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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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The Second World War saw the decline of the British Empire and the rise of the power blocs of U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. Although Nehru had socialist leanings, he believed that the use of power or coercion to rule was unacceptable in a democracy.

At the same time the great depression of the 1930s convinced him that steady economic progress was not possible under capitalism. He chose the middle path in economic policy as well as foreign policy.

Nehru’s interest in international relations started much before India’s independence. In 1927 Nehru took an active part in formulating the foreign policy of the Congress that was in effect its first foreign policy statement. It contained a declaration that India should not participate in any Imperialist war.

This political distancing from warring factions continued throughout Nehru’s office. After independence, Nehru pioneered the Non-Aligned Movement which advocated neutrality in international relations. However, neutrality did not mean apathy and Nehru consistently spoke up for marginalized and subjugated populations around the world.

He was hailed by many for working to defuse global tensions and the threat of nuclear weapons. However, his neutrality was criticized when he refused to condemn the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956. Relations between India and the U.S. never took off as the latter suspected Nehru of tacitly supporting the Soviet Union.

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The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was established in 1962 under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia.

The purpose of the Non-Aligned Movement was enumerated in the 1979 Havana Declaration to ensure “the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries” in their struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism and all forms of foreign subjugation.

It was formed as an alternative to joining either of the power blocs of U.S.A. and U.S.S.R, which emerged after World War II. It played a vital role during the Cold War era in pre-serving world peace and security.

The relevance of NAM somewhat diminished after the disintegration of U.S.S.R. and the end of the Cold War but today the world has again moved towards bi-polarity, with the U.S. and China-Russia as the main players. Thus, the relevance of NAM continues.

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During Jawaharlal Nehru’s time in prison, he wrote several letters to his daughter Indira Gandhi, who was 10 years old at the time. Through his letters, he taught her about history, science and evolution. His letters were published as a book called “Letters from a Father to His Daughter”. He also read extensively in prison.

It was perhaps this thirst for knowledge and the desire to share it that made him a passionate advocate of education, not just for children but also for adults. He was responsible for the establishment of some of the most revered institutions of higher learning in India - such as the Indian Institute of Management (IIMs), the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMs).

Nehru made a provision in his five-year plans to guarantee free and compulsory primary education to all India’s children. Towards this end, Nehru was instrumental in mass village enrolment programmes and the construction of many schools. He also initiated the provision of free milk and meals to children to fight malnutrition. Vocational and technical schools were also organized for adults in rural areas at his behest.

The early emphasis on science and technology made India one of the largest producers of doctors and engineers in the world today. India owes much of this success to the foresight of Jawaharlal Nehru.

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At the time of independence, India had already experienced the Bengal famine of 1943 where 3 million people had died of starvation. With this background, Nehru realized that to progress, India must focus on agriculture.

He said, “If our agricultural foundation is not strong then the industry we seek to build will not have a strong basis either. Apart from that, if our food front cracks up, everything else will crack up too.” Nehru saw the connection between agriculture and industry and realized that without agricultural advancements, no other industry would prosper.

He concentrated on four aspects of agriculture - upliftment of the farmer, development of rural infrastructure, higher productivity and harnessing science and technology in farming.

The nation thus embarked on the path of agrarian reform. Land reforms included the abolishing of giant landholdings, but efforts to redistribute land by placing limits on land ownership failed.

Attempts to introduce large-scale cooperative farming were confounded by the land-owning rural elite, who had considerable political clout in the Congress and were successful in opposing Nehru’s efforts.

Agricultural production expanded in the 1960s. The introduction of high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice began the Green Revolution in India. Better irrigation facilities and fertilizers led to the increase in food grain production, especially in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

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Jawaharlal Nehru based his nation-building on four essential components- socialism, democracy, secularism and non-alignment.

Nehru created his own brand of socialism which was based on the tenets of non-violence and democracy. He established a cooperative, socialist commonwealth and accelerated the path to industrialization. He also advocated the abolition of the Zamindari system.

Nehru believed that a sound democracy should have strong self-governance from the grass root level. He initiated the Panchayati Raj system because he believed that development should begin from below and not be dictated from above.

As for secularism, Nehru was a staunch protector of minorities and individual human rights. He stated in 1951, “If anyone raises his hand against another in the name of religion, I shall fight him till the last breath of my life, whether from inside the government or outside.”

Towards this end, he created a system of reservations in government services and educational institutions to eradicate social inequalities and disadvantages faced by scheduled castes and tribes.

Nehru’s foreign policy was based on the idea of non-alignment, where he refused to be courted by either of the two power blocs of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. and preferred to chart a new course based on non-violence and peaceful cooperation among nations.

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The task that Nehru faced in the early years of India’s independence was a daunting one. At that time India’s population (which was about 340 million people), accounted for one-seventh of the world’s population. The average income was one-fifteenth of the average American income of the time. The literacy rate was 12 per cent and the average life expectancy was 32 years!

India accounted for only 3 per cent of the world’s GDP and the incidence of poverty in India was about 80 per cent. For most of Nehru’s term as prime minister, India continued to face serious food shortages. This was despite an increase in agricultural production and the success of the First Five-Year Plan, which focused on agriculture.

One of the reasons for this was the increase in population. The other was the diversion of funds towards industry.

Although the Indian economy enjoyed a steady rate of growth, chronic unemployment and poverty continued to persist. However, Nehru’s popularity remained unaffected and his government succeeded in laying the foundations upon which are based many of today’s successes.

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Nehru presented the first Five-year Plan to the Parliament on 9 July 1951. They were formulated by the Planning Commission of India.

The five-year plans were developed for the effective and balanced utilization of resources. They were centralized and integrated national economic programmes. The first plan was adopted against the back-drop of partition, severe food shortage and mounting inflation. It focused on agriculture and irrigation. The plan had a target of 2.1 per cent GDP growth but recorded a growth rate of 3.6 per cent.

The second five-year plan focused on the development of the public sector and rapid industrialization. Under this plan hydroelectric power projects and steel plants were set up in different parts of India. India had a total of 12 five-year plans, the last one being from 2012 to 2017.

In Nehru’s mixed economy, the government would manage strategic industries such as mining, electricity and heavy industries while serving public interests and keeping a check on private enterprises.

Nehru pursued land distribution and launched programmes to build irrigation canals, dams and spread the use of fertilizers to increase agricultural production. He initiated a series of community development programmes aimed at spreading diverse cottage industries and helping rural India. Nehru also launched India’s programmes to harness nuclear energy.

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