History-2 Project Complete

DAMODARAM SANJIVAYYA NATIONAL LAW
UNIVERSITY
VISAKHAPATNAM
PROJECT ON
Jawaharlal Nehru: Role in Freedom Struggle and After
SUBJECT
Political Relations & Relations with Other Freedom Fighters, Innovative Ideas & His
Ideology in Developing Nation & Forming it.
BY
M. Eswar Brahmanand
Roll.no. 2017050
2nd Semester
D.S.N.L.U
_______________________________________________
Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University Nayaprastha, Sabbavaram,
Visakhapatnam - 531035
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Firstly, I would like to thank Mr. Viswachandranath Madasu and staff of DSNLU, for
supporting me all through the process.
Secondly, Thanks to all my fellow students who have helped in the research, during this
project.
M. Eswar, 2017050
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTERISATION
CHAPTER-1: Life Sketch Of Pandit Nehru ------------------------------------------------------4

CHAPTER-2: Political Ideology Of Pandit Nehru & Relations -------------------------------7
CHAPTER-3: Nehru’s Role In Making Of Indian Constitution -----------------------------17
CHAPTER-4: Pandit Nehru’s Views On Parliamentary Democracy------------------------24
CHAPTER-5: Nehru On Secularism & Nationalism - An Evaluation ----------------------27
CHAPTER-6: Jawaharlal Nehru as Prime Minister of India----------------------------------33
CHAPTER-7: Conclusion & Summary----------------------------------------------------------43
BIBLIOGRAPHY & E-Sources------------------------------------------------------------------44
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CHAPTER-1
LIFE SKETCH OF PANDIT NEHRU
Jawaharlal Nehru was born on 14 November, 1889. Regarding the backdrop in which the
families surname (Nehru) was coined, he wrote in his Autobiography: “A Jagir with a house
situated on the banks of a canal had been granted to Raj Kaul and, from the back of this
residence, ‘Nehru’ (from Nahar, a canal) came to be attached to his name; Kaul had been the
family name; this changed to Kaul Nehru and in later years, became simply Nehru’s”1. His
father Motilal Nehru had earlier moved from Kanpur to Allahabad where he carved out a
niche for himself. A lawyer by profession, Motilal, by dint of perseverance, had established
himself as a leading lawyer of the town.
Enlightened and educated, Motilal followed a westernized life style. Nehru’s mother Swarup
Rani, schooled in Indian ethos and values, extended to him, in his own words, “excessive and
indiscriminating love” As the male child of prosperous parents, born after 11 years of their
marriage, Jawaharlal grew up in opulence. Educated in Persian and Arabic, Motilal wanted
his son to go beyond the traditional and classical learning which he had acquired. He wanted
his son to have Western education. He has two sisters named Vijayalakshmi and Krishna.
Voyage to Britain: When home tuition was found not enough and he could also afford to the
expenditure of Jawaharlal’s education2. So, Motilal Nehru decided to admit young Nehru, in
a public school in England. In 1905, therefore, he took his family to England when
Jawaharlal was fifteen and got him admitted at Harrow. He pursued Latin at Harrow.
Jawaharlal had an encyclopedic mind and as such his reading interests were wider. He did
remarkably well in general knowledge. He also observed the political developments taking
place in and around with avid interest. Besides politics, the early growth of aviation
fascinated him, for those were the days of Wright Brothers.
While Jawaharlal was in England, freedom struggle was gaining firm ground at home in
India. The news of partition of Bengal, the Swadeshi movement and the deportation of Lala
Lajpat Rai and S.Ajit Singh greatly stirred his mind. He used to discuss the political
developments taking place in India with visiting friends and relatives from India. He was not
at ease at Harrow due to its strict rules and so, he left the place and his family after two years
with his father's permission and joined Trinity College, Cambridge in the beginning of
1
Jawaharlal Nehru-Discovery of India
2
http://bccshistory.weebly.com/uploads/7/0/6/0/7060293/jawaharlal_nehru.pdf last visited on March 8 2018.
4
October, 1907 at the age of seventeen. It was at Cambridge that his pent-up zest for
intellectual pursuit received greater stimuli. Although he offered science subjects like
chemistry, geology and botany, he also studied economics, history and literature with keen
interest. Among the books that influenced Jawaharlal politically at “Cambridge was Meredith
Townsend's Asia and Europe”.
During those days, Jawaharlal’s political sympathy got more aligned with the extremists. The
Majlis, a society formed by Indian students at Cambridge, provided the platform for
discussions and deliberations about political developments taking place in India. He attended
Majlis quite often. Cambridge provided him an aid to join the civil services but has failed to
complete it and finally joined the Law the course and completed it in flying colors.
Jawaharlal also had a stint at the London School of Economics before returning to India.
During this intervening period of two years before his return to India he was vaguely
attracted towards the Fabian and socialist ideas. On a visit to Ireland in the summer of 1910,
he was impressed by the Sinn Fein movement. “The parallel in India was, of course, obvious,
and Jawaharlal's visit to Ireland and his understanding of politics seem to have strengthened
his extremist sympathies”3. Jawaharlal, with a political disposition inclined towards socialism
with a tinge of extremism, came to India in the summer of 1912, at a time when the freedom
struggle was caught between the moderates and the extremists. On his return Jawaharlal
started practicing law at the Allahabad High Court as his father's junior. However, the dry
and drab demands of the profession gradually made him feel uneasy. While politics and
practice kept him busy, in between, he also found time for reading, outing and hunting. On 8
February, 1916, on Vasanta Panchami day which is the precursor of spring in India,
Jawaharlal got married to Kamla Kaul, a young girl of seventeen belonging to a Kashmiri
middle class Brahmin family. It was an arranged marriage, the bride being chosen by Motilal
himself. After the unfortunate Chauri Chaura incident in February 1922, Mahatma Gandhi
decided to discontinue the civil disobedience movement. The tempo of the freedom
movement relapsed into inertia for a few years. During the impasse he, accompanied by his
wife Kamala and their eight year old daughter Indira, sailed from Bombay for Venice in route
to Switzerland in March 1926. The basic purpose of going abroad was for the treatment of his
wife, whose illness had been diagnosed as tuberculosis. While in Geneva, he led very simple
life living in a modest three-room apartment. In spite of very good medical treatment, Kamala
3
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru- M.H. SYED
5
Nehru did not improve much during her stay in Switzerland. Money was no constraint as
Motilal Nehru was always generous to spend as much as was needed for the treatment of his
daughter-in- law.
The indifferent health of his wife greatly disturbed Jawaharlal and he found solace and relief
in extensive reading. Geneva, the hub of international politics, greatly fascinated him. It also
provided him an Opportunity to assess the ongoing political developments in India. With the
international and national politics juxtaposed in this perspective, Jawaharlal formulated his
own vision of India. These were the years in which the seeds of his world view and political
thought were sown which in later years guided the destiny of the nation, both within and in
relation with the world outside. During a brief visit to Berlin towards the end of 1926,
Jawaharlal learned about the proposed Congress of Oppressed Nationalities at Brussels in
February, 1927. The idea immediately attracted him. Jawaharlal was appointed Congress
party's representative to this unusual conclave of radical spokesmen for colonial people and
their sympathizers in Latin America and Europe.
The Resurgent Nationalism:
With such disposition, Jawaharlal sailed for India, accompanied by his family, in December
1927. The militancy of the freedom struggle which had mellowed down when he left for
Europe had again picked up since the visit of Simon Commission in November 1927.
Jawaharlal reached Madras in December 1927 at the most opportune time when the Congress
was meeting there. The controversy over complete independence or dominion status for India
was given a definite direction by Jawaharlal when he moved on 27 December 1927 at the
Madras Congress the famous resolution that the ‘Congress declares the goal of the Indian
people to be complete National Independence’. The resolution was indeed revolutionary. At a
time when most of the Congress leaders were reconciled to gradualism as a mode of freedom
struggle, the clarion call for complete national independence came like a bolt.
Jawaharlal mobilized the youth, the peasantry, and the laborers in order to give a further
thrust to the call. In the autumn of 1928, he was elected President of All India Youth
Congress. In recognition of his organizational ability, he was reappointed the General
Secretary of Congress at the Calcutta Congress in the latter part of December, 1928. Next
year in September, he was unanimously elected as the Congress President. At the historic
Lahore Congress held in late December 1929, the son succeeded the father at the podium.
The socialist credo of Jawaharlal was given a public expression at this Congress. But a
pragmatic and sober Jawaharlal was not bogged down by his personal predilection.
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CHAPTER-2
Political Ideology of Pandit Nehru & Relations
Jawaharlal Nehru’s intervention in the political thought and practice of our times has been
interpreted differently by the liberal rationalists and the Marxist subalterns. Nehru’s political
ideology is neither original nor autonomous as it is wholly derived from the political thought
of European post-Enlightenment rationalism and industrial modernity4. The Marxist deny or
de-emphasize the progressive character of Nehru’s political ideology on the ground that it is
simply a child or stepchild of marriage of Reason and Capital on the ground, in other words,
that it is not an ideology of “the violent struggle between classes” for the establishment of
socialism”5.
Against these interpretations, I shall try to show firstly that though derived largely from the
political thought of European post-Enlightenment modernity, Nehru’s political ideology is an
‘odd mixture’ of liberalism, Marxism. Nehru, in other words, as I shall try to show, regarded
India’s modernizing nationalism as inextricably linked with the radical transformation of
Western modernity6. He perceived the need for a fusion of horizons between the scientific
spirit of post-enlightenment modernity and “the deeper lessons of life, which have observed
the minds of thinkers in all ages and in all countries7.
Nehru was simply a “modernizing elite”, acting under the universal imperative of post-
Enlightenment modernity, the justificatory ideology of which he simply borrowed from the
modern Western tradition of political thought. The Nehruvian ‘model’ of nationalism and
industrial modernity, in other words, are said to be cast in the Enlightenment's theory of
progress, which was based on the eighteenth century West-European ideas' about man,
society and the good or happy life. The philosophers of the Enlightenment, we are reminded,
inaugurated modernity and set global, universal standards of progress for the whole of
humanity by emancipating the individual and his reason from faith, custom and authority.
4
http://www.culturalindia.net/leaders/jawaharlal-nehru.html last visited on March 9 2018.
5.http://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/former_pm/shri-jawaharlal-nehru/ last visited on March 9, 2018.
6.https://www.mapsofindia.com/personalities/nehru/nehru-nationalism.html last visited on 10-1-2018.
7. Sheena-Nehru as Politician
7
Nehru, like other “modernizing elites” of the Third World, we are told, did not have to do any
original political-ideological thinking it had already been done for them by the philosophers
of the European Enlightenment. The modernizing role of the former was simply to grasp and
brings about the sociological or functional conditions of Western-type industrial modernity in
their own societies, In other words they were simply required to act under the universal
imperative of modernization or Westernization. Given the compelling world-wide sweep of
Western industrial modernity, the political- philosophical competences or persuasions of
Nehru or any other Third World nationalist leader are said to be of no consequence.
Nehru’s political ideology
According to this view, Nehru's contribution pertains to the “political sociology” or “political
science” of modernization or development, and not to the intellectual activity of political
thinking or political ideology. We are told that whatever their rhetoric, the so-called
philosopher kings of the Third World “all act as westerners”! All! The only innovativeness
that the liberal- rationalists see in Nehru and the other nationalist leaders of the Third World
is that they reversed the imperialist or colonial Orientalism of the European or Occidental
Powers; while the colonizing Orient list political ideology regarded the Oriental as a passive
object to be civilized by the active, Occidental subject, Nehru and the other Third World
nationalists are said to have merely reversed that Orientalism by asserting and acting out the
subjectivity of the Oriental. Nehru saw important socio-historical differences between n India
and the modern West. He admired the scientific, technological and industrial advances of the
latter and bemoaned their absence in the former. Lacking the scientific, technological and
industrial advances of post- Enlightenment modernity, the Indian people, he felt, have
remained poor; backward and subjugated. Unlike the colonialist Orientalists, Nehru does not
attribute the poverty, backwardness and subjugation of the Indian people to their human
nature; he attributes them rather to the rigid and progress- inhibiting social structures that
have either evolved historically from within India or have been imposed from outside. It is
important to stress Nehru's rejection of the imperialist-Orientalist thesis of essential
differences in human nature between India and the West; the differences for him are socio-
historical, and not ontological or natural.
According to him, the Oriental and Occidental people share a common humanity and they
can and must widen their horizons by learning from each-others is socio-historical
experiences. It is only from this perspective, he believes, that we earn overcome racialism,
cultural arrogance and structural oppression. He also believed that the European
Enlightenment and industrial modernity was a progressive step not only for Europe but for
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the entire world. For him, in other words, post-Enlightenment modernity represents “the spirit
of the age” for the whole of humanity, and India, he says, it is under the imperative of
modernization. The modern mind, that is to say the better type of the modern mind, is
practical and pragmatic, ethical, and social, altruistic and humanitarian. It is governed by a
practical idealism for social betterment. The Indian people's participating in, and benefiting
from, “the spirit of the age”, Nehru felt, were blocked, or prevented not by their human
nature, but by both the rigid, indigenous sociopolitical structure and the engulfing structure of
Western imperialism. While a certain conjuncture of historical forces led to the
Enlightenment and modernity of western Europe, a different historical conjuncture, says
Nehru, brought about in India a “slow and creeping” and “inner weakness... which affects not
Billy her political status but her creative activities”8.
In his Discovery of India, after noting “the growing rigidity and exclusiveness of the Indian
social structure as represented chiefly by the caste system”, he goes on to point out that Thus
particular types of activity became hereditary, and there was a tendency to avoid new types of
work and activity and to confine oneself to the old groove, to restrict initiative and the spirit
of innovation... So long as that structure afforded avenues for growth and expansion, it was
progressive; when it reached the limits of expansion open to it, it became stationary,
unprogressive, and later, inevitably regressive. Because of this there was decline all along the
line-intellectual, philosophical, political, in technique and methods of warfare, in knowledge
of and contacts with the outside world, in shrinking economy, and there was a growth of local
sentiments and feudal and small-group feeling at the expense of the larger conceptions of
India as a whole9.
These progress inhibiting rigidities and exclusivists of Indian social structure, Nehru finds,
are supported and reinforced by the engulfing structure of colonial rule, which is based on
force and which, besides blocking growth and industrialization, is supporting the “groups and
classes which had ceased to have any real significance”. Ending colonial, rule therefore
becomes an absolute precondition for the modernization of the Indian society. In his historic
presidential address to the 1936 Lucknow session of the Indian National Congress, he said: “I
work for Indian independence because the nationalist in me cannot tolerate alien domination;
8
http://bccshistory.weebly.com/uploads/7/0/6/0/7060293/jawaharlal_nehru.pdf March 8 2018.
9
. Ram Goel: A political Biography of Pandit Nehru.
9
work for it even more because for me it is the inevitable step to social and economic
change”10
Since the opposition to India’s political independence comes both from the indigenous
reactionary groups and classes and from the foreign capitalist & imperialist classes, Indian
national movement for Nehru becomes a revolutionary movement directed as much against
reactionary traditionalism as against the decaying structures of Western post-Enlightenment
capitalist- industrial modernity. He could sincerely claim: “I wanted India's freedom for
India's sake of course; but I also wanted it for England’s sake”11. Thus, modernizing
nationalism and critical modernity become the two sides of the Nehruvian political ideology;
according to him, India cannot modernize without at the same time bringing about a socialist
turn of Western capitalist- imperialist modernity: In December 1936, in his presidential
address to the Congress session at Faizpur, Nehru stated: During the past eight months I have
wandered a great deal in this vast land of ours and I have seen again the throbbing agony of
India's masses, the call of their eyes for relief from the terrible burdens they carry. That is our
problem; all others are secondary and merely lead up to it. To solve that problem we shall
have to end the imperialistic control and exploitation of India. But what is this imperialism of
today? It is not merely the physical possession of one country by another; its roots lie deeper.
Modern imperialism is an outgrowth of capitalism and cannot be separated from it12. If is
because of this that we cannot understand our problem without understanding the
implications of imperialism and socialism. The disease is deep-seated and requires a radical
and revolutionary remedy and that remedy is the socialist structure of society.
RELATIONS OF JAWAHARLAL NEHRU WITH OTHER FREEDOM FIGHTERS
NEHRU AND GANDHIJI:
Motilal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi knew each other very well and it became easier for
Jawaharlal Nehru to be closely acquainted to ‘Bapu’ as the nation called him Mahatma
Gandhi first met Jawaharlal Nehru at the annual meeting of the Indian National Congress in
the year 1916 at Lucknow. The first meeting was enough to impress Nehru regarding Gandhi
and the charm of this relationship increased and flourished with passing time.
In Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru had found the absolute leader who was capable of
handling the entire nation. This quality he found missing in almost all the Indian political
10
Ramachandra Guha; Verdicts on Nehru: Rise and Fall of a Reputation
11
.http://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/former_pm/shri-jawaharlal-nehru/ last visited on March 9, 2018.
12
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leaders of the time that included his father, Motilal Nehru. Even Motilal Nehru was highly
impressed and influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's inner strength and self-confidence. The
greatest quality that went in favor of Mahatma Gandhi was his image. General masses could
identify themselves through Gandhiji. In the initial stages of his political career, Jawaharlal
Nehru found everything regarding Gandhiji amazing and great. Gandhiji’s plan of action in
any field attracted Nehru to a great deal. The Satyagraha movement against the Rowlett Act
fascinated Jawaharlal Nehru greatly and he was keen to join the movement with great deal of
enthusiasm. But he was dissuaded by his father to join the movement then and there and
asked him to follow the proceedings of the mass-movement. With satyagraha’s becoming the
common form of revolt against the various forms of British atrocities, Mahatma Gandhi
gained an important place in the Indian freedom struggle. There was also immense mass
following that helped Gandhiji to attain that grand stature. .
The heinous crime that the British committed in Jalianwala Bagh evoked Jawaharlal Nehru
into action. He could no longer restrain himself from joining active politics and participate in
the Indian independence struggle. Gandhiji also advocated the terms 'ahimsa', meaning non-
violence and 'Swaraj', meaning self-rule. These were mainly aimed at improving and
changing the economic scenario in the country. Jawaharlal Nehru joined the campaign with
full fervor and enthusiasm. The Congress party was totally reformed and remodeled to reach
to the people at the grass root level. This called for involvement of the masses in all the
action that was planned for attaining freedom from the shackles of the British rule. Nehru
completely supported the idea. In the year 1921, Jawaharlal Nehru was first arrested and sent
to prison. After this, he was sent to the prison several times and passed nine years of his life
in prison for the freedom struggle. Mahatma Gandhi in the meantime became the supreme of
the Indian National Congress. The civil-disobedience movement was also called off by
Gandhiji. There was also some political strife that was going on in the Indian National
Congress at this time. In 1923, Jawaharlal Nehru was appointed the General Secretary of the
Congress just for a period of two years. He again gained back the position in 1927 for two
years. .
In 1929, under the patronage of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal was made the President of the
Indian National Congress. This was declared at the annual Congress Session at Lahore. After
that Jawaharlal Nehru was made the President of the Indian National Congress six more
times. He enjoyed the position and the glory that is attached to the post. But he was
11
frequently arrested and put behind bars during the various movements that were launched to
remove the British from India. Even during the Civil Disobedience Movement that was
initiated by Mahatma Gandhi against the salt laws that were imposed by the British, Nehru
was arrested. .
Gandhiji even went to London to attend the Round Table Conference to figure out a peaceful
way to attain freedom for the nation. But after coming back from there, he found the situation
even worse. In 1932, both Gandhiji and Jawaharlal Nehru were arrested. Once, Motilal Nehru
was also arrested and all three of them were behind bars. In 1942, with the beginning of the
Quit India, Movement Jawaharlal Nehru was arrested and remained in prison for almost three
years, one of the longest periods he had spent in jail. He was finally released in 1945.
In 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru with the influence of Gandhiji was summoned by the British with
an idea of forming an interim government. This was done to organize the governmental
structure during the transitional pre-independence period. Gandhiji was also against the
partition that took place with the independence of the country. He tried his level best to avoid
it and even advised the Congressmen to reject the proposals that were put forward by the
Cabinet Mission. But the Congress leaders, including Jawaharlal Nehru tried to pacify
Gandhiji by explaining that partition was the only way by, which a civil war between the
Hindus and Muslims could be avoided. But in spite of this Gandhiji vehemently opposed this
approach to freedom. Unfortunately, under great pressure from various sectors of the
Congress Party and also from all parts of India, Gandhiji had to give his assent.
.
After Gandhiji’s retirement from active politics, Jawaharlal Nehru became the leader of the
Indian National Congress and took charge of the proceedings of the party completely.
However, with passage of time and with Nehru's experience in the political field, there were
certain difference of opinions and ideologies that cropped up between the two great Indian
leaders. There were grave ideological differences between the two leaders. The formation of
the Socialist Party within the Congress party by Jawaharlal Nehru was the first point of
difference between the leaders. Though Nehru followed several rules of Satyagraha and many
other principles of Gandhiji, he also opposed some of them vehemently. Nehru’s ideologies
matched completely with Subhash Chandra Bose and both of them also came together for the
freedom struggle. Nehru didn’t accept to the immediate grant for freedom asked by Gandhiji.
However, irrespective of the differences, Jawaharlal Nehru respected Mahatma Gandhi. He
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had influenced Nehru's personal, social as well as political life to a great deal. On his death,
Jawaharlal Nehru addressed the nation and expressed his grief on the loss of the great leader.
He felt that India had lost the greatest leader. With both good and bad times, the relationship
that Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi shared was a matter of envy for many leaders. It
has become an interesting subject of study for many people, even in modern times.
RELATION BETWEEN SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE AND JAWAHARLAL
NEHRU
Differences Among Them13:
In the next three years, their political paths crossed: Nehru was elected Congress
president twice. Bose succeeded him in 1938. The Congress leadership is which meant
Gandhiji did not take kindly to Bose seeking a second term. He, however, defied the
Mahatma, whose candidate Dr Pattabhi Sitaramayya lost to Subhas. Rabindranath Tagore
supported Bose. Gandhiji took Pattabhi’s defeat as his own. Commenting on the time, Indian
historian and author Rudrangshu Mukherjee said: “Gandhi’s reaction to Subhas’s victory was
uncharacteristically devoid of grace. In a public statement he said that since he had prevailed
upon Sitaramayya not to withdraw from the contest, the latter’s defeat was ‘more mine than
his’. Eventually, Mahatmaji had his way and Subhas resigned, and launched his own party
the Forward Bloc. Throughout the unseemly controversy Nehru’s behavior was Hamlet-like.
This did not rebound to his credit.” The Nehru-Bose drift was soon to become a storm. The
two exchanged heated letters in March 1939. Subhas’s letter was 20 pages long, Nehru’s
reply, 13 pages. The Bose letter was ill-tempered, Nehru’s, elegantly vague and unusually
defensive. He wrote, “But, I am a dull subject to discuss at the tail end of an inordinately long
letter. Let us leave it at this that I am an unsatisfactory human being who is dissatisfied with
himself and the world, and whom the petty world he lives in does not particularly like.”
ONENESS AMONG THEM:
Their differences were deep on vital matters. Nehru despised Hitler and Mussolini. He
had refused to meet the Italian dictator in March 1936, while Subhas met him five times. His
meeting with Hitler on May 29, 1943 in Berlin was anything but reassuring. Bose’s stay in
Germany and his refusal to condemn Hitler’s horrific treatment of the Jews attracted huge
criticism. Nehru’s approach to the Jewish issue was entirely different. Bose left Germany
‘empty handed’. On February 9, 1943, Netaji sailed in a German submarine for the east
accompanied by Abid Hassan Saffrani, who after 1947, became India’s ambassador to
13
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2915862/The-parallel-lives-Bose-
Nehru.html#ixzz58yiiEdfR
13
Denmark. Between 1943 and 1945, Netaji Bose was in Japan and Singapore, Malaya and
Myanmar, leading the Indian National Army (INA), which he had established with the help
of his Japanese hosts. It was a valiant effort but destined to be a failure. In his broadcasts to
India, Netaji called Gandhiji the ‘Father of the Nation.’ He also gave us “Jai Hind”.
RELATION BETWEEN VALLABHAI PATEL AND JAWAHARLAL NEHRU
Nehru admitted in a candid letter to Gandhi towards the end of the latter’s life that it was
‘true that there are not only temperamental differences between Sardar and me but also are
differences in approach with regard to economic and communal matters’14. The intensity of
Nehru and Patel’s conflicting opinions were often matters of grave public speculation and
embarrassment for the government. To undo the fallout of an apparent divide within the
cabinet, both often had to resort to public airing of statements to the effect that they had
abiding love and respect for each other15. This has been taken at face value by some
historians like Neerja Singh has proof of some ‘fundamental unity between the two’16.
Such a hypothesis is however inadequate in explaining the everyday tensions which clouded
their relationship. These tensions reached an acrimonious climax when Puroshottam Das
Tandon supported by Patel defeated ‘Acharya’ J B Kriplani who had Nehru’s backing for the
post of Congress President in 195017.The incident cannot be viewed in isolation and refutes
the idea that no fundamental differences existed between the two men. Nehru’s revulsion of
Tandon interestingly stemmed from his alleged “communal and revivalist outlook”18 while
Patel found him to be only a ‘little pro-Hindu’19. There were also several other incidents in
which Nehru and Patel threatened to quit their posts due to their sense of consternation in not
being able to have their own way.
Patel also was subjected to unwarranted harassment by some of the Nehru’s female admirers.
In his letter to Gandhi dated 7th January 1947, an emotional Patel expressed dismay at
Mridula Sarabhai who ‘had made it her pastime to heap abuses upon him’. Patel alleged that
she ‘was indulging in a nauseating propaganda that (Patel) wanted to get rid of Jawaharlal
and also found a new Party’.
14
Nehru to Gandhi, 1948
15
Patel’s Bombay civic address , In tune with the millions, Ed. G M Nandukar, 1975, p. 258
16
Neerja Singh, Nehru-Patel Agreement within Differences, p. xii
17
Inder Malhotra, A first principles disagreement, Indian Express, 3.4.2009
18
V Shankar Sardar Patel Select Correspondence Vol. 2 p. 635
19
Inside story: the diary of Manibehn Patel
14
Similarly, Padmaja Naidu hurled petty accusations at Patel. For instance, she complained to
Nehru about the allegedly high expenses incurred on a reception for Patel in Hyderabad. She
also advocated that the Razakars, including those facing charges of complicity in various
atrocities against Hindus, such as Mir Asghar Ali and Baquer Hussain Qureshi (they were
accused of murdering several Hindus) be pardoned. Patel found ‘no justification for her
hysteria’ and sternly objected to her ill-advised attempts to ‘interfere with the course of
justice’. Moreover, he said the government had been pretty lenient in dealing with the
Razakars since only ‘one sixth of those originally involved were facing trial’.
Manibehn, Patel’s daughter had also suspected Mridula Sarabhai and Padmaja Naidu
conniving with Rafi Ahmed Kidwai to undermine her father’s position which adversely
affected his health20. Whether such incidents had Nehru’s tacit consent is not known,
although it is unlikely that he reprimanded his admirers for their misconduct.
It is true that despite their immense differences, both Nehru and Patel found a working
relationship which endured till Patel’s death. But it was rendered possible in large measure by
Patel’s deep sense of loyalty towards Gandhi, the Congress and the country. It is another
matter that Gandhi promoted Nehru over Patel despite the latter enjoying the overwhelming
confidence of the Congress Working Committee; an act which required truncation of inner
party democracy21. Nevertheless, Patel did not challenge Gandhi’s wisdom. Sarvepalli Gopal,
Nehru’s rather sympathetic biographer, who was otherwise quite critical of Patel, conceded
that Patel’s ‘stoic decency’ was a major factor which prevented a permanent schism between
the two22. Therefore, the fact that they had a decent working relationship and Patel’s
acceptance of Nehru’s leadership does little to paper over the cracks.
After Patel’s demise, Nehru became the undisputed leader of the Congress party and ruled
with an iron fist. The last semblance of internal democracy within the Congress had truly died
with Patel.
The Enduring Relevance
Understanding the nature of differences between both the men is critical since these
differences and their unsatisfactory resolution had lasting consequences in the making of post
independent India. Unfortunately, this has received very little scrutiny.
20
V N Datta, Patel’s legacy http://www.tribuneindia.com/2001/20010930/spectrum/main1.html
21
Koenraad Elst, Gandhi and Godse, Voice of India, 2001, p. 144
22
S Gopal, Jawaharlal Nehru: Vol 1, 1975 (cited in India after Gandhi, Ramachandra Guha, p. 130)
15
The Nehru’s worldview can be understood through his voluminous writings on India and the
world. Patel, on the other hand, was not even inclined to write an autobiography. The best
source of understanding Patel remains his official correspondence and epistles which were
released thanks to his daughter Manibehn. The Patel commemorative volumes include some
of his public speeches which provide further insight into his personality. Contemporary
memoirs like those by Balraj Krishna and V Shankar, Patel’s personal assistant provide
another layer of historical evidence. One, rather overlooked historical source is the diaries of
Manibehn who also served as his secretary and was privy to much of Patel’s inner world.
Differences in Economic Policy
Nehru and Patel’s economic views differed drastically. Nehru envisioned a socialist
India with the ‘elimination of profit in society. With social service and cooperation taking
place of competition’23. Nehru replicated the Soviet planning commission and its Five Year
Plans while severely restricting the scope of private enterprise24. In the 1955 Avadi session of
the Congress, Nehru pushed through a resolution for creating an economy on ‘a socialist
pattern’. He stopped short of forceful redistribution because he felt there was just too little
money, and perhaps tempered by the relative failure of the land reform
and Bhoodan movements.
1. Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel
2. Jawaharlal Nehru signing the report of the Planning Commission on the First
Five Year Plan, New Delhi, 7 July 1951.
23
Lucknow Session 1936 cited by K L Panjabi, The Indomitable Sardar, p. 105
24
Arvind Kumar Arvind Narendranathan Why Jawaharlal Nehru is the root cause of India’s economic troubles
DNA 11. 7.2011 http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-why-jawaharlal-nehru-is-the-root-cause-of-indias-
economic-troubles-1564479
16
Patel on the other hand believed that capitalism could be ‘purged of its hideousness’25. A
native Gujarati raised under the influence of the Swaminarayan Hindu sect, he did not view
the spirit of enterprise with disdain. For him, creation of wealth for ushering in societal
prosperity was a desirable trait. He was unfairly charged of being in cahoots with capitalists
such as GD Birla, to which he responded by stating that he enjoyed no personal property and
that he considered friendship towards all irrespective of their creed or class his duty.
He also emphatically denied the inevitability of class struggle which was an article of faith
for the Marxists. It was Patel who was instrumental in purging Nehru’s call for socialism
from official Congress resolutions. In his minute ‘regarding the economic situation of the
country’, Patel affirmed his faith in the capitalists, industrialists and economists who ‘when
approached in the right manner’ offered promising prospects for both production and just
remuneration for labor. Had Patel lived longer, it is doubtful if Nehru could have thrust his
socialist agenda on the Indian economy
CHAPTER-3
NEHRU’S ROLE IN MAKING INDIAN CONSTITUTION
Leadership and ideology / ideas are two of the most formidable factors that have played a
very prominent role in shaping and mounding the destinies of societies and counties. Coming
to the most exciting period of modern India, right from the days of Raja ram Mohan Roy to
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru there are several cases of celebrated leaders and their socio –
political ideas shaping and influencing the destiny of India during the nineteenth and the
twentieth century’s.
Jawaharlal Nehru was the foremost who belonged to the galaxy of leadership of this period
that tremendously influenced and shaped the destiny of the Indian subcontinent. As one of the
titans of the national movement and the first Prime Minister and architect of modern India his
dynamic and towering leader ship and progressive ideas richly deserve to be evaluated. In
shaping the destiny of modern India his services were many sided. His inspiring leader ship
and ideas specially deserve to be analyzed in the contest of the constitution making during
1946 to 1949, and the post – Independence era.
His ideas on social, economic and political and constitutional matters were developed over a
period of years preceding the advent of India’s Independence. The impact of western social
25
K L Panjabi, op. cit, p. 107
17
and political ideas on him, and the clash between Indian national ism and western
imperialism and harsh social, economic and political realities of India. And the growing
aspiration of Indians constitutionalism, representative government, and sovereignty of people,
republican policy, basic rights and liberties of citizens, citizenship, and Independent judiciary
based on the rule of law, socio – economic and political justice, imperative necessity of a just
social order, secularism, cosmopolitan nationalism, internationalism, and humanism. His
opposition to aggressive imperialism, and colonialism, also got crystallized during the same
period. While spearheading the Indian national movement against British imperialism he
prepared himself for his future role as one of the founding fathers of the Indian
Constitution26.
Nationalists in India were inspired to think on the lines of a constituent assembly elected by
people on the basis of universal adult suffrage to take up the cause of framing the
Constitution. With the growing demand for Independence in the twenties and the thirties, the
demand for formation of Constituent Assembly also grew and also the work done by such
bodies as the Nehru Committee (1928), Simon Commission (1930), made the British
parliament to put the formation of constitutional assembly on to paper.
Nehru, denounced the Government of India Act 1935. And characterized this as a Charted of
Slavery. He wanted this to be replaced by a Charter of democracy, popular sovereignty and
basic rights and liberties of citizens. He championed steadfastly, right from the thirties, the
demand for a popularly chosen Constituent. Assembly as the appropriate mechanism for
shaping the Constituent of India. The outbreak of World War II and the resultant constitution
impasse which led to the exit of the Congress ministries did not cause any let up in the
nationalists, demand for a Constituent Assembly. Later developments culminating in the
Viceroy’s offer of August 1940, and war time exigencies which led to the visit of Cripps’
Mission to India, and the outright rejection of this unconvincing offer could in no way affect
the nationalists’ demand for a constituent Assembly. Ending of world II and the collapse of
the Shimla conference in June 1945 did in no way dissuade the nationalists’ from their
demand for a Constituent Assembly. Advent of the Labor Government in Britain, renewed
efforts of the authorities to find a solution to the Indian constitutional and political tangle,
outcome of elections to the central and provincial legislative bodies.
These noble and majestic, and stirring and eloquent objectives and ideals of the state
eloquently testified to Nehru’s vision of India’s political future and governance in the context
26
18
of the larger humanity. His vision of India and her further transcended the barriers of social
primordially, geography and time. The historic resolution moved by Nehru and his eloquent
speech there on set the ball in motion and paved the way for constitution-making. In
deference to the views expressed by such members as Dr. M.R. Jayakar and others about the
piquant situation in the assembly caused by the absence of the Muslim League Members and
non-representation of the Princely states, Nehru, agreed to the further postponement of
discussions on his historic resolution. Could not be held in abeyance any longer it was
adopted on January 23, 1947. The trends of debate that ensued on this resolution showed that,
barring a few exceptions, the assembly concurred with the philosophy of the resolution
moved by Nehru. Nehru’s introductory speech and his replies to the views and comments of
the members establish conclusively the pivotal role of Nehru in constitution making.
Considering the magnitude of the colossal tasks of constitution making, the Constituent
Assembly rightly resorted to the mechanism of the committee, Negotiating Committee,
Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, minorities, Tribal and Excluded Areas, Union
constitution Committee, Provincial Constitution Committee. Though Nehru neither was nor
personally associated with all these committees is brought to bear profound influence on the
working of these various committees.27 The framing of the Indian Constitution took place
during the years 1946 to 1949 when most cataclysmic events and developments took place.
Among them, the most significant were the acceptance of the partition plan of June 3, 1947,
Indian Independence Act, 1947, which emancipated the Constituent Assembly from the
hurdles and burden of slavery and political domination of Britain, traumatic effects of
Partition, particularly the mass exodus of refugees, accession and merger and integration of
the princely states, and the resultant territorial integrating of India, challenges to the country’s
defense and security thrown by Pakistan’s invasion of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and
acute scarcity of certain basic and essential commodities to mention only a few. Each one of
these exerted tremendous influence on the process of constitution making. Political unity of
the subcontinent wrought and maintained by the British for over a century stared showing
signs of cracks from 1937 onwards. The period 1937 to 1947, the last decade of the British
rule in the subcontinent was marked by palpable dents in the political unity of the
subcontinent. Indian Constituent Assembly, pursuant to the Cabinet Mission Plan, which was
born in this depressing atmosphere heavily, bore the inerasable scars of the unity of the
subcontinent. The onward march of Indian nationalism as spearheaded by Congress which
27
Ambika Prasad- Nehru in Parliament
19
posed formidable challenges to the British authorities made the latter to become disinterested
in preserving intact the political unity of the subcontinent.
Thus the constituent assembly was born at a time when the political unity of the subcontinent
was plagued by the Muslim League’s policy of separatism and demand for partition, and the
British authorities’ indifference to and disinterestedness in the maintenance of the
subcontinent’s unity. Born in a psychologically very depressive, politically uncertain, and
morally discouraging atmosphere, the Constituent Assembly had to work within the
parameters of the British Cabinet mission Plan. Situated in such an atmosphere, politically
strangulating and legally inhibiting, the assembly, notwithstanding the political exuberance
and idealism expressed by leaders like Nehru, was not yet free to effectuates India’s ‘tryst
with destiny.’28
The historic statement of Prime Minister Attlee on February 20, 1947 in the British House of
Common’s the herculean efforts of the new Viceroy Lord Mountbatten to solve the Indian
problem within the framework of the Cabinet Mission Plan. And his realization that it would
be just impossible and consequently the plan of June 3, 1947, embodying the partition of the
subcontinent Act, 1947) embodying the partition of the subcontinent (which was soon
accompanied by the Indian Independence Act, 1947) were in a unique manner responsible for
emancipation the assembly from whatever political and legal inhibitions form which if
suffered and transformed it into a full-fledged sovereign constituent assembly to embark upon
the mammoth task of framing free India’s Constitution. In this mighty and challenging task of
the Constituent Assembly Nehru, played an epoch making role. It would be difficult to
understand the basic values, philosophical assumptions and economic and political
imperatives of the Constitution without caring to understand and analyses the role of Nehru in
the process of constitution making. There is hardly any aspect of the Constitution in which
Nehru did not have role, either directly or indirectly, to play in influencing and shaping the
same.
The philosophy and the fundamentals of the Constitution were tremendously influenced by
the Philosophy of the national movement in the shaping of which Nehru played a very crucial
role. The philosophy and the fundamentals of the Constitution are woven round such
important themes and aspects of people as the ultimate source of sovereignty, paramount
place of the individual under the Constitution, demarcation between the state and society.
28
20
The objectives resolution moved by Nehru and the debate that ensued in the Constituent
Assembly provided a clear in sight in to the Philosophical values and fundamentals of the
Constitution which the Assembly was called upon to formulate. Either in shaping the
philosophical contents of his objectives resolution or in conceiving and shaping the basic
philosophical value and principles underlying the Constitution which the assembly was to
frame, enact and adopt, Nehru as a farsighted statesman and socio-political pragmatist,
looked upon the Constitution as a positive instrument to rejuvenate and modernize a
heterogeneous society pervaded by the forces of social primordially, an under developed
polity and a backward and stagnant economy. This approach of Nehru to the process of
constitution Assembly in shaping the philosophy and the fundamentals of the Constitution.
For Nehru, the Constitution was not an inexplicable or unrealizable end in itself couched in a
metaphysical language but it was only an effective means to provide people with reasonable
adequate opportunities to develop themselves to the maximum extent possible. He looked
upon the state as only a politico administrative apparatus to accomplish social good / welfare
on the largest possible scale. To him, the individual human being and the maximum
development of his personality constituted the supreme end for the relation between the state
and the individuals decisively influenced the task of the state and the reconstruction of the
influence the task of the assembly in conceiving and formulating in an eloquent and vibrant
manner the philosophy and the fundamentals of the constitution. In his approach to the
mighty task of constitution making, Nehru differed in a fundamental sense from that of the
approach of the founding fathers of the U.S.A. Constitution in 1787.
Nehru looked upon the Constitution not only as a political, administrative and legal
instrument to ensure the political governance of the country, which was not unimportant but
also an effective and positive instrument pervaded by the considerations of welfare state to
effectible the goals of social justice, which have come to be engrafted on the constitutional
document. This point needs to be stressed in the context of the growing ascendancy of the
concept of social welfare state. His approach to the task of constitution making and positive
role of the state in alleviating the miseries of people and redressing their grievances, and
making their lives worth living were greatly influenced by the considerations of a welfare
state, social justice and socio-economic democracy. His approach to constitution making was
not only positive and over whelming influence by the considerations of modernization and
political development but also by the socio - economic and political compulsions of the third
world countries in general and India in particular. If the Constitution that was to be framed by
the assembly, Nehru knew well was to have any decisive impact on India’s heterogeneous
21
society, stagnant economy and polity, and to accomplish the goal of social revolution, the
new constitution was to be framed in such a way as to meet to fulfill the ‘needs of the many
instead of representing the views of the few. The perception of Nehru as to the making of the
Constitution that was finally enacted, and adopted on November 26, 1949. Not only should
they understand the nature of their political institutions, he felt earnestly, but these
institutions should also provide adequate “opportunities without which it is not possible for
the people to develop fully their faculties”. In fact, the combined effects of the past and
present, and aspirations of the future in influencing the nature and scope of the constitution
could very well be amplified by citing the preamble, fundamental rights and directive
principles of state policy and their far reaching implications29.
Every major theme and aspect of the Constitution bears the profound influence of Nehru on
constitution making, the theme of citizenship was one such basic thing, and in influencing
and shaping the same Nehru brought to bear enormous influence. His aristocratic upbringing
and western education and impact made him not only an inveterate opponent of the
impenetrable forces of social primordial and heterogeneity but also cosmopolitan in his
temperament, outlook and approach. He always looked at the problems of India and
reconstruction of her society and polity from a wider angle. He knows that one of the basic
weaknesses of India washer heterogeneity characterized by parochialism and conspicuous
absence of wider nationalism. In fact, one of the most pressing needs of the hour was how to
with stand her formidable forces of social primordially and instill in the minds of the people
of India. Irrespective and instill in the minds of the people of India, irrespective of their
racial, religious, cultural and linguistic diversities and provincial feelings, a cosmopolitan
feeling that they constituted one distinct common political nationality the socio-psychological
and political trait of India, as a nation. In accomplishing this elusive goal, he rightly felt that a
constitutional provision for one single citizenship was the appropriate panacea. In this
respect, the constitution makers led by Nehru resolved to have one single citizenship for the
entire country. By dint of this constitutional arrangement, an earnest attempt was made to
oblige the people to feel that they were one irrespective of racial, religious, cultural, linguistic
and regional considerations. He knew that mere political democracy and political rights
would be inadequate, and these should be extended to the social and economic aspects of
democracy and rights received considerable emphasis at his hands. His profound faith in the
29
Dr. Deelip Maale- Contribution of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to Indian Politics
22
cause of social justice and social revolution tremendously his approach to the subject matter
of fundamental rights and directive principles of state policy.30
His supreme faith in democracy as a socio-political system, cause of social justice, and his
adherence of the forces of social heterogeneity and primordially and the imperatives of an
under developed country like India considerably influenced and conditioned his thoughts and
views on fundamental rights. He rightly recognized the right to freedom that came to be
embodied in Article 19 and also Articles 20-22. Though he readily subscribed to the right to
freedom of speech and other basic civil and political and other facets of the right to freedom
covered by Articles 20-22 his abiding faith in democracy did not prevent him from
recognizing the imperative necessity of subjecting the right to freedom to reasonable
restrictions in the larger interests of society.
Actuated by the vital considerations of national unity, integrity and political stability, he
strove his best to ensure that apprehensions and misgivings of the minorities were resolved.
While striving to secure to the minorities such constructional safeguards for protecting the
interests of the minorities, and the right of the minorities to establish and administer
educational institutions of their choice, his aim was not to perpetuate the is lands of
minorities but to assuage their feelings of uncertainty and fear of domination or
encroachment by the majority of their vital interests touching religion, script, language and
culture31.
His approach to the subject of property was very substantially and pervading influence by his
socialist leanings and tenets of democratic socialism, and imperatives of justice and social
revolution, and his opposition to the continuance of land lordism and Zamindari System,
which he vowed to end. In contrast to the stand taken by leaders like Sardar Patel and such of
those who in the assembly concurred with the stand taken on the right to property, Nehru was
not for making the right to property. Nehru was nor for making the right to property a very
absolute or deeply entrenched right. He was obliged to support the right to property but with
a specific constitutional provision empowering the state to acquire private property if the
same was warranted by public interest, and they could do so by means of law and providing
for compensation to the party concerned. The wider implications of the First Amendment and
the Fourth Amendment in 1951 and 1955 respectively which considerably eroded the scope
of the right to property could be cited as the most pertinent examples to point out his attitude
towards the right to property Sacrosanct. He viewed it from the wider angle of the larger
30
Ram Goel: A political Biography of Pandit Nehru.
31
23
social interests and welfare. This approach of Nehru to the subject of the right to property
was in a way responsible for making the legislature supreme arbiter in deciding matters of
social policy, which included legislation to take over the property of any individual or firm,
and strictly minimizing the role of the judiciary and judicial review in that respect. Nehru as a
great humanist and visionary viewed these tribal groups and their problems with a great deal
of human sympathy and consideration.
He endorsed the inclusion in the constitution of such specific provisions concerning the
administration of the scheduled areas, and control of the union government over the
administration of the scheduled and tribal areas32. His supreme concern for the backward
classes did not fail to have its impact on the constitution.
CHAPTER-4
Pandit Nehru’s Views On Parliamentary Democracy
It truly represented the nation and the hiatus that existed between the Government and the
people's representatives before Independence was no longer there. 33 The transitional period
between August 1947 and March 1952 was an important one as it bridged a gap between the
old Legislative Assembly and the new Parliament. It helped the new Ministers and senior
officers in the administration to familiarize themselves with the working of the new
Constitution. At the same time, the Members of Parliament learned to conform to
parliamentary traditions and to suitably adapt them to the needs of independent India and the
work of the Parliament of India. It was a period during which progress was made both in
regard to elaboration of rules of procedure and the setting up of various committees partly to
regulate the work of the House and partly to regulate its relationship with the executive.34
Elections:
By the time the first General Elections were held under the new Constitution in 1952,
Parliamentary democracy had taken deep roots. This election itself was something unique in
parliamentary history all over the world. In spite of the fact that millions of people all over
the country majority of them poor and illiterate were exercising their franchise for the first
time, the system was able to ensure free and fair elections. The conduct of elections won all-
round admiration. This was repeated in the second and third general elections, held in 1957
32
http://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/former_pm/shri-jawaharlal-nehru/ last visited on March 9, 2018.
33
http://bccshistory.weebly.com/uploads/7/0/6/0/7060293/jawaharlal_nehru.pdf March 8 2018.
34
24
and 1962, respectively. Expression of the free will of the people was the hall-mark of these
elections. Even though the size of the electorate grew with successive general elections, it
was to the credit of the system working under Nehru that there was minimum room for
complaint against the election process and machinery. The Indian National Congress, led by
Jawaharlal Nehru, was returned to power in all the three general elections with comfortable
majorities in the Lok Sabha.
Building the Institution of Parliament:
Pandit Nehru was the prime architect of India's political institutions. His contribution to the
evolution of parliamentary democracy in the country was unique. It was he who built, brick
by brick, the infrastructure and edifice of parliamentary institutions in India. The years that
followed the commencement of the Constitution constituted a period of great stress and strain
for the nation and for the world at large. That India’s representative institutions endured was
a great tribute to Nehru's abiding faith in and respect for the parliamentary system. The
Union Parliament itself under Nehru's leadership performed a tremendous conflict resolution
and national integrational role during the formative years (1950-1964). As “the grand inquest
of the nation”, it came to be relied upon as a forum for grievance ventilation and redressal
and for resolving the multifarious difficulties and problems of the people. As the first Prime
Minister of India who was at the helm of affairs for the most crucial fourteen years of the new
Republic, it was Jawaharlal Nehru who worked the constitutional mandate of establishing a
parliamentary system guaranteeing social, economic and political justice; liberty, equality,
dignity of the individual and unity and integrity of the nation. And, the way he worked it, he
gave shape, meaning and content to the provisions of the Constitution. As the Leader of the
House Provisional Parliament (1950-1952), First Lok Sabha (1952-1957), Second Lok Sabha
(1957-1962) and Third Lok Sabha (1962- 1964). Nehru played the most outstanding role in
establishing healthy practices and precedents.
Free and fair elections to Parliament based on universal adult franchise for Nehru the most
sacred festival of democracy and an article of faith. He showed tremendous respect to the
institution of Parliament and to parliamentary practices and procedures. This was evident all
through his conduct inside and outside the Houses of Parliament. His relations with the
Presiding Officers and the members of Parliament were most cordial and admirable. Letters
of individual members of Parliament were almost invariably replied to by him personally and
most promptly. Nehru had the fullest faith in Parliament as the Supreme representative
institution of the people. He believed in the primacy of Parliament and in its supremacy
within the field assigned to it by the Constitution. In the matter of the role of the judiciary and
25
extent of judicial review Nehru took a very firm stand and said that the courts could not
become a third legislative chamber; their role was to interpret the laws made by Parliament
and not to themselves lay down the law. It was through his conscious efforts that Parliament
secured a pre-eminent position in the country’s polity. The effectiveness of institution of
Parliament was convincingly vindicated on several occasions35.
Dignity and Decorum in the House:
Nehru was meticulous in showing courtesy to Parliament; the very manner of his entry into
the House, the graceful bow to the Chair--each time he took his seat or left the House, his
strict observance of parliamentary etiquette in the best sense of the term, and his readiness to
answer even irritating interruptions -were exemplary. As Shri R. Venkataraman, the President
of India says, “it was his innate gentleness and his gentlemanliness that made Nehru an
ornament to Parliament”. He took keen interest in the Question Hour and seldom missed it He
was present during most of the debates on major issues and listened to the members with
attention. Nehru answered questions with dignity and dexterity, gracefully and effectively.
Mrs. Violet Alva once observed that Nehru spoke “with passion but not with malice”.
Sometimes he denounced wrongs “with the spirit of a rebel but he left no wounds behind”.
“He could intervene and answer any intricate point and wind up the critical stage of any
debate”.
In respect of maintenance of decorum and orderly behavior in the House, Nehru expected
members to behave and appealed to them to do nothing which would lower the dignity of the
House. There were occasions of disorderly conduct but he met with firmness. Nehru even
went to the extent of getting the members of his own party expelled from the membership of
the Lok-Sabha if found guilty of conduct unbecoming of a Member of Parliament.
Healthy Parliamentary Traditions:

Thus, Nehru led the way in emphasizing the need to preserve the dignity of the House.
Nehru's approach and attitude to Parliament were largely responsible for the growth of
healthy parliamentary traditions in the first decade and a half of Parliament in independent
India (1950-1964). Nehru gave life and zest to the campaigns; and, between elections, he
nurtured the prestige and vitality of Parliament. He took seriously his duties as leader of the
Lok Sabha and of the Congress Party in Parliament, sat regularly through the question hour
and all important debates, treated the presiding officers of the two Houses with extreme
35
26
deference, sustained the excitement of debate with a skillful use of irony and repartee, and
built up parliamentary activity as an important sector in the public life of the country. The
tone of his own speeches in Parliament was very different from that which he adopted while
addressing public meetings. There was no suggestion of loose-lipped demagoguery. He still
sometimes rambled, but sought to argue rather than teach, to deal with the points raised by
critics, to associate the highest legislature in the country with deliberation on policy and to
destroy any tendency to reduce it, in Max Weber's phrase, to ‘routinized impotence’. By
transferring some of his personal command to the institution of Parliament, he helped the
parliamentary system take root"36.
Success and Achievements of Parliament:

Practice and procedure apart, legislators in a parliamentary system had to realize their
responsibilities to the people who were their ultimate masters. They had to understand the
myriad problems faced by the common man. It must be said to the credit of Prime Minister
Nehru that during the first decade and a half, Indian Parliament fully realized the: great
responsibility thrust upon it by the electorate. In consonance with the Directive Principles of
State Policy as laid down in the Constitution, Parliament kept before itself the objectives of a
welfare state and socialistic pattern of society for the country. It proceeded about realizing the
task of raising the standard of living of the people and reducing the economic inequalities by
authorizing the government t6 have greater participation in productive enterprises and by
adopting fiscal measures seeking-to bring about in stages greater economic equality37.
As the supreme law making body Parliament proved to be a great catalytic agent and
an effective instrument for social engineering, progress and planned economic growth. This
was exemplified by the quantum of social legislation is enacted and the steps it took to
activate social change in various spheres during the period (1950-1964).
CHAPTER-5
Nehru’s Concept & Program on Socialism & Nationalism and Movements
Nehru was not a systematic thinker, but an intellectual eclectic. Western liberalism had the
greatest influence on him. Marxism and Gandhism also contributed to the development of his
socialist thought. In addition, humanism and pragmatism also molded his ideas and actions.
36
37
27
Nehru's ideas reflected the influence of the liberal tradition and the socialist thought of the
West as well as the influence of Gandhi. Nehru's Socialism had three dimensions. It was
founded on: (1) Western liberal influence, (2) Marxism philosophy, and (3) Gandhi an ethics.
Nehru stayed in England for seven years and completed his formal education. His sojourn in
England had a great influence on him. Nehru's basic outlook and his approach to life were
greatly formed by the liberal influence which he imbibed as a result of his stay in England.
Nehru was not a pioneer in the socialist field in India. Born in an aristocratic and wealthy
family, there was nothing in his upbringing and association to prompt Nehru to accept the
socialist creed. But as a student of Cambridge, he was first exposed to socialistic ideas.
Nehru attended lectures of progressive intellectuals like Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell and
J.M. Keynes. As a result, he was drawn towards Fabian socialistic concept and became
interested in the political movements of the day. Nehru visited Ireland in 1910 and was
attracted by the Sinn Fein movement. But all these interests were academic. His general
attitude to life in those days was a vague kind of Cyrenaicism. Nehru was initially attracted to
Fabian Socialism. Bernard Shaw and Bertrand Russell had an abiding appeal for him. This
appeal was predominantly moral, humanitarian and altruistic. Speaking about the influence of
Russell, Shaw and the Webs during his student days.
WESTERN LIBERAL INFLUENCE:

Along with Fabianism Nehru liked the idea of English utilitarianism and favored the
principle of organizing society on the basis of the greatest happiness of the greatest number
as the basis of social and political policy. While at Cambridge he was greatly influenced by
the 19th century European liberal tradition.
Many of Nehru's ideas were based on liberal tradition. He was influenced by
liberalism with its emphasis on individual rights, parliamentary system, free election, free
press and freedom of speech. The impact of liberalism made Nehru a lifelong believer in
democracy and individual freedom. The most precious thing for Nehru was individual
freedom and he strove hard to establish a social order which would guarantee and preserve
and maximize the area of freedom. Liberalism is a complex European concept and includes
three basic assumptions: (1) Individualism, (2) Rationalism, and (3) Universalism. Liberalism
includes some basic beliefs and ideals.
1. Respect for the individual's personality, dignity and creativity.  
2. Supremacy of the reason and law.  
28
3. Perfectibility of man.  
4. Inevitability of human progress.  
5. Civil liberties.  
6. Security of property.  
7. Democratic government.  
Nehru also believed, under the influence of Gandhi, that force could be eliminated as an
arbitrator of human relations. Gandhi's influence also reinforced Nehru's belief that through
time human beings would gradually progress towards increasing perfection.
THE BRUSSELS CONGRESS:

Towards the end of 1926 Nehru was in Berlin and learnt about the forthcoming
Congress of the oppressed nationalities which was to be held at Brussels in February 1927.
Nehru attended it as a representative of the Indian National Congress. The chief organizer of
the conference was Willi Muenzenberg and Mr. George Lansbury was its president. This
conference was a strange medley of European communists, trade unionist, pacifists
andnationalists from Asia, Africa and Latin America. Nehru was aware that communist
elements in this conference. Nehru for the first time realized the basic problems of colonial
and dependent countries, and found that the basic problems of oppressed communities were
the same, and that such people should co-operate together in their struggle for liberation.
Nehru was appointed one of the members of the presidium. At the plenary session of the
Congress Nehru delivered an address on India's exploitation, and expounded how India was
maltreated and plundered. In tone and language this speech was a typical radical socialist
pronouncement and an angry criticism of imperialism and all its misdeeds. Nehru for the first
time came into contact with the communists at Brussels. It was also at the Brussels
conference that Nehru got irritated with the British socialist attitude and approach towards
Indian Independence. Nehru accepted that it was not so much communist doctrine but the
tremendous social, economic changes which were taking place in Russia which attracted him
towards Communist Russia
MARXIAN INFLUENCE ON NEHRU:
29
It was due to his visit to Europe and Russia that Nehru was attracted towards Marxian
philosophy. Yet he "knew very little at the time of the theory of communism, and to his ears
dialectical materialism sounded an exotic phrase"38. The enforced leisure of prison life
afforded him scope for studying Marxist literature, and he was attracted by Marx's scientific
attitude to history. Nehru found that, "If there is one thing that history shows it is this, that
economic interests shape the political views of groups and classes"39. Marxism provided a
rationale for Nehru's socialism. Marx's scientific justification of socialism and absence of
dogmatism helped Nehru in understanding social phenomena and pointed out a way of action.
From Marx Nehru borrowed:
1. A philosophy of history of which economic determinism was cardinal point.  
2. A scientific approach to social and economic problems.  
3. A concern for the down-trodden masses.  
4. Necessity of socialization of production.  
5. A critical attitude towards capitalism.  
Nehru considered Marxism as way of interpreting history, politics and   economics. It was a
theory as well as a call for action. Nehru accepted much in the Marxist philosophical outlook
its monism, non-duality of mind and matter, the dynamics of matter and the dialectic of
continuous change by evolution as well as evolutionary leaps. Nehru, however, rejected the
basic ideas of Marxism, namely class struggle, proletarian dictatorship and revolutionary
violence. Nehru accepted the Marxist analysis of the past but always rejected coercive
methods. Nehru's liberalism and scientific outlook seemed to find satisfaction in Marxian
theory.
38 Ambika Prasad- Nehru in Parliament
39 Jawaharlal Nehru-Discovery of India
30
Nehru’s Nationalism and his role in the Freedom Movement
Nehru’s Nationalism and his role in the Freedom Movement are closely inter-related, since it
was the nature of Nehru's Nationalist ideas that dictated his course of action in the freedom
movement of India. .
Nehru’s Nationalism: Nehru's nationalism was not one of mindless jingoism. He was able to
reach a common ground between an erudite internationalism and a very keen understanding
of the Indian condition. Nehru's nationalism was marked by a fiery pride in the heritage of the
country. But he was willing to temper this pride with his readings and his rationalist views
that he received from his Western education in the West. Jawaharlal Nehru's role in the
freedom movement of India has probably not received as much historical attention as it
deserves. That is, of course no surprise, as Jawaharlal Nehru's astounding success as a
statesman who ushered in a new era of international relations through the formation of the
NAM, and his stature as the first prime minister of independent India often adumbrate his
position as a significant figure in the freedom movement of India. With his charm, highly
impressive educational background, and selfless service to the nation, Nehru presented the
face of a new and active India to thousands of Indians who looked up to him as a role model
and a guide. .
Early Years of Nehru in the Freedom Movement of India: Jawaharlal Nehru was born into
politics. His father Motilal Nehru was a veteran Congressman and committed to the cause of
India's freedom for a very long time. Nehru spent much of his educational years in England
studying first at Harrow and then at Trinity College, Cambridge. However, the freedom of
India was always on his mind. It was therefore no surprise that after his return from the
British shores in 1912, the job of a lawyer was the last of Nehru's priorities. As a student, he
already felt himself closely attached to the cause India's freedom, and had his sympathies
with the Extremist leaders of Congress. After his return, he involved himself directly into the
political scenario of the country. .
However, Nehru was still comparatively without a firm direction in these early years, not sure
which path was the right path that would lead towards India's freedom. His father's moderate
ideologies and elitist way of life disturbed him, as he thought him, like many other
Congressmen of his generation, to be much dissociated from the ground realities of the land
and the lives of the common people of India. He also realized that the direct application of
31
Socialist measures would not suit India's socio-economic profile. It was at that time that he
found a direction in the mode of civil resistance as preached by Gandhi. Gandhi's success in
Champaran and Ahmedabad renewed and established his belief in Satyagraha. He was not
slow to adopt the cultural aspects of Satyagraha as well. He read the Indian scriptures of
India, and dressed in home-spun clothes becoming a staunch Gandhian in all senses. Motilal
and his entire family adopted the Gandhian way of life. Nehru traveled across India, and was
warmly received by the masses. This filled him with a renewed sense of self-confidence. It
was time he decided to whole-heartedly commit himself to the cause of Indian freedom.
Jawaharlal Nehru and the Non-Cooperation Movement: The first big involvement of
Jawaharlal Nehru came at the onset of the non-cooperation movement in 1920. Nehru joined
in whole-heartedly in this Satyagraha based movement that stormed India. Nehru was
arrested on charges of anti-governmental activities and was released a few months later. In
the rift formed within the Congress following the sudden closure of the non-cooperation
movement after the Chauri Chaura incident, Nehru remained loyal to Gandhi's camp and
denied to join the Swaraj Party formed by Motilal Nehru and CR Das. After his release,
Nehru's fame as a dynamic Congress leader was well-established. He soon became the
President of the Allahabad Congress Committee in 1923. However, towards the end of the
decade, Nehru grew increasingly impatient with the pacifist nature of the senior
Congressman. Along with Subhas Chandra Bose, Nehru was intent on complete freedom and
believed in giving an ultimatum to the British Government to grant India dominion status.
The senior leaders were bent on a slower and more patient approach. The Calcutta Congress
of 1928 brought the rift into the open. Jawaharlal openly decried the Nehru Commission
framed by Motilal Nehru, and it needed the intervention of Mahatma Gandhi to persuade
Nehru to abandon his fiery stance of more direct action. .
Nehru and the Civil Disobedience Movement: The Lahore Congress of 1929 was
monumental in the political career of Nehru as well as the history of India's freedom struggle.
Nehru was elected the president of Congress for the first time at a young age of forty. He
used the platform of the Lahore conference to declare the goal of complete freedom or Purna
Swaraj. The Civil Disobedience movement was formally launched after the Lahore Congress,
and Nehru whole heartedly plunged himself in the non-violent protests and picketing that
took the nation by storm. Nehru was arrested again in 1930, beginning the second and the
longest phase of his prison stays. On his release, he formed the Socialist party within the
Congress and insisted on more stern and immediate measures to realize the goal of India's
32
freedom.
Nehru and the last days of Indian Freedom Struggle: The Government of India Act of
1935 called for nation-wide elections. Nehru campaigned vigorously for Congress, although
he himself did not contest directly in the elections. With Gandhi concentrating on the spiritual
development of his followers and gradually dissociating himself from direct political action,
the stature of Nehru within the Congress ranks was now more than ever. He became the
Congress President in the consecutive years of 1936 and 1937. By 1938, the rift in Congress
was clear. With Bose and Gandhi forming the two feuding camps, Nehru was once more
faced with a political dilemma. However, he decided to side with Gandhi and his methods.
Bose resigned as the Congress president, and Nehru's status in the Congress reached a height
previously unattained. This year started a new phase in Nehru's career, especially after his
denial to come to a compromise with the Muslim League. .
.
With the clouds of World War II looming large in the horizon, Nehru's skill in international
relations would be tested once more. Nehru did not support Bose's policy of siding with the
Axis forces, and intended to extend support to the Allies. In the meantime, the Second Round
Table conference failed and Gandhi launched the Quit India Movement in 1942. Nehru was
arrested and was released only in 1945. By the time the World War II was over and the new
Labor Government of Britain seemed willing to grant India its long-deserved freedom.
However, the British Government wanted to adopt a policy of waiting and watching the result
of the general elections of 1945. Nehru was once again at the center of activities. He was
arrested. His refusal to comply with Jinnah's claims made partition inevitable, as Jinnah
called for direct action. Although his fight for Indian freedom stood on the verge of success,
Nehru knew his work was far from over. He had to build a new India and had to guide the
nascent economy towards success.
CHAPTER-6
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU AS PRIME MINISTER & RELATION WITH INC
Nehru and the INC in the Years before Indian Freedom: Nehru spent most of the 1930s in
prison, far from the Indian freedom struggle and the Indian National Congress. However, he
kept a close watch on the course the movement was taking. On his return from prison to
33
mainstream politics, Nehru had to employ all his reconciliatory skills to bring the warring
factions within his party to a common platform. Although his Socialist ideals differed
significantly from Gandhi's spiritual bent of civil resistance and the cultural aspects that came
along with it. His differences with Gandhian modes came into the open in the Lucknow
Conference of 1936. .
Throughout the early forties, Nehru visited other Nationalist states as the Congress
representative. He returned from China just before the World War II. The World War II
brought in new problems for the Indian National Congress. Bose and his followers were
willing to cooperate with the Axis forces in order to create pressure on the British officials, a
move that Nehru summarily disapproved of. In the meantime, the Second Round Table
Conference failed, and the Quit India Movement was launched. Nehru was imprisoned once
more. He was released in 1945 after the end of the War. Soon he started to work relentlessly
towards forming the INA and preparing India for the hour of Independence. The end of the
war brought the new Labor government in Britain, and the long-held dream of Indian
independence did not seem very far from then on. .
The Indian Independence and the INC: The new government was willing to provide self-
dominion to India. With Nehru as the Congress president, negotiations were being worked
out between the British government and the Congress Party, which was by then elected to be
the single most popular party in India. However, the British were willing to play the waiting
game and see the outcome of the elections. Moreover, a common ground between the Indian
National Congress and the Muslim League was yet to be reached. Nehru tried his best to
work out a solution through talks with Jinnah. The talks, expectedly failed. There was an
absolute deadlock between the parties, and Partition seemed to be the only way for India to
finally attain freedom. .
The Indian Independence finally came in the year 1947 although the conditions of the
much-awaited freedom were far from what was expected. For Nehru as the President of the
Indian national Congress, it was a bitter-sweet moment of truth. As the President of
Congress, Nehru was the automatic choice as the first Prime Minister of Independent India.
On 15th August, 1947 Nehru gave his famous 'Tryst with Destiny' speech from the Red Fort.
However, it was hardly the end of his troubles. Mahatma Gandhi was murdered soon after
and Patel died in 1950. Nehru was vested with the duty of steadying the rocking boat of the
34
tottering economy of a newly emergent nation. This started the second phase of Nehru's work
within the folds of the Indian National Congress, the post-Independence phase.
.
Post-Independence Phase of INC and Nehru: Indian National Congress was committed to
the primary idea of freeing India from British rule. Nehru thought otherwise, and he realized
that the widespread popularity of the Congress could be used as a platform to address and
solve much of the nation's problems. However, a sudden loss in a sense of direction was
imminent in Congress. The Congress party itself had its due share of problems too. The
Leftist forces provided a constant threat to the Party, as was the right wing within the Party
who opposed Nehru's socialist ideals. At such a time, it was much because of Nehru's
personal charisma that the integrity of the Congress could be successfully
maintained. . .
Nehru's imposing internationalism somehow helped to soothe the problems back home. In
fact, problems as mounting as the division of the provinces on linguistic lines and the
Kashmir debate were also taken care of by Nehru's formidable success in foreign policies. It
was with his stature, that Nehru managed to forge together the various warring forces within
the Congress. However, Nehru himself was well aware of the decadence that has infested the
party ranks and is known to have warned his party members after the Congress victory of
1957.
Nehru's commitment to the Congress party was life-long, and he is still considered to be one
of the greatest Congressmen. However, the greatness of Nehru remains in the fact, that he
successfully transcended his Congress identity to become a major international political
figure.
Jawaharlal Nehru as Prime Minister

Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India. His Prime-Minister-ship was marked
by social and economic reforms of the Indian state. A number of foreign policy landmarks
like the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement also marked the tenure of Jawaharlal Nehru
as Prime Minister. .
Jawaharlal Nehru became Prime Minister on the 15th of August 1947. His ascension was
plagued by controversy and a bitter power struggle within the Congress Party. The internal
35
struggle of the party was symptomatic of the larger struggle within the Indian Republic itself.
The initial period of Jawaharlal Nehru as Prime Minister was marked by communal violence.
Jawaharlal Nehru was forced to concede the creation of Pakistan as per the wishes of the
Muslim League leader the leadership of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Communal violence
enveloped the entire country during this period. Maximum bloodshed was witnessed in the
national capital Delhi. The Indian states such as Punjab and West Bengal also witnessed
fierce bloodshed. .
The first Prime Minister tried to defuse the explosive situation by visiting the violence
affected areas. He toured the riot stricken areas with Pakistani leaders to reassure those
affected by the violence. Nehru promoted peace in Punjab during that momentous period in
Indian history. The secular nature of Jawaharlal Nehru was best exemplified during those
times. He took active steps to safeguard the status of Indian Muslims. .
.
The enduring legacy of Nehru rule is the effect of Nehru's economic policies. His economic
policies were far reaching and its effects are felt to this day. Jawaharlal Nehru is best known
for his enduring brand of 'Nehruvian Socialism' or the Indian version of Socialism. The
original socialist policies were watered down by Nehru to gel with the Indian economic
context. Jawaharlal Nehru was responsible for the special economic reform policy vehicle,
Planning Commission of India. .
The Planning Commission of India is Jawaharlal Nehru's brainchild. The Commission is

responsible for formulating the 'Five-Year Plans' of the Indian economy. The Planning
Commission also conducts a host of other economic functions. The first Five-Year Plan was
presented by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on the 8th of December, 1951.
.
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru concentrated his economic policies on the rural sector. The
Indian rural economy was allotted a lion's share of the first Five-Year Plan fund money. More
than 27% of the total funding went to irrigation and energy production. The agricultural
sector got more than 17% of the budget resource. About 4% of the fund money was
earmarked for land rehabilitation. .
The first Five-Year Plan also provided the seed money for setting up the five Indian Institutes
36
of Technology or IIT's. The University Grants Commission or UGC was also set up during
this period. The tenth Five-Year Plan is currently in vogue. .
Land redistribution plans were undertaken during Jawaharlal Nehru's tenure as a Prime
Minister. The redistribution of land ensured a more socially just Indian society. This move
helped the Indian economy in many ways. The wealth disparity between sections of the
populace lessened. This resulted in a more thriving and healthy societal landscape. .
The first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was one of the first Indian policymakers to
understand the importance of cottage industries in the Indian economy. The development of
such small -scale industries infused much needed production efficiency into the rural Indian
economy. The Cottage Industries also helped the agricultural workers to have a better quality
of life. This is due to the additional profits generated by the farming community.
.
A number of educational and social reforms were undertaken when Jawaharlal Nehru was
Prime Minister. He was instrumental in starting new Indian institutes of higher learning like
the Indian Institutes of Technology, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences or AIIMS and
the various branches of the Indian Institutes of Management among others. Primary education
was made compulsory. It was also made free of cost. Adult educational units were also
established.
Jawaharlal Nehru was also responsible for setting the direction of India's foreign policy. The
policy is valid till now. The world in the 1950s was sharply divided into two opposite
factions: one side was the west-comprising of the United States and western European
countries and the other side was the East- dominated by the erstwhile USSR. India wisely
joined neither faction during that period. The Republic of India was one of the founding
members of the Non-Aligned Movement or NAM. .
.
The negotiating skills of Jawaharlal Nehru came into focus during his dealings with the
Pakistani ruling establishment. His consummate skill was on display during the talks with
Pakistan on the Kashmir issue. The first Indian Prime Minister cemented India's
administrative hold on the northern Indian state. He also arrested the influential politician-
Sheikh Abdullah on suspicion of anti-national activities. This led to a smoother
administrative transition from the former Kashmiri ruler to civilian Indian rule. The Indian
37
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was feted around the world for his efforts to ease global
political tensions. The middle of the 1950s saw India criticizing the invasion of the Suez
Canal by a combined military force comprising French, British and Israeli troops. Jawaharlal
Nehru formally signed the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan in 1960. This was done with a
view to mitigate the long-standing dispute between India and Pakistan in sharing the water
resources of the major rivers in the shared geographical region of Punjab. .
.
The invasion of India's north-eastern territorial region by China in the 1960s dashed
Jawaharlal Nehru's hopes for a peaceful South-East Asia. His decision to grant refuge to the
Tibetan Buddhist leader Dalai Lama also came in for severe criticism. The Chinese invasion
also forced him to re-examine India's security requirements and act accordingly. Jawaharlal
Nehru's last days as India's Prime Minister were marred by political problems. The Congress
Party suffered from corruption within itself. He promoted his daughter Indira Gandhi to the
Indian political landscape in that period. Indira Gandhi later became India's first woman
Prime Minister. The last period of his Prime Minister-ship also included the Indian invasion
of Portugal in 1961. Jawaharlal Nehru died in office on the 27th of May 1964.
Economic Policies of Jawaharlal Nehru

The economic policies of Jawaharlal Nehru have been subject to much controversy in the past
few decades. However, it is important to place Nehru's economic policies in context for a
proper appreciation of his policies. Nehru's commitment to the cause of India's development
remains unquestioned, and it is no doubt that much of his plans and speculations were
jeopardized by the unexpected partition that came along with the independence of India,
which brought about an unprecedented fissure in the economic resources of the Indian
mainland. Nehru himself confessed that the partition brought about a large share of problems,
including a great rift in the agricultural and the industrial sectors. A large portion of the most
productive agricultural lands fell in Pakistan whereas the corresponding industries remained
in Indian dominion. The problem faced by the Jute industry soon after Independence can be
stated as a case in the point. The jute producing areas were in Pakistan whereas the Jute
processing factories remained in India, thereby affecting jute productions on both sides of the
border.
His socialist ideals revealed themselves in the way he introduced laws for land redistribution,
in order to curtail the economic disparity in India among the landed and the land-less classes.
One of Nehru's key economic reforms was the introduction of the Five Years Plan in 1951..
38
Nehru's Industrial Policies: Nehru wanted to create a balance between the rural and the
urban sectors in his economic policies. He stated there was no contradiction between the two
and that both could go hand in hand. He denied to carry forward the age-old city versus
village controversy and hoped that in India, both could go hand in hand. Nehru was intent to
harness and fully exploit the natural resources of India for the benefit of his countrymen. The
main sector he identified was hydroelectricity, and he constructed a number of dams to
achieve that end. The dams would not only harness energy, but would also support irrigation
to a great degree. Nehru considered dams to be the very symbol of India’s collective growth,
as they were the platforms where industrial engineering and agriculture met on a common
platform. Nehru also considered the possibility of nuclear growth during his tenure as the
prime minister of India. .
Nehru and Foreign Investment & Panchsheela : Nehru inspired the industrialists to
provide a fillip to India's economy. However, he had strict reservations on the question of
foreign investment. Nehru was wary of foreign investment. Nehru's nationalist ideals
confirmed in him the belief that India was self-sufficient to bolster her own growth. Although
he did not officially decry the possibility of foreign investment in direct terms, he did stress
that the sectors of foreign investment would be regularized, and the terms and conditions of
investment and employment would be strictly controlled by government rules in case there
were possibilities of a foreign investment. Nehru, moreover, emphasized that the key sectors
will always be in government hand. This step of Nehru is much criticized now. Yet, it cannot
be denied that Nehru aptly looked forward to long term investments for which he banked
more on Indian industries. It is also often suggested that his endeavor to harness international
support to develop India's infra-structural profile between 1947 and 1955 did not meet with
much success. It, however, remains a fact that Nehru's regime was not one of great economic
growth for India. Although his economic policies are blamed for the failure of India to turn
into a major economic force in the aftermath of independence, yet Nehru was probably
thinking on a more long term basis. It is often inferred that the economic liberation of the
later years was possible only because of Nehru's policies in the initial stages.
Panchsheel Agreement40: The agreement on Tibet was signed in Beijing on 29th April 1954.
Its practical provisions pertained to the:
40
M.H.SYED-Jawaharlal Nehru Pp-170-173
39
1.Establishment of three trade agencies by each side .
2.Recognition of a number of trade marts.
3.Facilities for traditional pilgrimages in both countries by person of Hindu and Buddhist
faiths.
The Five main principles of peaceful coexistence or it is known as the Panchsheela in
Sanskrit:
1. Mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. .
2. Mutual Non-aggression. .
3. Mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs. .
4. Equality and mutual benefit and,
5. Peaceful co-existence.
The Panchsheela agreement is a crucial point in recent Indian history because it officially
endorsed India’s recognition of Tibet being a part of China and as a result, what had been
Tibet-India borders became China-Indian borders for the first time. What is curious about the
agreement is why Nehru went ahead with it despite there being a substantial amount of
scepticism and objection voiced in Parliament and secondly, why Nehru felt it necessary to
be conciliatory towards China when India was under no immediate pressure to do so.
Nehru's Views on Rural Economy: Nehru's policy towards the rural economy of India was
also significant. Nehru felt for the rural self-development of India very strongly. He tried to
boost India's cottage industries. Much on the lines of Gandhi, Nehru believed that the rural
and cottage industries of India played a major role in the economic fabric of the country. But
most of his cottage industry development programs were meant as a part of community
development. He was also of the belief that small scale industries and cottage industries were
effective solutions to the massive employment problems that remained a perpetual issue of
concern throughout his tenure. .
The economic policies of Nehru are often blamed for the poor economy of India in the
subsequent years. However, it cannot be denied that his decisions were necessitated by the
needs of the times. India needed to effectively harness its domestic means as well as
strengthen its governmental control to lay the base for future privatization. It is often
speculated that Nehru would have embraced the economic reforms and economic
liberalization of the late twentieth century if he was alive.
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU’S VIEWS ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
40
In the wake of Indian Independence, Nehru visualized that adoption and integration of
science and technology with the national planning was a must to improve the alarming
socioeconomic conditions of teeming millions of people. Science for Nehru was an essential
and basic component of development and progress. He had a clear perception of progress of
the developed countries and felt that attainment of superiority in science and technology
alone can maintain world order. But for his ceaseless efforts, clear vision, and an
uncompromising commitment, science and technology in India would not have been
developed as a major force for social and economic transformation. Nehru said that in the
ancient day’s life was simpler and more in contact with nature. Now it has become more and
more complex, more hurried without time for reflection or even for questioning. Scientific
developments have produced an enormous surplus of power and energy which are often used
for wrong purposes.8 Nehru expressed that man is not a victim of nature, nothing is so
remarkable on the progressive conquest or understanding of the physical world by the mind
of man today, and this process is continuing at a terrific pace.
Modern Scientific Development:
Nehru visualized that science and technology would be an effective instrument to
tackle many pressing problems confronting India, from times immemorial and, therefore,
ceaselessly strove for its development to ensure, setting up of a chain of national laboratories
covering a wide spectrum of Science. He requisitioned the services of many eminent
scientists.17 He was primarily responsible for the establishment of about 30 research
laboratories all Over India, and five Indian Institutes of technology at different centers. For
development in the sphere of atomic energy, he sought the services of Homi Bhabha, and
persuaded TATAS to set up Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bombay. His
endeavors resulted in the establishment of Bhabha 'Atomic Research Centre and the Atomic
Energy Commission (1948). During the stewardship of Nehru, the expenditure on scientific
research rose from Rs.24 million in 1947 to Rs.550 million in 1964. If India today is one of
the leading countries in the world with the third largest reservoir of trained scientific
manpower in the world, and occupies a place among those countries, which are highly
advanced in the use Of Atom power for peaceful purposes, it is largely because of the
farsightedness and able leadership of Nehru.
India’s Science Policy:
The Government's commitment to science and technology was enunciated in the National
Science policy resolution which was adopted the Parliament in 1958. It was drafted by
Pandit Nehru himself and if clearly brings out the significant role of science and technology
41
and promotion of industrialization. Science and technology can make up for deficiencies in
raw materials by providing substitutes or by providing skills which can be exported in return
for raw materials. Development of Science & Technology can greatly reduce the drain on
capital by reducing dependence on the import of plant and machinery, highly paid personnel
and technical consultants.
The main aims of science policy are:
1. foster, promote and sustain the cultivation of science and scientific   research in
all its aspects;  
2. ensure an adequate supply of research scientists and recognize their work as an

important part in promoting the strength of the nation; Engage and initiate
programmers for the training of technical personnel to fulfill the needs of the
country.  encourage individual initiative in an atmosphere of academic freedom;
ensure that the creative talent of men and women are encouraged and Secure to
the people the benefits that accrue from possession and application of scientific
knowledge including the spirit of scientific attitude or temper.
Technology, as an extension of the science policy formulated in 1958, was announced in
January 1983 at the Indian Science Congress session. Its major objectives are.
 Attainment of technological competence and self-reliance (strategic and critical areas)
 Promotion of gainful employment.  
 Upgrade the traditional skills to make them commercially competitive.  
 Ensure the correct mix between mass production technologies and   production by
masses.  
 Ensure maximum development with minimum inputs of capitals.  
 Conservation of energy.  
 Modernization of the existing technological equipment’s. 
Ensure harmony with environment while pursuing all the above objectives. 
Nehru had not only understood the process of development through science and technology,
but he saw that adverse effects of science too. In this context, Nehru wrote that "Science is
42
advancing far beyond the comprehension of a very great part of the human race and posing
problems which most of us are incapable of understanding much less of solving.21
Atomic Energy Program:

In the early days, though India supported the proposal of the Western powers on
international control of atomic energy, Nehru was keen that Indian Government’s Sovereign
power for development of atomic resources should not be compromised.
CHAPTER-7
CONCLUSION
If Mahatma Gandhi was the pioneer of free India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru may be
considered as its consolidator. Gandhiji won freedom for India upon which Nehru built a
magnificent edifice of a modem state determining its character and destiny. As one of the
principal architects of India's freedom, as a nation-builder, and as a champion of world peace,
his outlook combined all that was noble and true in the culture of India. His humanistic
approach enabled Jawaharlal Nehru to transform a civilization of antiquity into a modern
industrial state, envisaging a new social order, secular in outlook and democratic in its
political character. Pandit Nehru was deeply committed to the principle of socialism. He was
a socialist because he was essentially a humanist. He set socialism as the goal because he
believed that it alone can meet the challenges of modern science and technology and fulfil the
requirements of a genuine form of humanism. One of his greatest desires was to enhance the
living standards of the people. He realized that in a country that was at least two centuries
behind times, it was possible only through the application of modern science & technology
with an emphasis upon socialism. Economic condition should be transformed in such a
manner that it would bring about greatest good to the greatest number & he is the one for the
economic regeneration and to inculcate in the general public awareness of the importance of
science and technology. The Nehru’s view is that the parliamentary form of democracy was
the only means by which the India will be able to maintain the unity of our country. So, he
laid down the foundation for democracy in our country and his role in the institutionalization
of parliamentary democracy was very significant. Individual rights are very important
according to the Nehru and they must be recognized he thinks that democracy lay in ensuring
43
not only the rights of the individual, but also in rendering social justice, which inevitably
involved refashioning of the society. Jawaharlal had also launched great experiments in
decentralization of the powers of the state. He thinks that it would provide solid foundations
for edifice of our democracy. The Nation had disregarded this policy for a long time after the
period of Nehru; later our leaders realized the mistake. But, Today in present Five-Year Plan
the same decentralization of powers to Panchayat Raj institution were adopted. Jawaharlal
was aware that in the light of the vastness of our country cultural diversity among the people
and uneven developments of various groups any forms of government other than the
parliamentary democracy would lead to a disintegration of the nation to different territorial or
linguistic groups. So he made all kinds of efforts to strengthen the foundations of democracy
in India.
Secularism had been built into the very foundations of our constitution, and this was
one of the principles to which Nehru was passionately dedicated. Our Constitutional
Assembly opted for the secular state in order to strengthen its democratic set up. As India was
a multi-religion and multi-racial and multi-lingual, Nehru realized that the strengthening of
secular foundation of our polity was of immense importance. So, Nehru thought that religion
was a matter for the individual and the state should refrain from favoring any particular
religious community. The idea of secular state put forward by Jawaharlal implies a social
structure in which the individual could transcend the social inequalities imposed by religion.
Jawaharlal Nehru was peace loving individual realized the futility of war and strove for peace
in the world with all his heart and soul. He raised voice of sanity and peace when the world
was in the danger of being engulfed by a nuclear holocaust and he also devised the policy of
non-alignment, according to which India while being friendly with all nations, kept away
from the power blocs. By which he thought India would be able to grow into a greater and
powerful nation & would be able to influence the big powers of the world & consequently
help in decreasing the possibilities of another world war. In the domain of foreign policy,
Nehru had evolved from India’s age- old principles of non-violence and tolerance, the theory
of ‘PANCHSHEELA’ which had been accepted by many countries of the world. His concept
of NON-ALIGNMENT formed on the basis of India’s foreign policy.
SOURCES:
1. Sheena-Nehru as Politician
44
2. Ram Goel: A political Biography of Pandit Nehru.
3. Ramachandra Guha; Verdicts on Nehru: Rise and Fall of a Reputation
4. Jawaharlal Nehru-Discovery of India
5. Dr. Deelip Maale- Contribution of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to Indian Politics
6. Ambika Prasad- Nehru in Parliament
7. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru- M.H. SYED
E-Sources & PDF’s:
1. http://www.culturalindia.net/leaders/jawaharlal-nehru.html last visited on March 9

2018.
2. http://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/former_pm/shri-jawaharlal-nehru/ last visited on
March 9, 2018.
3. https://www.mapsofindia.com/personalities/nehru/nehru-nationalism.html last visited
on 10-1-2018.
4. https://www.biography.com/people/jawaharlal-nehru-9421253 last visited on March 9
2018.
5. http://bccshistory.weebly.com/uploads/7/0/6/0/7060293/jawaharlal_nehru.pdf March
8 2018.
45

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DAMODARAM SANJIVAYYA NATIONAL LAW

Jawaharlal Nehru: Role in Freedom Struggle and After

CHAPTER-1: Life Sketch Of Pandit Nehru ------------------------------------------------------4

BIBLIOGRAPHY & E-Sources------------------------------------------------------------------44

RELATIONS OF JAWAHARLAL NEHRU WITH OTHER FREEDOM FIGHTERS

NEHRU AND GANDHIJI:

RELATION BETWEEN VALLABHAI PATEL AND JAWAHARLAL NEHRU

1. Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel

Healthy Parliamentary Traditions:

Success and Achievements of Parliament:

WESTERN LIBERAL INFLUENCE:

1. Respect for the individual's personality, dignity and creativity.

2. Supremacy of the reason and law.

4. Inevitability of human progress.

THE BRUSSELS CONGRESS:

MARXIAN INFLUENCE ON NEHRU:

1. A philosophy of history of which economic determinism was cardinal point.

2. A scientific approach to social and economic problems.

3. A concern for the down-trodden masses.

4. Necessity of socialization of production.

5. A critical attitude towards capitalism.

38 Ambika Prasad- Nehru in Parliament

39 Jawaharlal Nehru-Discovery of India

Jawaharlal Nehru as Prime Minister

The Planning Commission of India is Jawaharlal Nehru's brainchild. The Commission is

Economic Policies of Jawaharlal Nehru

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU’S VIEWS ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

all its aspects;

2. ensure an adequate supply of research scientists and recognize their work as an

country. encourage individual initiative in an atmosphere of academic freedom;

 Promotion of gainful employment.

 Upgrade the traditional skills to make them commercially competitive.

 Ensure maximum development with minimum inputs of capitals.

 Modernization of the existing technological equipment’s.

Atomic Energy Program:

3. Ramachandra Guha; Verdicts on Nehru: Rise and Fall of a Reputation

4. Jawaharlal Nehru-Discovery of India

5. Dr. Deelip Maale- Contribution of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to Indian Politics

6. Ambika Prasad- Nehru in Parliament

7. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru- M.H. SYED

E-Sources & PDF’s:

1. http://www.culturalindia.net/leaders/jawaharlal-nehru.html last visited on March 9

Anda mungkin juga menyukai

1. Respect for the individual's personality, dignity and creativity.  

2. Supremacy of the reason and law.  

4. Inevitability of human progress.  

1. A philosophy of history of which economic determinism was cardinal point.  

2. A scientific approach to social and economic problems.  

3. A concern for the down-trodden masses.  

4. Necessity of socialization of production.  

5. A critical attitude towards capitalism.  

all its aspects;  

country.  encourage individual initiative in an atmosphere of academic freedom;

 Promotion of gainful employment.  

 Upgrade the traditional skills to make them commercially competitive.  

 Ensure maximum development with minimum inputs of capitals.  

 Modernization of the existing technological equipment’s. 