Pandit Nehru was born on 14th November, 1889 to Motilal Nehru, an eminent lawyer and Swaroop Rani. He completed his post-graduation from Cambridge. On his return to India, he was not interested in the legal profession, but was attracted towards the freedom movement in India and joined the Congress. He was compassionate towards the poor and downtrodden and excelled himself as a statesman. He was good orator, very outspoken in his views.
Pandit Nehru was a blend of Eastern values and Western thinking. He favored technological progress. He was a writer as well as poet and wrote the “Discovery of India” and “Glimpses of World History” .
Jawaharlal Nehru received education in some of the finest schools and universities of the world. He did his schooling from Harrow and completed his Law degree from Trinity College, Cambridge. The seven years he spent in England widened his horizons and he acquired a rational and skeptical outlook and sampled Fabian socialism and Irish nationalism, which added to his own patriotic dedication.
Jawaharlal Nehru returned to India in 1912 and started legal practice. He married Kamala Nehru in 1916. Jawahar Lal Nehru joined Home Rule League in 1917. His real initiation into politics came two years later when he came in contact with Mahatma Gandhi in 1919. At that time Mahatma Gandhi had launched a campaign against Rowlatt Act. Nehru was instantly attracted to Gandhi’s commitment for active but peaceful, civil disobedience. Gandhi himself saw promise and India’s future in the young Jawaharlal Nehru.
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Gandhiji's satyagraha movement and other events swept him completely into the national struggle. It did not take him long long to emerge as a great national leader. When he was only 40 he was elected to preside over the momentous Lahore session of the Congress in 1929- it was here that the resolution on Puna Swaraj was adopted. He often came into conflict with his father who was for Dominion Status. The two loved each other deeply in spite of their differences and it is likely the son influenced the father.
He had differences with Gandhiji also but these did not come in the way of his faith in the leadership of the Mahatma. Jawaharial so endeared himself to the latter that he wrote: "He is pure as crystal, he is truthful beyond suspicion. He is a knight sans peur, sans reproche. The nation is safe in his hands." Gandhiji nominated him as his political heir.
Jawaharlal spent many years of his political career in gaol. His life of sacrifice earned him the affection of his countrymen. Indeed next to the Mahatma he was our most popular leader. India and its people became his major concern and during his tour of the country he was moved by the vast crowds that came to see him. He was a man of many interests, fond of nature, particularly the mountains. He was some what impetuous and in him there was a wonderful combination of the man of action and the man of thought. He wrote sensitively and his several books brought hirn international fame-"An Autobiography", "Glimpses of World History" and "Discovery of India" are among the more notable of his publications.
It is difficult to say which of Panditji's two periods is more memorable- the one before freedom or the one after it. During both he played a crucial role. His prime ministership of free India was a blessing to the nation. It was mainly because of him that the country did not go to pieces during the first years of upheaval. (We do not of course forget that there were others like Sardar Patel who did much to preserve the country's integrity. Nehru often differed from the Sardar and once or twice Gandhiji brought them together.)
Jawaharial Nehru was Prime Minister for seventeen years. During this period he worked to take India to the modem era and at the same time earned for it a place in the world. He himself came to be counted among the great leaders of his time, a bitter opponent of colonialism who was looked upon for inspiration by the Afro-Asian world. He will be remembered not only for the dams and laboratories he built and for laying the foundation of heavy industry. He will have his place in history as a man who had a great vision of India and the world and endeavoured to fulfil it by his action.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of Independent India, was loved by the people both as a man and a leader. He stands foremost among the builders of modern India, giving it a direction towards socialism in a secular, democratic setting. Writer and historian, Nehru through his books influenced the thinking of generations of Indians and made them thirsty for a free, democratic, socialist, secular India with science and technology as its driving force. He was largely responsible with initiating planned economic development
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