Prime Ministers of India – Jawaharlal Nehru

Posted by on Aug 13, 2009 in Indian Politicians, Indian Politics

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India and was one of the most prominent faces of India’s freedom struggle. Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru had a long stint as the Prime Minister serving about 17 years from August 15, 1947 until his death in 1964.

Jawaharlal Nehru was a recipient of India’s highest civilian award – ‘Bharat Ratna’ which was given to him in 1955. Pt. Nehru’s birthday on November 14th has been celebrated as ‘Children’s Day’ as it’s a popular belief that he had a great fondness to children. He is popularly referred to as ‘Chacha Nehru’.

Nehru’s tenure saw three Lok Sabha Elections in 1951, 1957 and 1962 during which his party Indian National Congress always enjoyed a comfortable majority owing to its achievement in getting freedom for the country. Jawaharlal Nehru is considered as the ‘Architect of Modern India’ for bringing up several institutions of National interest. Nehru’s early tenure was hands full of work with the Indian nation formation from various small princely states, a task that was successfully undertaken by an able Home Minister in Sardar Vallabhai Patel.

The nation saw communal violence at its peak during the partition around 1947. The young nation then had to then face hostility from Pakistan over the accession of Jammu and Kashmir by India. A full fledged war broke out in 1947. Although the war was heading in favour of India, it was India which suffered the most as it lost 1/3rd of Kashmir. It is said that Nehru made a Himalayan blunder by taking the J&K issue to the United Nations at a time when the Indian Army had almost wiped out the Pakistani infiltration. Even today India is forced to keep silent about what is called as the ‘Pakistan Occupied Kashmir’ (POK). The only good thing for India is that the POK is not all that fertile a land as the Indian Kashmir is.

Nehru later had suffered another blow when his diplomatic overtures towards China failed miserably. In 1954, Nehru signed an agreement with China which is popularly known as Panchsheel (Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence). Nehru took any threat emancipating from China lightly and promoted a slogan “Hindi-Chini bhai bhai” (Indians and Chinese are brothers); this unfortunately never got the Army in shape for a defence. China gave a real shock to the laidback India by attacking it in 1962. China achieved what it wanted through the war and India finally began to develop its defence capabilities in a more professional manner.

In the early hours of 27th May, 1964, India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had died in New Delhi following a heart attack. He was survived by his lone daughter Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi. Nehru was 74 at the time of his death. He was cremated on the banks of River Yamuna and his burial site located north of Shakti Sthal and Rajghat is known as ‘Shanti Van’.

The late Nehru was succeeded by Gulzarilal Nanda who took over as the interim Prime Minister for 13 days before eventually giving way to Lal Bahadur Shastri. Nehru’s legacy was imprinted on India for a long time even after his death. His only daughter Indira Gandhi quickly rose in her ranks to become the Prime Minister following Lal Bahadur Shastri’s mysterious death in Tashkent. In the 1980s, Indira Gandhi’s son and Nehru’s grandson – Rajiv Gandhi went onto become the Prime Minister of India. Even in the present day, the Nehru-Gandhi family continues to dominate Indian Politics through the mother-son duo of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi respectively. Rahul Gandhi is the great grandson of Nehru and has been seen as a sure Prime Minister for the future.

Below are some basic details about Jawaharlal Nehru:

Place and Date of Birth: 14 November 1889, Allahabad, United Provinces, British India

Died On: 27 May 1964, New Delhi, India

Religion: Athiest (Born in a Hindu famly)

Political Party: Indian National Congress

Tenure of Prime Ministership: 15 August 1947 – 27 May 1964

Parents’ Name: Motilal Nehru (Father) and Swarup Rani (Mother)

Wife’s Name: Kamala Nehru (Expired in 1936)

Only Child’s Name: Has one daughter Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi who became the Prime Minister like her father

Youtube Video of Jawaharlal Nehru 1

Youtube Video of Shanti Vana, the Memorial of Jawaharlal Nehru

Youtube Video of most famous speech of Jawaharlal Nehru – Tryst with Destiny made after India attained its independence

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