My Science School

It is said that Jawaharlal Nehru heard of General Dyer boasting about the Amritsar Massacre. Shocked and appalled at the brutal act and the lack of regret over the loss of lives on the part of the British, Nehru made up his mind to work tirelessly for India’s freedom.

He joined the Indian National Congress that same year in 1919 and developed a rigorous work routine that lasted 17 hours a day, seven days a week. He seldom took holidays and worked tirelessly for his country’s independence. He was imprisoned in total for a period of nine years, longer than anyone, including Mahatma Gandhi. During this time he wrote a number of books, including his autobiography titled Towards Freedom which was published in 1936.

He was a prolific writer and has written over 100 volumes running into 70,000 pages of reading matter! In the world of literature, Nehru is ranked along with Bernard Shaw, George Orwell, Bertrand Russell and Winston Churchill. When one considers his busy political life before and after independence, this is quite remarkable.

After India got its independence in 1947 after long years of struggle, Nehru became our first Prime Minister. But Nehru’s struggle for freedom did not stop with the British leaving India. He made it his life’s mission to protect minorities in India and defend individual freedom as well. Though it was Dr. B. R. Ambedkar who formulated the Constitution, it was Nehru who fought tirelessly to ensure that the country remained secular.

He translated his vision of a mighty India into reality and worked for a better tomorrow for generations to come. He was a freedom fighter, statesman, litterateur, visionary and architect of modern India.

He remained Prime minister till his death on 27 May, 1964 at the age of 74.

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The Indo-China war began on 20 October, 1962 and lasted a month, ending on 19 November, 1962, when Premier Zhou Enlai announced a unilateral ceasefire.

India was caught off guard as previous policies initiated by Nehru had been made in an effort to cooperate with China.

The main reasons for China to start the war were that India had offered asylum to Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in 1959 and because of a dispute between India and China over the sovereignty of the Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh border regions.

The attack was a personal blow to Nehru who had signed the ‘Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence Treaty’ (Panchsheel) with China, in 1954.

The war was a systematic, planned attack launched by China at a time when the U.S. and U.S.S.R. were busy dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis and Jawaharlal Nehru and India’s Defence Minister Krishna Menon were busy attending Commonwealth and UN conferences respectively. Due to Russia’s involvement in the Cuban crisis, it was not able to extend much support to India at the time.

The Chinese Aggression cost India 1,383 Indian soldiers and the loss of 43,000 sq km of land in Aksai Chin (roughly the size of Switzerland). Nehru never recovered from the shock of this betrayal and it is widely regarded as the biggest setback of his political career.

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India and China share a border more than 3,440 km long and have had territorial disputes in these regions for decades. After the formation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese took control of Tibet in 1950 and quietly started constructing border posts as well as a road that would connect them to Tibet, in Aksai Chin.

During this time, China’s Premier Zhou Enlai offered India the North East Frontier Area (NEFA) in exchange for Aksai Chin, which is roughly the size of Switzerland. Nehru who saw the tactical advantage the Chinese would have once they took control of this area, remained adamant and refused.

Things came to a head when India provided political asylum to the spiritual head of Tibet, the Dalai Lama, in 1959.

Incensed and determined to teach India a lesson, the Chinese began planned incursions at the border. Still India did not believe that China would attack, but on 20 October 1962, China launched a well-planned and systematic attack on India.

Around 1,383 Indian soldiers died and 1,696 went missing in this one-month long war, till a ceasefire was declared on November 19, the same year.

The war was a breach of trust on the part of China and a huge blow to India, but after this war India never again took its national security for granted. It notched up its defence budget and trained its troops for high altitude warfare. The Armed Forces were given more freedom, funds and power. Consequently the war preparedness and tactical awareness of India increased manifold after the Indo-China war of 1962.

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The Lok Sabha elections of 1962 had a number of firsts to its credit. Unlike the previous two elections, which spanned months, these elections were conducted in just under a week, between 19 and 25 February, 1962.

It was the first time ever in independent India’s history that there was a downward swing of votes for the Indian National Congress.

Of the 494 seats contested, they won 361 seats, down by 10 seats from the previous elections. Nevertheless, it was still a land-slide victory with the Congress holding on to over 70 per cent of the seats in the Lok Sabha.

The biggest development during this time was the rise of Indira Gandhi. While she had been assisting her father in an unofficial capacity through most of the 1950s, she was elected president of the Indian National Congress in 1959, which marked her official entry into Indian politics.

The 1962 elections were the last time Nehru contested for the Congress. He passed away two years later on 27 May 1964, while still in office.

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Jawaharlal Nehru is the longest serving Prime Minister of India. He remained in office for 18 years and 286 days till his death in May, 1964. He contested three general elections and swept the polls each time, leaving his fellow contestants biting the dust.

India’s first general elections were conducted between 25 October 1951 and 21 February 1952. They were the first general elections to be held in the country after Independence.

A total of 1,949 candidates contested 489 seats in the Lok Sabha. The Indian National Congress won 364 of the 489 seats in a land-slide victory. Of the 173 million electorate, 45.7 per cent voted, making it the largest election to be conducted at that time anywhere in the world.

Literacy levels were as low as 18 per cent, so symbols were used on ballot papers for voters who couldn’t read a practice that continues till today.

Nehru travelled some 25,000 miles and addressed about 35 million people or a tenth of India’s population during his election campaign.

A total of 1,96,084 polling booths were set up and the elections were held in 68 phases. This was due to the harsh climate and challenging terrain. All observers, Indian and foreign, agreed that the proceedings were fair.

Nehru’s commitment to democracy is shown by his dedication and seriousness in initiating the first general elections. He did not use the excuse of the Partition and the consequent communal violence and influx of refugees to postpone elections.

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The second general elections to the Lok Sabha were held between 24 February and 9 June 1957. They were held five years after the general elections of 1952, in accordance with the Constitution. They were also the first elections to be held after the States Reorganization Act of 1956.

With no other political party as big as the Congress in the country, the results were predictable. It only remained to be seen by how wide a margin the Congress would win. And win they did.

The Congress swept the polls increasing its vote base and winning a total of 371 seats out of 494 seats, thus gaining 7 more seats than in the previous election. The second largest party, the Communist Party of India - led by Shripat Amrit Dange won only 27 seats in total of the 110 seats that it contested.

The vote share of the Congress increased from 45 per cent to 47.8 per cent in these elections. Nehru worked his charisma on the masses and as in the first general elections, led his party to a comprehensive victory.

Interestingly the first ever instance of booth capturing in India was recorded during these elections in Rachiyahi, Bihar.

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If you were to look at a map of India in the time of independence, it might surprise you. You would find that most of the states as you know them did not exist. Pre-partition India had a number of princely states interspersed with areas under British rule. The states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and the North-Eastern states did not exist at that time.

The map of India as we know it came into existence over a period of time. The first major step in this direction was taken when the States Reorganization Commission was formed by the Government of India on 22 December, 1953. It was headed by retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Fazal Ali, and two other members - H N Kunzru and K M Panikkar.

After two years of study the Commission recommended that India’s state boundaries should be reorganized to form 16 states and 3 centrally administered areas. However, after further deliberation, it was decided to divide the country into 14 states and 6 union territories.

One of the proposals given by the Commission was to reorganize the states on the basis of language for easier administration. However there were certain reservations regarding this as it was thought that dividing states solely on the basis of language would be unsuitable and risky for national unity.

After much debate however, the government gave in to the demand for a Telugu-majority state and the state of Andhra Pradesh was formed in 1953.

This sparked off agitations all over the country with linguistic groups demanding separate statehoods across the nation.

After a period of protests, the States Reorganization Act of 1956 organized India’s states and territories along linguistic lines.

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