republic of India's first prime minister. He embarked on an ambitious program of economic, social, and
political reforms. Nehru promoted a pluralistic multi-party democracy. In foreign affairs, he played a leading role
in establishing the Non-Aligned Movement, a group of nations that did not seek membership in the two main
ideological blocs of the Cold War.
Under Nehru's leadership, the Congress emerged as a catch-all party, dominating national and state-level
politics and winning elections in 1951, 1957 and 1962. His premiership, spanning 16 years and 286 days—which
is, to date, the longest in India—ended with his death in 1964 from a heart attack. Hailed as the "architect of
Modern India", his birthday is celebrated as Children's Day in India.[4]

Early life and career (1889–1912)

Birth and family background

Anand Bhawan the Nehru family home in Allahabad

Jawaharlal Nehru was born on 14 November 1889 in Allahabad in 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.[5] His mother, Swarup Rani Thussu (1868–1938), who came
from a well-known Kashmiri Brahmin family settled in Lahore,[6] was Motilal's second wife, his first having died
in childbirth. Jawaharlal was the eldest of three children.[7] The elder of his two sisters, Vijaya Lakshmi, later
became the first female president of the United Nations General Assembly.[8] His youngest sister, Krishna
Hutheesing, became a noted writer and authored several books on her brother.[9][10]
Childhood

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 in
wealthy homes, including a palatial estate called the Anand Bhavan. His father had him educated at home by
private governesses and tutors.[11] Influenced by the Irish theosophist Ferdinand T. Brooks' teaching,[12] Nehru
became interested in science and theosophy.[13] 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.[14] He wrote: "For nearly three years [Brooks] was
with me and in many ways, he influenced me greatly".[13]
Nehru's theosophical interests induced him to study the Buddhist and Hindu scriptures.[15] According to B. R.
Nanda, these scriptures were Nehru's "first introduction to the religious and cultural heritage of [India]....[They]
provided Nehru the initial impulse for [his] long intellectual quest which culminated…in The Discovery of India."[15]

Youth

A young Nehru dressed in a cadet's uniform at Harrow School in England

Nehru became an ardent nationalist during his youth.[16] 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. ...Nationalistic ideas filled my mind. ... I mused of Indian freedom and Asiatic freedom from
the thraldom of Europe."[13] Later, in 1905, when he had begun his institutional schooling at Harrow, a leading
school in England where he was nicknamed "Joe",[17] G. M. Trevelyan's Garibaldi books, which he had received
as prizes for academic merit, influenced him greatly.[18] 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."[13]
Graduation

Swarup Rani and Motilal Nehru in England with their children from l. to
r. Krishna (b. November 1907), 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.[19] During this period, he studied politics, economics, history and literature with interest. The
writings of Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, John Maynard Keynes, Bertrand Russell, Lowes Dickinson and Meredith
Townsend moulded much of his political and economic thinking.[13]
After completing his degree in 1910, Nehru moved to London and studied law at the Inner Temple Inn.[20] During
this time, he continued to study Fabian Society scholars including Beatrice Webb.[13] He was called to the Bar in
1912.[20][21]

Advocate practice

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."[13] His involvement in nationalist politics was to gradually
replace his legal practice.[13]

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.[22] Within
months of his return to India in 1912, Nehru attended an annual session of the Indian National Congress
in Patna.[23] Congress in 1912 was the party of moderates and elites,[23] and he was disconcerted by what he saw
as "very much an English-knowing upper-class affair".[24] Nehru doubted the effectiveness of Congress but
agreed to work for the party in support of the Indian civil rights movement led by Mahatma Gandhi in South
Africa,[25] collecting funds for the movement in 1913.[23] Later, he campaigned against indentured labour and other
such discrimination faced by Indians in the British colonies.[26]

World War I: 1914–1915

When World War 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 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".[27] During the war, Nehru volunteered for the St.
John Ambulance and worked as one of the organisation's provincial secretaries Allahabad.[23] He also spoke out
against the censorship acts passed by the British government in India.[28]
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,[25] who said that it
was "madness to think of independence,"[23] 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".[29] He ridiculed the 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".[30] 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 Home Rule for Indians.[31]
The influence of moderates on Congress' politics waned after Gokhale died in 1915.[23] 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.[32]
Home rule movement: 1916–1917

Nehru and Kamala Kaul at their wedding in Delhi, 1916

Nehru in 1919 with wife Kamala and daughter Indira

Nehru married 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.[33]
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.[23] Nehru joined both leagues, but worked primarily for the
former.[34] He remarked later that "[Besant] had a very powerful influence on me in my childhood ... even later
when I entered political life her influence continued."[34] Another development that brought about a radical change
in Indian politics was the espousal of 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.[34]
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.[34][35]
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 significant concessions after a period of intense protest.[36]
Non-co-operation: 1920–1927
Nehru's first big national involvement came at the onset of the non-co-operation movement in 1920.[37] 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.[38] 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 CR Das.[39] In 1923, Nehru
was imprisoned in Nabha, a princely state, when he went there to see the struggle that was being waged by
the Sikhs against the corrupt Mahants.[40][41]
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.[42] 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 which was born at this meeting.[43]
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 espoused intentions. Faced with these allegations, Nehru
responded:[44]
We have sympathy for the national movement of Arabs in 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.
Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy: 1929

Nehru, President-elect of the Lahore session of the Indian National Congress in

1929, with the outgoing President, his father Motilal Nehru and Mahatma
Gandhi in 1929

Nehru drafted the policies of the Congress and a future Indian nation in 1929.[45] He declared the aims of the
congress were freedom of religion; right to form associations; freedom of expression of thought; equality before
the law for every individual without distinction of caste, colour, creed, or religion; protection of regional
languages and cultures, safeguarding the interests of the peasants and labour; abolition of untouchability;
introduction of the adult franchise; imposition of prohibition, nationalisation of industries; socialism; and the
establishment of a secular India.[46] 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.[47]
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.[48][49] 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.[50] 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.[49] The
British rejected demands for Dominion status in 1929.[49] Nehru assumed the presidency of the Congress party
during the Lahore session on 29 December 1929 and introduced a successful resolution calling for complete
independence.[49][51] Nehru drafted the Indian Declaration of Independence, which stated:
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.[52]
At midnight on New Year's Eve 1929, Nehru hoisted the tricolour flag of India upon the banks of the Ravi in
Lahore.[53] 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 January as Independence Day.[54] Congress volunteers, nationalists, and the public hoisted
the flag of India publicly across India. Plans for mass civil disobedience were also underway.[55]
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.[56]

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".[57] He was arrested on 14 April 1930 while on a train from
Allahabad to 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.[58][59]
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.[60] With Nehru's arrest, the civil disobedience acquired a new
tempo, and arrests, firing on crowds and lathi charges grew to be ordinary occurrences.[61]
Salt satyagraha success
The 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 Congress party for
independence. Nehru considered the salt satyagraha the high-water mark of his association with Gandhi,[62] and
felt its lasting importance was in changing the attitudes of Indians:[63]
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. ... Non-cooperation dragged them out of the mire and gave them self-respect and
self-reliance. ... 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. ... It was a remarkable transformation and
the Congress, under Gandhi's leadership, must have the credit for it.
Electoral politics, Europe, and economics: 1936–1938

Nehru in Karachi after returning from Lausanne, Switzerland with the ashes of

his wife Kamla Nehru in March 1936 Nehru with Indian Nobel-prize-winning
poet Rabindranath Tagore in 1936Nehru in a procession at Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province, 14 October

1937 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. The visit
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 economic view remained Marxist, adapted, where necessary, to Indian circumstances. [64][65]
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.[66] 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.[67]
At its 1936 Lucknow session, despite opposition from the newly elected Nehru as the party president, the
Congress party agreed to contest the provincial elections to be held in 1937 under the Government of India Act
1935.[68][69] 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.[70] Nehru had hoped to elevate Maulana Azad as
the preeminent leader of Indian Muslims, but Gandhi, who continued to treat Jinnah as the voice of Indian
Muslims, undermined him in this.[71][72]
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.[73] He had the support of left-wing Congressmen Maulana Azad and Subhas Chandra
Bose.[74][75] The trio combined to oust Rajendra Prasad as the Congress president in 1936.[75] Nehru was elected in
his place and held the presidency for two years (1936–37).[76] 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.[77] From then on, he was given carte blanche ("blank
cheque") in framing the foreign policy of any future Indian nation.[78] Nehru worked closely with Bose in
developing good relations with governments of free countries all over the world.[79]
Nehru was one of the first nationalist leaders to realise the sufferings of the people in the states ruled by Indian
princes.[80] 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.[41][81] Nehru was also given the responsibility of planning the economy of a future India and
appointed the National Planning Commission in 1938 to help frame such policies.[82] However, many of the plans
framed by Nehru and his colleagues would come undone with the unexpected partition of India in 1947.[83]
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.[84] 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.[85][86]

Nationalist movement (1939–1947)

Gandhi, Nehru, and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan at the Congress Working Committee meeting in Wardha in September
1939

When World War II began, Viceroy Linlithgow unilaterally declared India a belligerent on the side of Britain,
without consulting the elected Indian representatives.[87] 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, ... I should like India to play its full part and throw all her resources into the struggle for a new
order".[88]
After much deliberation, the Congress under Nehru informed the government that it would co-operate 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 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.[89] 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".[90][91]
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.[92] Before this crucial announcement, Nehru urged Jinnah and the
Muslim League to join the protest, but Jinnah declined.[89][93]
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.[94] At the same time, Nehru supported the Republicans who were fighting
against Francisco Franco's forces in the Spanish Civil War.[95] 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.[96][97]

Civil disobedience, Lahore Resolution, August Offer: 1940

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 homelands, their
territory and their State." This state was to be known as Pakistan, meaning 'Land of the Pure'.[98] Nehru angrily
declared that "all the old problems ... pale into insignificance before the latest stand taken by the Muslim League
leader in Lahore".[99] Linlithgow made Nehru an offer on 8 October 1940, which stated that Dominion status for
India was the objective of the British government.[100] 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".[101]
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.[38] On 15 January 1941,
Gandhi stated:
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.[102][103]
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.[104]

Japan attacks India, Cripps' mission, Quit India: 1942

Gandhi and Nehru during the drafting of Quit India Resolution in Bombay,
August 1942,

When the Japanese carried their attack through Burma (now Myanmar) to the borders of India in the spring of
1942, the British government, faced with this new military threat, decided to make some overtures to India, as
Nehru had originally desired.[105] 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.[106] 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.[107] Cripps' mission failed as Gandhi would accept nothing less than
independence. Relations between Nehru and Gandhi cooled over the latter's refusal to co-operate with Cripps,
but the two later reconciled.[108]
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 resolution passed by the Congress party in
Bombay on 8 August 1942, the entire Congress working committee, including Gandhi and Nehru, was arrested
and imprisoned.[109] Most of the Congress working committee including Nehru, Abdul Kalam Azad, and Sardar
Patel were incarcerated at the Ahmednagar Fort[110] until 15 June 1945.[111]
In prison 1943–1945

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.[112] 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.[113] However, by 1944, Jinnah's power
and prestige were waning.[114]
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.[114] 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 the Congress had been seen to negotiate with him on equal terms.[115]

Cabinet mission, Interim government 1946–1947

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.[116][83] 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, with Nehru as the prime minister.
The Muslim League joined the government later with Liaquat Ali Khan as the Finance member.[117][118]
Prime Minister of India (1947–1964)

Teen Murti Bhavan, Nehru's official residence as prime minister, is now a

museum.

Nehru served as prime minister for 16 years, initially as the interim prime minister, then from 1947 as the prime
minister of the Dominion of India and then 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.[119] In January 1947, he said that independent India would not accept the divine right of
kings.[120] In May 1947, he declared that any princely state which refused to join the Constituent Assembly would
be treated as an enemy state.[121] 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.[122] 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.[123]
In 1963, Nehru brought in legislation making it illegal to demand secession and introduced the Sixteenth
Amendment to the Constitution which makes it necessary for those running for office to take an oath that says "I
will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India".[124][125]

Independence, Dominion of India: 1947–1950

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 Muslim League led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who were demanding a
separate Muslim state of Pakistan.[126][127]
Independence
He took office as the prime minister of India on 15 August and delivered his inaugural address titled "Tryst with
Destiny".
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.[128]
Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi: 1948
 Nehru visiting an Indian soldier recovering from injuries at the Brigade
Headquarters Military Hospital in Srinagar, Kashmir

Main articles: Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and 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 nationalist with links to the extremist Hindu
Mahasabha party, who held Gandhi responsible for weakening India by insisting upon a payment to
Pakistan.[129] Nehru addressed the nation by radio:
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.[130]
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 in different
events.[131][132] 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.[133] 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.[134] 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 centralised policies for an independent India in 1947, which Jinnah opposed in favour of a
more decentralised India.[135][136]
Integration of states and Adoption of New Constitution: 1947–1950
See also: Political integration of India and States Reorganisation Act, 1956

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.[137] 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.[138] The Government of
India Act 1935 remained the constitutional law of India the pending adoption of a new Constitution.[139]

Nehru signing the Indian Constitution c.1950

The new Constitution of India, which came into force on 26 January 1950 (Republic Day), made India a
sovereign democratic republic. The new republic was declared to be a "Union of States".[140]

Election of 1952

Nehru as the main campaigner of the Indian National Congress, 1951–52 elections

After the adoption of the constitution on 26 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.[141] The first elections to Indian legislative bodies (National parliament and State
assemblies ) under the new constitution of India were held in 1952.[142][143] The Congress party under Nehru's
leadership won a large majority at both state and national levels.[144]

Prime Minister: 1952–1957

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.[145] Govind Ballabh Pant, who served as Nehru's home minister from December 1954, oversaw the
commission's efforts.[146] The commission created a report in 1955 recommending the reorganisation of India's
states.[147]
Under the 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'.[148] 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.[145]
Subsequent elections: 1957, 1962
In the 1957 elections, under Nehru’s leadership, 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, the second-largest party.[149]
In 1962, Nehru led the Congress to victory with a diminished majority. The numbers who voted for
the Communist and socialist parties grew, although some right-wing groups like Bharatiya Jana Sangh also did
well.[150]

1961 annexation of Goa

See also: Annexation of 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.[151]

Sino-Indian War of 1962

See also: Sino-Indian War

From 1959, in a process that accelerated in 1961, Nehru adopted the "Forward Policy" of setting up military
outposts in disputed areas of the Sino-Indian border, including 43 outposts in territory not previously controlled
by India.[152] China attacked some of these outposts, and the Sino-Indian War began, which India lost. The war
ended with China announcing a unilateral ceasefire and with its forces withdrawing to 20 kilometers behind
the line of actual control of 1959.[153]
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, defence minister V. K. Krishna Menon resigned and Nehru sought US military
aid.[154] 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 "communist aggression from Red China".[155] India's relationship with the
Soviet Union, criticised by right-wing groups supporting 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.[156]

Map showing disputed territories of India

The unpreparedness of the army was blamed on Defence Minister Menon, who "resigned" from his government
post to allow for someone who might modernise India's military further. India's policy of weaponisation 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.[157]
Popularity

Nehru with Albert Einstein in Princeton, New Jersey, 1949Nehru with

Indonesian president Sukarno in Jakarta in 1950 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.[158] A Pathé News archive video reporting Nehru's death remarks "Neither on the political stage
nor in moral stature was his leadership ever challenged".[159] 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:
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.[160]
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:
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....[161]
In 1955, Churchill called Nehru, the light of Asia, and a greater light than Gautama Buddha.[162] Nehru is time and
again described as a charismatic leader with a rare charm.[b]

Vision and governing policies

Nehru with schoolchildren at the Durgapur Steel Plant.

Durgapur, Rourkela and Bhilai were three integrated steel plants set up under India's 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, and middle and upper
peasantry. However, it failed to benefit the urban and rural poor, the unemployed and the Hindu
fundamentalists.[168]
After the exit of Subhash Chandra Bose from mainstream Indian politics (because of his support of violence in
driving the British out of India),[169] 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.[170] Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi, was able to fulfil her father's dream through the 42nd
amendment (1976) of the Indian constitution by which India officially became "socialist" and "secular", during the
state of emergency she imposed.[171][172]

Economic policies

Nehru meeting with Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and Deutsche

Bank chairman Hermann Josef Abs during a state visit to West Germany in June 1956.

Nehru during the construction of the Bhakra Dam in the Punjab, 1953

Nehru at an antibiotics manufacturing facility, Poona, 1956

Nehru implemented policies based on import substitution industrialisation and advocated a mixed
economy where the government-controlled public sector would co-exist with the private sector.[173] 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 industries—
steel, iron, coal, and power—promoting their development with subsidies and protectionist policies.[174]
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.[175] Steel mill complexes were built
at Bokaro and Rourkela with assistance from the Soviet Union and West Germany. There was substantial
industrial development.[175] The industry grew 7.0% annually between 1950 and 1965—almost trebling industrial
output and making India the world's seventh-largest industrial country.[175] Nehru's critics, however, contended
that India's import substitution industrialisation, which continued long after the Nehru era, weakened the
international competitiveness of its manufacturing industries.[176] India's share of world trade fell from 1.4% in
1951–1960 to 0.5% between 1981 and 1990.[177] However, India's export performance is argued to have shown
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.[178]
GDP and GNP grew 3.9 and 4.0% annually between 1950 and 1951 and 1964–1965.[179][180] It was a radical break
from the British colonial period,[181] but the growth rates were considered anaemic at best compared to other
industrial powers in Europe and East Asia.[177][182] India lagged behind the miracle economies (Japan, West
Germany, France, and Italy).[183] State planning, controls, and regulations were argued to have impaired
economic growth.[184] 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.[182][183][185]

Agriculture policies
Under Nehru's leadership, the government attempted to develop India quickly by embarking on agrarian
reform and rapid industrialisation.[186] A successful land reform was introduced that abolished giant landholdings,
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.[187] 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.[188] 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.[189]

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.[190] Nehru also outlined a commitment in his 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. Adult
education centres and vocational and technical schools were also organised for adults, especially in the rural
areas.[191]
Hindu code bills and marriage laws
Under Nehru, the Indian Parliament enacted many changes to Hindu law through the Hindu code bills to
criminalise caste discrimination and increase the legal rights and social freedoms of women.[192][193] The Nehru
administration saw such codification as necessary to unify the Hindu community, which ideally would be a first
step towards unifying the nation.[194] They succeeded in passing four Hindu code bills in 1955–56: the Hindu
Marriage Act, Hindu Succession Act, Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, and Hindu Adoptions and
Maintenance Act.[195] Those who practise Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism are categorised as Hindus under the
jurisdiction of the Code Bill.[196]
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.[197] However, Nehru has been criticised for the
inconsistent application of the law. Most notably, he allowed 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.[198][199]
While Nehru exempted Muslim law from legislation and they remained unreformed, he passed the Special
Marriage Act in 1954.[200] The idea behind this act was to give everyone in India the ability to marry outside the
personal law under a civil marriage. In many respects, the act was almost identical to the Hindu Marriage Act,
1955, demonstrating 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 secular law, and maintenance of a divorced wife would be along the lines set down in civil law.[201]
Reservations for socially-oppressed communities
A system of 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 in secularism and religious harmony, increasing the representation of minorities in
government.[202]
Language policy
Nehru led the faction of the Congress party, which promoted Hindi as the lingua franca of the Indian
nation.[203][204] 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.[205] 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.[206]

Foreign policy
Further information: 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 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
Queen Elizabeth II with Nehru and other Commonwealth leaders, taken at the 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".[207][208] The other nations of the Commonwealth recognised India's
continuing membership of the association.[209]
Non-aligned movement
 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.[210] 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.[211] 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.[212]
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 emerging nations.[213]
Defence and nuclear policy
While averse to war, Nehru led the campaigns against Pakistan in Kashmir. He used military force to
annex Hyderabad in 1948 and Goa in 1961. While laying the foundation stone of the National Defence
Academy in 1949, he stated:
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 defence methods and a well-equipped army, navy, and air
force."[214][215]
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.[216]
Many hailed Nehru for working to defuse global tensions and the threat of nuclear weapons after the Korean
War (1950–1953).[217] He commissioned the first study of the effects of nuclear explosions on human health and
campaigned ceaselessly for the 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.[218]
Defending Kashmir
Further information: Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948 and UN mediation of the Kashmir dispute
 Nehru inspecting the troops on a visit to the Srinagar Brigade Headquarters
Military Hospital, April 1948

At Lord Mountbatten's urging, in 1948, Nehru had promised to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir under the auspices of
the UN.[219] Kashmir was a disputed territory between India and Pakistan, the two have 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 the integration
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.[220]
In 1953, Nehru orchestrated the ouster and arrest of Sheikh Abdullah, the prime minister of Kashmir, whom he
had previously supported but was now suspected of harbouring separatist ambitions; Bakshi Ghulam
Mohammad replaced him.[221][222]
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 January, and two hours and forty-eight minutes on the 24th, reportedly
concluding with Menon's collapse on the Security Council floor.[220] 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.[223][224]
China

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.[225] They were enunciated in the preamble to the "Agreement (with
the exchange of notes) on Trade and Intercourse between Tibet Region of China and India", which was signed at
Peking on 29 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.[226] 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).[227] 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 asylum to the 14th Dalai Lama.[228]
United States

Nehru receiving US President Dwight D. Eisenhower at Parliament House, 1959

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 Nasser to compromise with
the West and was instrumental in moving Western powers towards an awareness that Nasser might prove willing
to compromise.[229]

Assassination attempts and security

See also: List of assassination attempts on prime ministers of India

There were various assassination attempts on Nehru. The first attempt was made during partition in 1947 while
he was visiting the North-West Frontier Province (now in Pakistan) in a car.[230] Second attempt was came from
Baburao Laxman Kochale, a knife-wielding rickshaw-puller, near Nagpur in 1955.[c] The third attempt was a plot
by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1955.[235][236] The fourth attempt took place in Bombay in 1956,[237][238] and
the fifth was a failed bombing attempt on train tracks in Maharashtra in 1961.[239] Despite threats to his life, Nehru
despised having too much security around him and did not like to disrupt traffic because of his movements.[240]

Death
Main article: Death and state funeral of Jawaharlal Nehru

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.[241]

Nehru's health began declining steadily in 1962. In the spring of 1962, he was affected with a viral infection over
which he spent most of April in bed.[242] In the next year, through 1963, he spent months recuperating in Kashmir.
Some writers attribute this dramatic decline to his surprise and chagrin over the Sino-Indian War, which he
perceived as a betrayal of trust.[243] Upon his return from Dehradun on 26 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 to him
for a brief while, and almost immediately he collapsed. He remained unconscious until he died at 13:44.[244] His
death was announced in the Lok Sabha at 14:00 local time on 27 May 1964; the cause of death was believed to
be a heart attack.[245] 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 May,
Nehru was cremated in accordance with Hindu rites at the Shantivan on the banks of the Yamuna, witnessed by
1.5 million mourners who had flocked into the streets of Delhi and the cremation grounds.[246]
US President Lyndon B. Johnson remarked on his death:-
History has already recorded his monumental contribution to the molding of a strong and independent India. And
yet, it is not just as a leader of India that he has served humanity. Perhaps more than any other world leader he
has given expression to man's yearning for peace. This is the issue of our age. In his fearless pursuit of a world
free from war he has served all humanity.[247]
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev remarked:-
He was a passionate fighter for peace in the whole world and an ardent champion of the realization of the
principles of peaceful coexistence of states; he was the inspirer of the policy of Non-Alignment promoted by the
Indian Government. This reasonable policy won India respect and due to it, India is now occupying a worthy
place in the international arena.[248]
Nehru's death left India with no clear political heir to his leadership. Lal Bahadur Shastri later succeeded Nehru
as the prime minister.[249]
The death was announced to the Indian parliament in words similar to Nehru's own at the time of Gandhi's
assassination: "The light is out."[250][251] India's future prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee famously delivered Nehru
an acclaimed eulogy.[252] He hailed Nehru as Bharat Mata's "favourite prince" and likened him to the
Hindu god Rama.[253]

Positions held

Year Description

Elected to Constituent Assembly of India

1946 - 1950
 Vice President of Executive Council (2 Sep 1946 - 15 Apr 1952)
 Prime Minister of India (15 Aug 1947 - 15 Apr 1952)
 Union Minister for External Affairs (15 Aug 1947 - 15 Apr 1952)
Elected to 1st Lok Sabha
1952 - 1957
 Prime Minister of India (15 Apr 1952 - 17 Apr 1957)
 Union Minister for External Affairs (15 Apr 1952 - 17 Apr 1957)
Elected to 2nd Lok Sabha
1957 - 1962
 Prime Minister of India (17 Apr 1957 - 2 Apr 1962)
 Union Minister for External Affairs (17 Apr 1957 - 2 Apr 1962)
Elected to 3rd Lok Sabha
1962 - 1964
 Prime Minister of India (2 Apr 1962 - 27 May 1964)
 Union Minister for External Affairs (2 Apr 1962 - 27 May 1964)
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.[254]
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.[255]
Maulana Azad was the First Minister of Education in the Indian government Minister of Human Resource
Development (until 25 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.[256][257]
Jagjivan Ram became the youngest minister in Nehru's Interim Government of India, a 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. He went on to serve as a minister with various portfolios during Nehru's
tenure and in Shastri and Indira Gandhi governments.[258]
Morarji Desai was a nationalist with anti-corruption leanings but was 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 the Nehru cabinet resigned under
the 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 a possible contender for the position of Prime Minister.[259][260] Later Desai alleged
that Nehru used the Kamaraj Plan to remove all possible contenders 'from the path of his daughter, Indira
Gandhi.[261] Desai succeeded Indira Gandhi as the prime minister in 1977 when he was selected by the
victorious Janata alliance as their parliamentary leader.[262]
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.[263] As home minister, his chief achievement was the re-
organisation of states along linguistic lines. He was also responsible for the establishment of Hindi as the official
language of the central government and a few states.[264] During his tenure as the home minister, Pant was
awarded the Bharat Ratna.[265]
C. D. Deshmukh was one of five members of the Planning Commission when it was constituted in 1950 by a
cabinet resolution.[266][267] Deshmukh succeeded John Mathai as the Union Finance Minister in 1950 after Mathai
resigned in protest over the transfer of certain powers to the Planning Commission.[268] As finance minister,
Deshmukh remained a member of the Planning Commission.[269] Deshmukh's tenure—during which he delivered
six budgets and an interim budget[270]—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.[271][272] During Deshmukh's tenure,
the State Bank of India was formed in 1955 through the nationalisation and amalgamation of the Imperial
Bank with several smaller banks.[273][274] 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.[275][276] 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 Bombay a Union territory.[277][278]
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 resigned after the debacle of
the 1962 China War.[279][280][281]
In the years following independence, Nehru frequently turned to his daughter Indira Gandhi for managing his
personal affairs.[282] 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.[283] 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 Kerala State Government dismissed in 1959.[284] 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.[285] 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.[285] Nehru began to be embarrassed by her ruthlessness and
disregard for parliamentary tradition and was "hurt" by what he saw as an assertiveness with no purpose other
than to stake out an identity independent of her father.[286]

Relationships
After Kamala's death in 1936, Nehru was rumoured to have relationships with several women. These included
Shraddha Mata,[287] Padmaja Naidu[288][289] and Edwina Mountbatten.[290] Countess Mountbatten's daughter Lady
Pamela Hicks acknowledged Nehru's platonic relationship with Lady Mountbatten.[291]

Prime Minister Nehru with Edwina Mountbatten in 1951

British historian Philip Ziegler, with access to the private letters and diaries, concludes the relationship:
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.[292]
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.[293][294]

Religion and personal beliefs

Nehru distributes sweets among children at Nongpoh, Meghalaya

Described as a Hindu agnostic,[295][296] and styling himself as a "scientific humanist",[297] 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."[298]
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.

— Toward Freedom: The Autobiography of Jawaharlal Nehru (1936); pp. 240–241.[299]

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.[49] 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.‖[49]
In his autobiography, he analysed Abrahamic and Indian religions[300][301] and their impact on India. He wanted to
model India as a secular country; his secularist policies remain a subject of debate.[302][303]

Legacy
Further information: List of things named after Jawaharlal Nehru

Nehru was a great man... Nehru gave to Indians an image of themselves that I don't think
others might have succeeded in doing. – Sir Isaiah Berlin[304]

Bust of Nehru at Aldwych, London Bust of Nehru at Peace

Palace, The Hague

Jawaharlal Nehru, next to Mahatma Gandhi, is regarded as the most significant figure of the Indian
independence movement that successfully ended British rule over the Indian subcontinent.[305][306][307][308]
As India's first Prime minister and external affairs minister, Nehru played a major role in shaping modern India's
government and political culture along with the sound foreign policy.[309] He is praised for creating a system
providing universal primary education,[310] 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,[311] Indian Institutes of Technology,[312] and the Indian Institutes of Management.[313]
Following the independence, Nehru popularized the credo of 'unity in diversity' and implemented it as state
policy.[314] 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 works of literatures between languages and organised the transfer of materials between
regions. In pursuit of a single, unified India, Nehru warned, "Integrate or perish."[315]
Called an "architect of Modern India",[d] he is widely recognized as the greatest figure of modern India after
Mahatma Gandhi.[325][326] On the occasion of his first death anniversary in 1965, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Lal
Bahadur Shastri and others described Nehru as the greatest figure of India after Gandhi.[327][328]

Nehru's study in Teen Murti Bhavan, which is now converted into a museum.
Writing in 2005, Ramachandra Guha wrote that while no other Indian prime minister was ever close to the
challenges that Nehru dealt with and if Nehru had died in 1958 then he would be remembered as the greatest
statesman of the 20th century.[329] However, in recent years, Nehru's reputation has seen re-emergence and he is
credited for keeping India together contrary to predictions of many that the country was bound to fall apart.[330]

Commemoration

Nehru on a 1989 USSR commemorative stamp

In his lifetime, Jawaharlal Nehru enjoyed an iconic status in India and was generally admired across the world for
his idealism and statesmanship.[309][331] Nehru's ideals and policies continue shaping the Congress
Party's manifesto and core political philosophy.[332] His birthday, 14 November is celebrated in India as Bal
Divas ("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").[332] 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.[333][334] Nehru's
preference for the sherwani ensured it continues to be considered formal wear in North India today.[335]
Indian 5 rupees 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 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 designed to handle a huge cargo and traffic load. Nehru's residence in Delhi
is preserved as the Teen Murti House now has the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, and one of five Nehru
Planetariums 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.[336] The Nehru family homes at Anand Bhavan and Swaraj Bhavan are
also preserved to commemorate Nehru and his family's legacy.[337] In 1997, Nehru was voted as the greatest
Indian since independence in India Today's poll.[338] In 2012, he ranked number four in Outlook's poll of The
Greatest Indian.[339]

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,[340] Shyam Benegal's 1988 television series Bharat Ek Khoj, based on Nehru's The Discovery
of India,[341] and in a 2007 TV film entitled The Last Days of the Raj.[342] Benegal directed the 1984 documentary
film, Nehru, covering his political career.[343] 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.[344] In Ketan Mehta's
film Sardar, Benjamin Gilani portrayed Nehru.[345] 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.[346]
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.[347] Another 1957 English language short documentary Our Prime Minister was produced,
compiled and directed by Ezra Mir, who also directed Three weeks in the life of Prime Minister Nehru in
1962.[348][349][350] Girish Karnad's historical 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.[351][352]

Writings
Nehru was a prolific writer in English who wrote The Discovery of India, Glimpses of World History, An
Autobiography (released in the United States as "Toward Freedom,") and Letters from a Father to His Daughter,
all written in jail.[353] 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.[354]
Nehru's books have been widely read.[355][356] An Autobiography, in particular, has been critically acclaimed. John
Gunther, writing in Inside Asia, contrasted it with Gandhi's autobiography:
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 ...[357]
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:
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.[358]
Michael Crocker thought An Autobiography would have given Nehru literary fame had the political fame eluded
him:
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 ...[359]
Nehru's speech 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:
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.[360]

Awards and honours

In 1948, Nehru was conferred an honorary doctorate by the University of Mysore.[361] He later received honorary
doctorates from the University of Madras, Columbia University, and Keio University.[362][363] The Hamburg
University had awarded Nehru two honorary degrees of the Faculties of Law and Agriculture.[364]
In 1955, Nehru was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.[365] President Rajendra
Prasad awarded him the honour without taking advice from the Prime Minister and added that "I am taking this
step on my own initiative".[366]
He was posthumously awarded the Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo by the Government of South Africa
in 2005.[367]