Upon Nehru’s return to India after completing his studies, his marriage was arranged with a young girl named Kamala Kaul. Nehru was 27 and Kamala was 17 at the time. They were married on 8 February, 1916 in Haksar Haveli, Kamala’s family home in Old Delhi.
Kamala came from a traditional, Kashmiri Pandit family and could not speak or understand English. The cultural divide between the Anglicized, England-returned Nehru and the simple, Indian girl could not have been wider.
Nehru is said to have overlooked her for some time after their marriage. A year later Kamala gave birth to their only surviving child, Indira Priyadarshini.
After her marriage to Nehru, Kamala was exposed to the freedom struggle and became closely involved in politics. Shedding her inhibitions, she emerged as a strong role model and an integral part of her husband’s fight against the British.
She was actively involved in the non-cooperation movement of 1921, where she convinced many women in Allahabad to join her in picketing shops in the city that were selling foreign cloth and liquor. When Nehru was arrested prior to delivering a speech criticising the colonial rulers, Kamala took her husband’s place at the public podium and read out the entire speech that Nehru was supposed to deliver.
The British soon realized the threat that Kamala Nehru posed and how popular she had become with women groups all over India. She was arrested on two occasions for her involvement in freedom struggle activities.
She even started a dispensary at their home Anand Bhavan to provide basic first aid to wounded activists. The dispensary was converted into the Kamala Nehru Memorial Hospital after her death in 1936.
Picture Credit : Google
