It was August 14, 1947. Nearly 200 years of colonial rule were about to end. In Delhi, at a special session of India's Constituent Assembly, a tall, elegant leader rose to speak. His message was that India must be built into a free nation where all of her children would find safe shelter. His name was Jawaharlal Nehru.
Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India, was "Chacha Nehru" to children and "Pandit Nehru" to his colleagues. In Bangladesh, he is also remembered as the father of Indira Gandhi, who stood with Bangladesh during the Liberation War. Today, November 14, is his birthday. He was born on this day in 1889, exactly 137 years ago.
The secular and democratic India he dreamed of is still debated today, but his role in the freedom struggle is beyond question. This article looks at his life, his years in prison, his 17 years as Prime Minister, and the story behind the fresh rose he always wore on his coat.
Early Life: A Bookworm and Sherlock Holmes Fan
Nehru was born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. His father, Motilal Nehru, was a renowned lawyer and politician. His mother, Swarup Rani, came from a respected Kashmiri family. Their palatial home, Anand Bhavan, reflected a European-style lifestyle. Nehru was taught by private tutors at home until his teens.
One of his tutors, Ferdinand T. Brooks, sparked his interest in science. Nehru loved reading from childhood, and he devoured the works of Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and H. G. Wells. Arthur Conan Doyle's detective Sherlock Holmes was another favorite.
In 1905, Nehru went to England for higher education. He first joined Harrow School, then Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1907, and later earned his law degree at the Inner Temple in London. His classmates found "Jawaharlal" hard to pronounce, so they called him "Joe Nehru."
His political awareness grew during his years in England. The suffering of people under British rule, in India and other colonies, troubled him. Ireland's independence movement in particular left a deep impression on him.
Entering Politics and Meeting Gandhi
Nehru returned to India in 1912 and began practicing law at the Allahabad High Court. But politics attracted him far more than the courtroom. That same year, he attended the Patna session of the Indian National Congress as a delegate.
In 1916, at the Lucknow session, he met Mahatma Gandhi for the first time. Gandhi had just returned from South Africa, where he had fought racial discrimination. His philosophy of non-violent resistance deeply impressed Nehru.
Nehru then joined the Home Rule movement led by Annie Besant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and served as joint secretary of the Home Rule League in Uttar Pradesh. His father was also involved in the movement.
On April 13, 1919, British troops opened fire on unarmed people at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar. Hundreds were killed and thousands wounded. The massacre left a deep scar on Nehru. Until then he had thought in terms of winning rights through reform, but from then on he stood firmly for complete independence.
His real connection with the masses began with the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1920, which called for boycotting British institutions, courts, schools and foreign goods. Nehru took charge of organizing it in Uttar Pradesh, working especially among farmers.
Over 3,000 Days in Prison
For taking part in the anti-British movement, Nehru was imprisoned nine times between 1921 and 1945. According to the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, he spent a total of 3,259 days, nearly nine years, behind bars. He was held in jails at Naini, Lucknow and Almora, and in Ahmednagar Fort.
His prison years also shaped him as a writer. Glimpses of World History is a collection of about 200 letters written from jail to his daughter Indira. He began them on January 1, 1931, when Indira was just 13, and wrote for about 30 months. The letters covered ancient civilizations, the rise and fall of empires, wars, revolutions, democracy and dictatorship. Remarkably, he wrote them without access to books or a large library, relying on his memory and knowledge.
Some of his earlier letters to Indira, from 1928, were published as Letters from a Father to His Daughter. In 1942, after the Quit India resolution, he was detained at Ahmednagar Fort for a long period. There he wrote another famous book, The Discovery of India, published in 1946.
His Wife's Death and the Rose on His Coat
Nehru married Kamala Kaul on February 8, 1916. Their only child, Indira Priyadarshini, was born on November 19 the following year. Their married life was not easy, as Kamala came from a conservative Kashmiri family while the Nehru household leaned toward Western ways.
Kamala later joined the freedom movement and was jailed twice in the 1930s. She also contracted tuberculosis and was taken to Europe for treatment. She died in Lausanne, Switzerland, on February 28, 1936, with Nehru, Indira and her mother-in-law Swarup Rani by her side.
Her early death left a deep void in Nehru's life, and his writings carry traces of his love for her. Nehru always wore a fresh rose on his coat. Many assumed it was simply his favorite flower. But the Congress party said some years ago that he wore a rose every day to keep the memory of his beloved wife close to his heart.
His Bond with Edwina Mountbatten
Many years after his wife's death, Nehru formed a special bond with Edwina Mountbatten, wife of India's last Viceroy. It was a relationship of deep respect and intellectual companionship. This is described in the 2012 book Daughter of Empire: Life as a Mountbatten, written by Edwina's daughter, Pamela Hicks.
Pamela writes that when leaving India, her mother wanted to gift Nehru an emerald ring but knew he would not accept it. So she gave it to Indira instead, saying it could be sold if Nehru ever faced financial trouble.
The First Prime Minister and the Challenge of Building a Nation
On the midnight of August 15, 1947, Nehru took the oath as India's first Prime Minister. Soon after independence, terrible communal violence spread across the country and millions were forced to leave their homes and cross the border. Nehru had to deal with this crisis right at the start.
He wanted to build a secular, democratic and modern state. The Planning Commission was formed in 1950, with emphasis on heavy industry, power, dams, scientific research and higher education. Institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) were established during his tenure.
On the world stage, he was known for non-alignment. After World War II, the world split between the United States and the Soviet Union, but Nehru kept India out of any military bloc.
Relations with China and the 1962 War
To build good relations with neighboring China, Nehru signed the Panchsheel agreement in 1954, based on five principles of peaceful coexistence. He spoke of cooperation with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, and the slogan of the time was "Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai."
But in 1962, a bloody war broke out over the disputed border. Indian forces suffered a major setback, and Nehru faced harsh criticism at home and abroad. The episode also took a heavy toll on his health. About a year and a half after the war, on May 27, 1964, Nehru died in office at the age of 74.
Former CIA officer Bruce Riedel writes in JFK's Forgotten Crisis: Tibet, the CIA and the Sino-Indian War that during the war Nehru asked US President John F. Kennedy for fighter jets. The request was not fulfilled.
In Books, on Screen, in the Soil of India
Nehru's life cannot be confined to 74 years. He lives on in books and films about him. His own works include the autobiography An Autobiography. Writers such as Shashi Tharoor, Sarvepalli Gopal and Michael Brecher have written about him. The much-discussed Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire deals with his relationship with Edwina Mountbatten. In 1984, filmmaker Shyam Benegal made a documentary titled Nehru.
His Will: Becoming One with India's Soil
In 1954, Nehru wrote a will stating that a handful of his ashes should be immersed in the Ganges and the rest scattered from an aircraft over farmlands across India, so that they would mingle with the soil of the country. Newspaper reports from that time indicate that his last wish was carried out.
Parts of the will are inscribed at Shanti Van, on the bank of the Yamuna in Delhi, where he was cremated. A memorial plaque there carries his words:
If any people choose to think of me, let them say: this was a man who loved India and the Indian people with all his heart, and they in turn were indulgent to him and gave him of their love most abundantly.
Sources: Ministry of Culture (India), Prime Minister's Office (India), Press Information Bureau (India), History.com, NDTV.