Nehru-The Phenomenon
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Volume II, Issue VIII, December 2014 - ISSN 2321-7065 Nehru-The phenomenon *Ms.L. Sujatha **Prof.Y.Somalatha Assistant Professor & Part Time research scholar MVGR College of Engineering Chintalavalasa Vizianagaram Andhra Pradesh India Abstract Nehru a repressible freedom fighter, a democrat, socialist, visionary, architect of modern India made India to be re explored. Ancient India is rich enough but the distinct vision of Nehru could make everything possible with the extensive application of Science and technology and made its people to be comfortable and confident. Contributions, vision and faith of Nehru reshaped India on par with the knowledge super societies of the World. http://www.ijellh.com 132 Volume II, Issue VIII, December 2014 - ISSN 2321-7065 To delineate the personality of multidimensional Nehru to assess his contribution is a herculean task. He has been acknowledged as an outstanding statesman, a competent administrator, the almighty for the downtrodden, a distinguished man of letters and a visionary ,all combined in one .Besides ,his rare personalities; a great scholar ,a writer of repute, a true democrat and a, man of vision , great humanist who has a few parallels. Nehru was irrepressible freedom fighter. Nehru is sure to live in history for generations to come as the man who shaped the destiny of the masses and spokesman of India, man of vision, innovator in handling of foreign policy. In his own words “We are small men and the cause in front us is great, but since the cause is great, some greatness will fall upon as well.” When Nehru became the prime minister, India was in a state of pell-mell. The havoc of partition; troubles of newly acquired independence, poverty made the rule of the nation difficult. Despite every odd, Nehru left his legacy. He left an indelible mark on Indian psyche with his action, ideas and writing. The range of his interests and concerns was wise indeed from basic education to heavy industry; from statistics collections to world peace; from women’s liberation to tribal welfare; and from art to mountain climbing and cricket. He was a veritable renaissance man, besides being a product of the enlightenment with his commitment to rationality, humanity respect for the individual, independence of spirit and secularism. In his own words “If India is to be really great, as well want her to be, then she is not to be exclusive either internally or externally. She has to give up everything that barrier to growth in mind or spirit or in social life”. I .In Indian freedom struggle: Jawaharlal Nehru greatly contributed to the Indian freedom struggle as an active member of the Indian National Congress .After he returned to India in the year 1912 he started to work a s a barrister in Allahabad while moving up the ranks of congress during world war 1.He first met Gandhi in the year 1916 at Lucknow session of congress. It was to be the lifelong partnership between the two that lasted until the death of Gandhi. Under the http://www.ijellh.com 133 Volume II, Issue VIII, December 2014 - ISSN 2321-7065 esteemed mentorship of Gandhi, Nehru quickly rose to frame and prominence, and by the year 1921he was already one of the important leaders of congress party. As and the British colonial administration outlawed the congress party, Nehru, for the first time, went to the prison. And over the next eight years he served eight periods of detentions, he spent over nine years in prison. a. Non-cooperation movement by Jawaharlal Nehru: Major national movement of Nehru came with the start of non-cooperation movement in 1920.He also led the movement Uttar Pradesh. He, in the year 1921, was arrested on severe charges of anti- governmental activities, and was released a few months later .In the crack that formed within the factions of congress following the closure of non-co-operation movement after the chauri chaura incident, Nehru remained loyal to Gandhi and did not join the Swaraj party formed by his father Motilal Nehru and Chittaranjan Das. Nehru, along with the freedom fighters, played a major role in the development of the international outlook of the Indian freedom struggle .He also sought foreign allies for India and forged links with the movements for democracy and freedom all over the world. b. Civil disobedience by Nehru Though in the beginning Nehru was skeptical about the civil Disobedience led by Gandhi but soon joined the movement. He was arrested on 14th April 1930 while going to Raipur from Allahabad. Nehru nominated Gandhi to succeed him as congress president while he was detained in Jail, but Gandhi declined, and Nehru then nominated his father as his successor .With Nehru’s arrest the civil disobedience acquired a new tempo, and arrests, firing on crowds and lathi charges grew to be ordinary occurrences. II. Political career of Jawaharlal Nehru Political career of Jawaharlal Nehru began after his return from England in the year 1912.On his return he joined the Allahabad high court a s barrister, but soon he lost his interest in legal career. Instead he was attracted towards the national movements for home rule. In the year 1912 he made his first appearance at the national congress as a delegate to the Bankipore session. During World http://www.ijellh.com 134 Volume II, Issue VIII, December 2014 - ISSN 2321-7065 War I Nehru volunteered for St. John Ambulance spoke out against the censorship acts passed by the British government in India. He also took active interest in All India Home Rule League under Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Annie Besant. Nehru campaigned on behalf of Indian National Congress against the bonded labour system forced upon Indian workers in Fiji as well as the prejudice faced by Indians in South Africa. In the year 1916, the leaders of India met at the Anand Bhavan to hammer out the Lucknow pact, which united the reunified Congress with the Muslim League. Lucknow session in the year 1916 first brought together the three men who would shape the fortune of subcontinent, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and Mahatma Gandhi. Meanwhile ,his father –Motilal Nehru has become the President of Congress in Allahabad branch and also rallied the moderates in support of Annie Beasant,who had been arrested by the British in June 1917.Nehru who had been working to provide military training for Indian middle class in cooperation with the British through the Indian Defense Forces managed to convince the committee members of the project to call it off as a protest against the arrest of Beasant .In the year 1915,Nehru became an active member in the functioning of Kisan Sabha of Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and became its deputy president in 1918.nehru contacts with peasant classes of India. These were the qualities that moved Gandhi to include Nehru in the inner circle of the congress. III. Jawaharlal Nehru as prime minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Indian prime minister. Nehru and his colleagues had been released as the British cabinet mission arrived to propose plans for transfer of power. Swearing in of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru as the first Prime minister of free India by Lord Mountbatten was held on 15th August 1947. Once he was elected, Nehru headed a provisional government which was impaired by outbreaks of communal violence and political disorder, and the opposition of the Muslim League led by Mohhamad Ali Jinnah, who was demanding a separate Muslim state of Pakistan .After several http://www.ijellh.com 135 Volume II, Issue VIII, December 2014 - ISSN 2321-7065 failed bids to form the coalitions, Nehru reluctantly supported the partition of India, according to plan released by the British on 3 June 1947.He took office As the prime minister of India. On 30 th January 1948, Mahatma Gandhi –nation of the nation was walking to a platform from which he was to address a prayer meeting Nathuram Godse-the assassin was a Hindu nationalist with links to the extremist Hindu Mahasabha, who held Gandhi responsible for weakening India by insisting upon a payment to Pakistan .After the assassination, Prime Minister Nehru addressed the nation via radio where he said; “Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives, and I do not quite know what to tell you or how to say it. beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, father of 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” With the death of Mahatma Gandhi, the entire authority of India came under Nehru and Patel. After the death of Gandhi Indian national congress controlled the epic public display of emotion and grief over two week period –the funeral, mortuary rituals and distribution of the martyr’s ashes –as millions participated and hundreds of millions watched. The primary goal was to assert the power of the governance, legitimate the congress party’s control and suppress all religious Para- military groups. Sardar Vallabh bhai Patel and Nehru suppressed the RSS the Muslim National Guards, and Khaksars, with some 200,000 arrests. Death of Gandhi and funeral linked the distant state with the Indian people and made more understand the need to suppress religious parties during the transition to independence for the Indian people. In the later years there also emerged a revisionist school of history which sought to blame Nehru for the partition of India, mostly referring to his highly centralized policies for an independent India in 1947, which Mohammad Ali Jinnah opposed in favor of more decentralized India.