THE CENTURY
"THE CONSCIENCE OF THE WORLD7'
PRESIDENT RADHAKRISHKAN in a bro-
adcast to the nation on May 27 said that with
the death of Jawaharlal Nehru "an epoch in
our country's history has came to a close".
"Jawaharlal Nehru was one of the greatest
figures of the generation, ao outstanding
statesman whose services to the cause of
1:uman freedom are unforgettable. As a
fighter for freedom he was illustrious, as
a maker of modern India his services were
unparallel. His life and work have had a
profound influence on our mental makup,
soclal structure and intellectual develop-
mect.lt will be difficult to reconcile ourselves
to the image of Ind~awithout Nehru's active
and all-oervasive leadership. An epoch in
our co&try9s history has come to a close."
. . . ."MeRru held the office of the Prime
Minister of our country ever since the
dawn of independence and in the long Years
of his premiership he tried tc p~1tour Country
on a progressive, scientific, dynamic and
noncommunal basis. His steadfast loyalty
lo certain fundamental principles of libera-
lism gave direction to our thought and
life. . . ,By his own powerfu! and vibrant
voice, which we ill not hear any more, he
created, moulded, inspired, and kindled a
whole generation of Indians, to a loyalty to
the first principles which he held so dear.
He had a love of liberty not merely for
his own people but for all people of the
world. He therefore expressed syn~pathy
and support for all liberation movements
in Africa, Asiaand South America. He belie-
ved in the liberty of all without distinction
of class, creed or country. Nehru was a
great believer In world peace and the con-
cept of one world community. No one has
shown greater faith and allegiance to the
Charter of the UN than Nehru. . . . . .Our
thoughts today go out to h ~ mas a great
emancipator of the human race, one who
has given all his life and energy to the freeing
of men's minds from political bondage,
economic siavery, social oppression and
culfural stagnation. Those of us who are
left behind to mourn his loss could do no
better than wark for the ide~ls he
cherished".
PR'hlE MINISTER NAWDA appealed to
the nation on May 27 to ren1a:n united and
"to work with selfless devotion, faith and
courage". . .."The nation has to live. The
problems before us have to be faced and
solved. This will be assured o ~ i yif we keep
together and work in faith and unity. . . .
one of the greates~son, of Indra has passed
away. A life of the rarest nobility and de-
dication has suddenly come to an end.
This is not the end of an individual life
only but of an era in the life-of the neiion.
The effulgence of this era w~llcontinue to
light the path of many a generation to
come. For 17 years Jawaharlal Nehru held
aloft the torch of India's freedom, givlng
every day and hour of his life completely
to the service of India and of humanity.
. . .. . .Millions of our people and millions
elsewhere knew and loved him. He had
entered into their lives and thoughts and
given mearing to them. The:r vision of
lndia was his vision. The values for which
he lived were their values. He inspired them
and in turn their love and faith sustained
hin. H, I ~ v e sa void which can never be
filled."
QUEEN ELIZABETH II: "I am deeply
grieved to hear of the death of Mr. Nehru,
who ~111 be mourned throughout the
Commonwealth and among the peace-
loving peoples of the world.
"My husband and my family join me in
sending our deep and sincere sympathy
to you and to the people of India in the
incparab!e loss which you have suffered."
SIR AI,EC DOUGLAS-HOME : "My 1947-1948, where I learned to know him.
colleagues and I are deeply distressed to and admire him.
learn of Mr. Nehru's death. We mourn the "He was one of the greatest figures in
death of the architect of modern India, history. The world is the poorer for his
a wise and far-s~ghted world statesman, passmg.
and above all an eminent and respected
Commonwealth leader. "He was a most magnanimous man who
never showed the slightest personal resent-
"His death will be a grievous loss to the ment at being kept for many years in prison
Commonwealth and to the world. We send by the British. He was a great fighter for
our heartfelt sympathy and condolences Indian freedom, and when his life's work
to the Government of India on their great was crowned with success he was a big
loss." enough man to gra p the hand of friend-
EARL ATTLEE, former Prime Minister ship held out to him by the British".
of Britain, said Mr Nehru "was agreat
THE EARL O F AVON (formerely Sir
world figure and perhaps might be regarded Anthony Eden) former British Prime Min~st-
as a doyen of world statesmen." er and ex-Foreign Secretary: "I deeply regret
Mr. Nehru was a man "singularly free to hear of Mr. Nehru's death which is a
of bitterness". traglc loss for India and a grievous misfor-
Mr. Nehru had been put in prison by tune for the free world."
British Governments for many years yet PRESIDENT LYNDON JOHNSON:
he never showed any bitterness but with "I find it difficult to express the sense of
"wise statesmanship did all he could to pro- personal loss which I feel as a result of
mote friendship belween the two peoples". the death of your father. His. passing has
left h a country and all markmd to whotn
"I, of course, knew him well and valued
he gave so much in word and dce3 the
his friendship".
ANTHONY GREEN WOOD, Chair- poorer. I shall always tre-sure my all
too brief association with Prirne Ministtr
man of the Labour Party, said: '.Mr. .Nehru Nehru. His conlfort at the time of the as:as-
was an outstanding power in work~ngfor sination of President Kennedy was a great
peace and the world is much poor-r for s m c e of strength to me. That we should lose
his loss. Our thoughts go out to the Indian
people at this tragic moment", He added that thjs great man so soon after our o\%nloss
grieves us more deeply than we can expect.
he had known Mr. Nehru "for more than "His leadership and wisdom were indis-
30 years" and that his death was "a great pensable at its most critical years and his
loss" devotion to the great Indian adventure of
FENNER BROCKIVAY, Chairman freedom was unwavering",
of the Movement for Colonial Freedom: . MRS. JACQUELINE KENNEDY: "My
"India under the leadership of Pandit Nehru
was the first nation to achieve its indepen- d-ep?st sympathy on the death of the Prime
Mlnlster. 1 know his loss will be felt by all
dence after the War. His triumph people throughout the world".
inspired the people of rnxe than 50 nations
which have each gained their political free- DEhY RUSK: "India's loss is truly the
dom. As Prinie Minister, Pandit Nehru loss of all mankind. Pandit Jawahfirla1 h'ehru
has always been their champion. symbol~zed the ideals of freedom, human
''India was also the first non-aligned dignity, justice and peace which we %hare.
nation. It was Pandit Nehru who set the His leadership and inspiration will be
pattern for the many Governments in- sorely missed by us al!".
cluding most of the new sovereign States of
Asia and Africa which now represent nearly ADLAI STEVENSON: "lndia h s
one-third of the population of the earth lost its father and the whole world griekes.
and which are the greatest hope -of world Within Mr. Nehru's small frail body bur-
freedom from fear of war". ned the fires of freedom. justice, and hope.
At a critical time for his country and the
world v,e have lost a towering leader whose
HAROLD \.VILSON paid a trim 1:adership
bute to Nzhru for the revolution he had goes out tois sorely his
needed. My sympalhy
country, his daughter and
brought about in India and expressed con-
fidence that his policies would be his family."
continued. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER : "The
LORD BERTRAh?) RUSSELL: "If world will, I know, greet the news of Prime
we try to imagine what that means- a Minister Nehru's death with deep sadness
period of the greater part of the independent and regret. Often he has disagreed with
life of India-we can b.tter unders and leaders and governments of the free world
the magnitude of his contribution to man- but none of them has ever doubted Mr
kind. The nonalignment he formulated pre- Nehru's sincere devotion to universal peace
vented war on more than one occasion. His or his dedication to the welfare of India's
disparate people are one nation. I hope those vast population.
who damned him while he lived will not try "For my part, I valued. every opportu-
to embrace him in the name of things he nity to meet him on Important prob-
loathed."
lems and was proud to claim his friendship.
Mrs. Eisenhower joins me in expressing
HAROLD MACMILLhT, former our profound sympathy to his family and
British Premier: "The loss to India is to the people he served so long."
hcalculable . . . .The loss to the Common-
wealth is almost equally great. I had the pri-
PREMIER MHRUSHCHEV asd Dr. Bre-
vilege of close friendship and intimate rhnev, Ctairman Presidium of the Suprrme
working with Mr. Nehru over many im- Soviet of the USSR. "It was with a feeling of
portant Commonwealth problems and was great sorrow that we learned of the death of
able to see something not.only of his imm.. the outstanding statesman of our time, thc
ense knowledge and skill m public matters great and sincere friend of the Soviet
but his unfailing C0urte.y and un- Union, the Prime Minister of India,
selfishness. Mr. Nehru was a world figure Jawaharlal Nehru.
and the whole world will mourn him".
"The name of Nehru enjoyed the tremen-
EARL MOUNTBAITEN: "It was a dous respect and love of the Soviet people
privilege to be associated with him in who knew him as a.tested and \vise leader of
 12 THE CENTURY
the Indian people's struggle for national on the history of their countryas he has. life was a torch which ill$ w ,.,uc o ~ dno
independence and ,the rebirth of their coun- Responsible as he was for the policies of Asia and the world".
try, as an active fighter against colonialism. one of the largest countries in the world, Mr. Nehru was the beacon light nc
Nehru is known as an outstanding states- he had affected the course of world events. only for the people of India but the whole
man of modem times who devoted his entire Indla should know that in her hour of grief humanity. Ms. N jsser s!d h: saluted the
life to the struggle for the strengthening of her sorrow is ~haredby all of us in the soul o f t :e mari whose death was a loss to
friendship and cooperation between the United Nations". humanity at large.
peoples for the progiess of humanity. French Ambassador ROGER SEYDOUXy He had always valued the friendship
President of the Security Council : "Nehru which had linked him with Mr. Nehru for
'<He was a passionate fighter for peace was a statesman whose example would long years. Mr. Nehru 142s a great thinker,
in the whole world znd an ardent champion not be dimmed by the passing of the gene- leader and even more a great being, the
of the realization of the principles of peace- ration of man. UAR leader said.
ful coexistence of state.: he was the inspirer m3urning is the mollnaing of MR. ALY SABRI, UAR P R E h f m :
of the policj of non-al'gnmen! promoted by the United Nations. and sahess and Mr. Nehru's death was "a loss not only
the Indian Government. This reasonable
policy \van India respect and due to it ~ ~ grief d the i ~Security Council.. . .zddri*ses to for India but for the whole W D T I ~ " .
the Government and people of India our The sad news came as a personal shock to
is now 0 m p y i n g a worthy place in the hartfelt sympathy durirg fiese bitter him and President Nasscr.
international arena. hours.. . .but expressicg also our hope for KING HUSSEIN OF JORDAN des-
the great future of the country." cribed Mr. Nehru as :'a leader of thinking
'.In our count[) Nehm was well known q : un- morals and humanitananism".
~ R E S D E N TAyI;B ~ ~ - 4 .*.The
as a sincere friend of the Soviet Union, as timely demise of Mr. Nehru is the lojs of a PRESIDENT FOUAD CHEHAB of
a statesman who had done much for the great Indian leader who comnded not Lebanon cabled his condolences to Presi-
strengthening and. development of friend- only admiration but also the devotion of his dent Radhakrishnan.
ship and cooperatlor, between Sodiet and people. MR. MALCOLM MACDONALD:
Tndian peoples. "It is an irreparable loss to India and Governor G n rdl of K-nva : " ~ o t
I wish to convey to you and through you to only India but the whole world saenls a
tLA]Ithose who happened to meet Nehru the Government and people of India our darker place today with the fbme of
2nd speak to him were especially aware of sincere sympathy in their bereavement." Jawaharlal Nehru's life e x t i n y i ~ h ~ d .
his deep humaneress combined with states- "He was one of the wisest statesmen of
rnanship a i d word'p wisdom. In these r o u r - KHAN ABDLZ GHAFFAR KHAN S-rt his generation 2nd also one of its most
nful days for the Indian people and all a telegram to Mrs. lndira Gandhi express- lovable human beings."
eiends of India we express our deepfelt ipg his wlsh to be by her side "in this hour Mr. Nehru was an" apostle of peace"
and sincere condo!ences to the people and of national bereavement. who dedicated himself to the supreme
Government of Jrdla. We ask to convey our - H ~was essentially a man -of peace. human causes of these critical times-the
deep and s i n ~ sympathy
e to the family of M ~ ~~h~ . was a great beliwer En secular- spread of freedom among all peoples. the
the deceased. ism and was its principal pillar. He had pr0motion of friendship among all mankind,
absolutely no communal or any other para- the establishment of abiding Peace b e t u r n
MRS. NINA KHRUSHCHEV:"If words nations and the encouragement of a higher
of synrpathy may somehow chial human civilisation.
alleviate your sorrom, may my deepest "He was not a man of any particular "More than any other man he was t k
condolences help you in this moment of religion. t;\s such he was a W t to maker of modem India and a powgrful
sorro-?" India's mmor~t~es". contributor too to the independence of
u THANT. the U.N,secrerary-Genera]: PRESIDENT NASSER: "Prime Minister many other races such as the new nations
a~~~ men of this age have left their mark Nehru's death is a great ~OSSfor India. His of Africa."

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JUMH 6,. 1964 ,.
 MR. CHUNG HEE-PARK, South Korean "In this sad circumstance Textend f o you,
3 not decided in 1947 that Mr. President, expression of 111y most pro=
should set an example President, expressed his "shock and sorrow" found and heart-felt sympathy and ask you
of the Common- at the death of Mr.Nehru. He called Mr. t o convey to the late Prime Minister's f s m
wealth-few if any-other Asian and African Nehvj's death "the loss of a great star to ly my sincere condolences."
nations would be membe~sof it today." Asia."
KING MAHENDRA: "We have heard
PREMIER .KENYATTA O F KENYA: RAHMAN.Mala~sian with great shock and profound regret
.'Not deprived
been on y lndlaof but the whole world
an outstanding leaderhas
in Prime Minister: Mr. Nehru's death "came the news of the sad passing away of the
a shock me- He had sent Prime Minister, Mr. Nehru, the great and
the path of pe ce and freedom for all men. illustrious leader of India. The people of
The passing of this great patriot has cast his best wishes and a box of mangoes only Nepal join us in conveying to Your Exce-
a shadow of grief over the whole world. days 'go".
llency and through you to the people of
India our most heartfelt condolences and
"His rnonument will stand for ever in "His death is a great loss not only to sympathies at this critical juncture. in the
the eyes of the world a< a free and indepen- India and Asia but. to all mankind. Mr. demise of Mr. Nehru Nepal has lost a
dent India set by his efforts on the road to Nehm was a good frlend to me. HIS words true and a great friend. May his soul rest
prosperity and pride of rlace among the and deeds have often helped me in my in peace."
great nations of the world". work as Prime Minister. I considered him
as a source of inspiration to whom I could PRlME M'NSTER KE17H HOLY-
alwavs turn for helpful advice, and he riever
PRESIDENT NKRUMAH O F GHANA: failed to respond. OAKE O F NEW ZEALAND: "M / first re-
'The people of India have lost an outstand- action is one of shock and a feeling of irre-
h g leader and the world, a great statesman. parable loss to the people of IndAa.
"India has lost one of her greatest sons,
"I have received with profound distress and world one of the most illustrious states- "My deepest sorrow and sympathy goes
the unexpected news of the de th of the men of our day and ige. His name was a out to his family and fr~ends.
Prime Minister, Pandit Nehru. It is difficult synonym throughout Asia and world
to find words adequate enough to express of the cause of freedom and the struggle "I had confidently anticipated that he
my present feeling of loss over the death against colonialism". would play an important and influential m r t
of Mr. Nehru". in the pending Commonwealth Prime Minis-
PRESIDENT DIOSDADO MACAPA- ters' meeting".
PRESIDEhT OF ISRAEL, Mr. Zalman GAL of the Philippines: The people of the
Shazar, the Prime Minister Mr. Levi Eshkol philippines grieve with all lndia the ex. He felt a sense of versoral loss as he
and the Labour Minister Mr. Yigai Alan, tinguishing of her guiding light-Jawaharlal had known the Indian Prime Minister over
sent rnejsagr s of cotdol~rce. Nehm. But Mr. Nehru's name will never a considerable number of year.
fade as long as there are names who dream
SIR ABUBAKAR TAFAWA BALEWA, of peace and believe in the inevi able trium- SIR ROBERT MENZIES, AUSTRALTAN
the Nigerian Prime Minister: “Nigerians ph of reason over force. With Nehruls PRIME MINISTER: "This is a significant
would always remember his shiningqualities passirg, Asia has lost to history its foremost date in history. It marks the end of the lif:
of wisdom, s l m ~ l i c i tand
~ humility as well statesman and its most effective advocate of of one of the most remarkable men of
as his deep underst~ndingof human prob- reason, moderation and peace. our time. Mr. Nehru was the maker of
lems". modem India. He had survived with a
singular balance of r ~ n dboth hardships
"We shall miss his wise counsel in the MR. ABDEL KHALEK HASSOUNA, and successes. He occupied a place in the
committee of natips and especially in Arab Lelgue Secre.ary-Genera1:"The Arabs hearts and hopes of his hundreds of millions
the Commonwealth. have lost t,ne of thelr grear~stfriends in the of people which it will not be easy for any
world". successor to attain His great gifts and his
ALAJI SIR AHMADU BELLO, the unceasing and positive interest in world
Premier of Northern Nigeria, said that in SYRIAN PREMIER BlTAR : "It is affairs gwe him a nolabie standing in world
the death of Mr. Nehru "India has lost a sad news.. . .Nehru had devoted his life negotiations and conferences.
father". to the service of just causes, his own nation
above all, to oppressed peoples and to ''When the Commonwealth Prime Minis..
PRESIDENT SOEKARNO : "On behalf world peace."
of the Government and people of Indonesia ters meet in London in July it will be diBicult
and myself n ay I offer the sincere condo- to realise that he has g3ne and that we shall.
lence a t the d ~ a t hof my dear friend traditional CHOU EN-LAI; "There is a profound see and hear him no more."
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru? As the leader of China and friendsh~pbetween the peoples
of the Indian people he is well known India. MR. V.J. SUKSELAJXEhT, r he former
throughout I donesia because of the part Finnish Prime Minister, W I J the Indian
he played in the struggle of the Indo- "Although certain differences still exist leaders's deat , is a grzat shock f rr t i e w le
nesian independence. People all over now between our two countries.yet this wcrd. Ildia h ~ s10-t a g eat leader,
the world will mourn his death because they unfortunate situation cannot but be tempo- and a divided world one of its greatest
will miss his further contribution in the rary. I am convinced that the friendly re- architects of peace".
struggle for the establishment for a better latiofis between the Chinese and the LI d an
world. We have full confidence that the peoples will certainly be restored and develo- PRESlDENT-LUDWIG VON MOOS:
Indian people will continue to develop his ped on the basis of five principles of "It was wi h deep emotion that the Swiss
leadership." peaceful coexistence". Government learned cf the death of Hi9
MRS. BANDARANAIKE, the Ceylon Excellency. Jawaharlal Nehru. Prime Minister
Premier: "Mr. Nehru was a sincere friend of of India. At this moment when India has
EMPEROR HIROHITO, Crown Prince
Ceylon and had won the heart of the people Akihito and Princess Michiko sent cables of suffered an irreparable loss in the person of
this great statesman, please accept the
here by his charm, sincerity, simplicity, condolences to Mrs. lndira Gandhi, express- deep sympathy of the Swiss Government and
humanity and courage". ing their sympathy on the ileath of nehru. people. They will always rememb-r
M*. N ~ h r t l for his friendship towards
THE DALM LAMA: shock-d ~ A T ]KEDA: O 'qt is the world,s Sw,tzerland".
t o hear about the demise of respected
jawaharlal ~ ~ h , . , , .I consider myself for- and humanity's tragic n?isfortune to lose PRESIDENT ANTONIN NOVOTNY:
tunate to have had the opportunity of meet- the great peace-maker of Asia, "With deep emotion and distres, 1
ing him personally only last week." Jawaharlal Nehru, at this moment." h a e learned t e sa;d news of t3e .udden
pa s:ng of the great son of A;ia. All peace-
THE SHAH O F IRAN : "The world lcvi 1g humanity has lost in him an
GEN'ERALNEWIN: Mr. Nehru wasnot has been deprived of the wisdom of a man outstanding state man, an untiring fighter
only a great patriot beloved of his pe- of faith and peace. Depressing news of fcr peace. peaceful co-existence and co-
served his but the death of Prime Minister Nehru has been operation among nation,".
was also a statesman with great received i s Iran with deep and genuine
vision. He had served the cause of peace sorrow. With his demise not only has India SIGKOR ALDO MORO, Italian Prime
and international understanding. suffered the irreparable loss of a dedicated, Minister, sent a cable .to President Radha-
brilliant and courageous leader but the krishnan expressing h ~ sand his Govern.
"By his passing not only India but also world has been d prived of the wisdom of ment's condolences on "the loss of the great
the world has suffered an irreparable loss." a man of faith and peace. statesman".
 KING BAUDOUIN OF BELGIUM that I learned this morning of the sad and wont be able to attend the
sent a telegram of condolences to the Presi- tragic death of your beloved Prime Mi- aligned conference. In its
dent. nister. personally contributed so much."
THE PRESIDEST OF THE BELGIAN "Your country, your people and, indeed
SENA.TE, Mr. Paul Struye, expressed the the whole world will miss this truly great HERR WALTER WLBRTCHT, air-
condolences of the Senate at the opening leader and statesman who was a man of man of the GDR State Council:"O~ behalf
of its afternoon session. of the population of the German Democratic
extreme courage, an ardent advocate of Republic and the State Council of the Ger-
peace and a &out champion of human man Democratic Republic and in .ny m
THE S\WDISH PREMIER Mr. Tage liberty". name permit me, Your Excellency, to
Erlander: "I am deeply touche I by the death convey my deep felt condolence a ~ dbeg
of Jawaharlal Nehru, His life and work PRESIDENT CHARLES DE GAULLE that our feelings be made knopln to
were of the greatest importance not only "It was with great emotion that I lear ed of the relatives of the departed and to the
for India but also for the entire world. the death of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, a population of the Republic of ind.a.
His death is a great loss to us all." statesman whose eminent qualities placed
at the service of democratic, social progress
and peace profoundly marked the destiny "The populhtion of the German Demo-
POPE P.4UL also sent a message of of India and coosequently that of the world"
condolence to President Radhakrishnan. cratic Republic shares the sorrow of the
Indian people and the whole of peace-lovhg
PRESIDENT TITO OF WGOSLAVIA: humanity at the demise of the eminent
DR. HEINRICH LUEBKE, the Presi- "The news of the sudden death of the great statesman who tirelessly fought for the pre-
dent of the Federal Republic of Germany, leader of the Indian people, Mr. Jawaharlal servation of peace and who also clearly
the Federal Chancellor, Prof. Ludwig Erhard Nehru, has deeply distressed all over. advocated a . peaceful solution to ques-
and the Federal Foreign Minister, Dr. ,Ions concerntng Germany.
Gerhard Schroeder offered their condole- "In his death, the Indian people suffered
nces on the death of Prime Minister Nehru a great loss because he leaves the scene of
in their cables to President Radhakrishnan, internal and international development right "The State Council and the population of
Mr. Gulzarilal Nanda and Mrs. Indira at a time when his contribution was of the German Democratic Republic will hold
Gandhi. They expressed the grief of the great significance." the memory of the great son of the Indian
German pecple and of the Federal Gover- people in permanent honour."
nment over India's loss and paid tributes to MR. PETAR STAMBOLIC, Yugoslav
Mr. Nehru for his invaluable and life-long Prime Minister, said : 'He was not only e
services to the nation and to world-wide great Indian but an outstanding figure in Other messages of condolencc Here
understanding. the modern world and for world peace. addressed by Mr. U7alter Ulbricht and by
It is a great loss for peace and progress in GDR Premier Otto Grotewohl,. and by
PRESIDENT ABBOUD OP SUDAN the world. We were able to meet at the Vice-Premier and Forelgn Mii7tster Dr.
"It is with the greatest sorrow and shock Belgrade conference. Unfortunately he Lothar Bolz.

JUNE 6 , 1064

THIE IL1FIE OF DEDICATION
Jawaharlales life ic the .history of
a half century. Ever since he came
back fIonl England after studies he devotcd
hi rntire tlme and energy to the seruice
of the nation and humanity as a whole.
Born in a w althy family on Novemberl4,
1889, Jaw harlal had all comforts and gre, t
prospects. H s father. Motdal was rich and
a lead ng lawyer. Motdal was very particular
about his son and his future. He had engaged
an English governess to look after Jawaharlal
and a European tutor to guide him in
his studies. Motilal's strength and intellect
and the mother's (Swaruprani) tenderness
had influenced the son in his childhood.
However, politics did not come Into his early
days, for Motilal, though he had a high
wnse of national pride, did not havemuch
faith in the q ick plans of the then poilti-
cians. But the thought of his tutor, F.T.
Brooks, who was a theoso hist, and Annie
Besant's speeches had attracted the young
Jawaharlal ;and he later bee-me a theoso-
phist.
In lgo4; at the age of Jawaharral
'oined He ha Natural Science
GriPoS with second dass from
Cambridge. While in Cambridge an interest
in grew in the young mind. The
life Garibaldi impressed him which
developed later as an urge for the freedom
of his co ntry. The speeches of Tilak and
Aurobindo attracfed him. However, he was
studying everyth~ngcarefully and comlng
to his own conclusions. Even in the dis-
cussion group of Indians in the University
(known as .Majlis), where they discussed
Indian political developments, he was only
a listener. About many others who took
active intere tin thosed~scussion,Jawaharlal
later wr te in his autobiography : "Later, I
was to find these very persons were to
become members of the Indian Civil Ser-
vice, High Court judges, very sta~d and
eober lawyers, and the like." Whereas this
young boy who suffered from "shyness and
diffidence", and who quite often paid a
fine for not speaking in the college debating
eociety, took a dfferent path whlch demand-
ed from hi n self sacrifice. Motilal had
a-tually warted Jawaharlal to join the ZCS,
which the father thought would render
a comfortable future for his son. But Jawa-
harlal did not agree, for he thought it was
the association of Indians with the English
which kept the nation in bondage. Jawahar-
laly, rcfu.al t~ go for the ICS first
displeas d the father. hut later Motilal
agreed, and sent him to the Inner Temple
to study law.
On his return in 1912 after 7 years' stay
in ~ n ~ l a n ~awaharlal
d, f o h d the political
atmosphere in India dull, The storm of
Bengal1spartlt~ochad subsided. Tllak was
in prison and the Extremists among the
freedom fighters leadeyless. Moderates were
active with the Mmto-Morle~ scheme.
But Jawaharlal did not take direct interest
politics. Because, for 0% Motilal was
~ l m n i n gto make hi son's good lawyer,
as he himself was, and ~awaharlalstarted
actice in th AilahabadHigh Court with
E s father. still,, he could not keep himself
totally off .polltlcs. Motllal himself had
started takug part m politics ulth the
Moderates. Thus, though still w0rk-W
as a lawyer, the imist:ble desire for the
country's freedom which developed
in him gradually drew him to the
Conscss movement and he attended the
Bankipur Congress as a delegate. Later
he became a member of the United Pro-
\inces congress Committee. In 1915,
Jawaharlal m d e his first political speech at
a public meeting in Allah-bad. But
THE CENTURY
it was the Home Rule moveme-t of
Annie Besant and others which made
Jawaharlal think deeply and took him to
lively politics. During this period, in. 1916,
he married Kamala Kaul in 1)elhl.
. When World War $1was coming to an
end Tilak came out of prison. The freedom
movement was then swinging between the
Extremists and the Molerates. Then
appeared Gandhiji on the scene. Even
earlier, Jawaharlal had great admiration
for the struggle Gandhiji had led in South
Africa. But he had never met the -half-
naked.fakir.' It was at the Lucknow Cong-
ress, !n December 1915,. that Jawaharlal
came m dlrect contact wlth Gandhiji and
since then Gandhiji's ideals and leadership
played a decisive role in Jawaharlal's life.
But it was not easy for one who had had
comforts and luxury to throw away every-
thing and joining the movement meant an
insecure life including imprisonment. More-
over, Motilal could not think of his beloved
son undergoing such tortures. However
Jawaharlal took .the difficult path and
joined hands w~th Gandhiji who called
to give up fear and face al! difficulties with
courage. GanEhiji had s a ~ dthat h a goal
was to wipe off the tears from the millions
in India. This dedication, of course,struck
several waves in Jawaharlal's youthful
heart.
Till 1920, Jawaharlal was not ac-
quainted with the problems of the workers
and peasants in the country. Later he
realised, as he has stated in his autobio-
graphy, that the first aim o f a politically free
India must be to tackle the problem of
poverty. In the middle of 1920 he visited
Pratapgarh to study the conditions of the
peasants there. In the same year he visited
Rae Bareilly where peasant troubles were
developing. In 1921, after attending the
Nagpur session of the Congress he went to
Akbarpur in UP to take part in the Kisan
movement. In the same year Congress
declared boycott of the Prince of a Wales'
visit and the Governrent resorted to mass
arrests and many including Jawaharlal were
arrested.
In his trial which took place on Decern-
ber 21, 1921 Jawaharlal, unlike Gandhiji,
refused to plead guilty and stated that he
did not recognise either the Government or
the Court and regarded the trial a farce.
In 1922, in another trial, Jawaharlal made
a Statement before the Court wherein he
rid1 uled the aprlication of various sections
of the Indian Penal Code to his case and
maintained : "TO serve India in the battle
of freedom is honour enough. To serve her
under a leader like Mahatma Gandhi is
doubly fortunate. But to s ffer for the dear
country, what greater good fortune could
befall an Indian unless it be death for the
cause of the full realisation of 4 glorious
dream." He made this po itical statement
because he knew that it would create
many waves throughout the country which
ultimately would help to increase the mo-
mentum of the movement. The country-
wide demonstration against the Rowlatt
Act had moved Jawaharlal. And also the
atrocities of the police at Jallianwala Bagh
terrified him. As a result he decided to
sacrifice his life to ba i;h British rule from
India.
In October 1923 he was elected General
Secretary of the AICC. He was also elected
Chairman of the Allahabad Municipality.
BY then he came in constant contact with
the workers and Peasants whose problems
made him think deeply and he ped him to
a crystalise the socialist ideals which hdd
p r w n in him from his contact with tho
Fabian Socialists while in ~ngland.More-
over, when Jawaharlal went to ~ w i t z e r l a ~ d
and stayed there for about 21 months with
his wife who was undergoing treatment,
he came in direct touch with the develop.
ments taking place in Europe and foln ed
a clear opln!on of Fascism and the
significance of India's freedom s t r u ~ e l ~ '
to the w ~ l dstruggle. Furthe?, his vlsf
to the Soviet Union together w~thMot~lal
as an official delegate to the 10th anniver-q
sary of th: Bolshevik Revolution also played
an important role in his socialist thinking.
Later, he organised the youth movement
and aligned themself with the struggle of
the working class which the conservatives
inside the Congress did not appreciate.
But he went round the country addressing
several meetings and "spreading the ideoIo-
logy of socialism especially among the
Congress workers and the intelligentsia,
for these people, who were the backbone
of the national movement, thought largely
in terms of narrow nationalism". In 1930,
he attended for two days the All-Ind~a
Trade Union Congress at Jharia. It was his
first Trade Union Congress though he had
much earlier gained a measurable popularity
with the masses through his close contact
with the workers and peasantry. In the .
same meeting he had been elected President
of the INTUC.
In 1928 when the Sh'non canmission
came to India the ~ o n k r e s sgave a call
for country-wide demonstrations in protest.
Jawharlal was twice lathicharged in Luck-
now. In La ore, at the same time, Lala
Lajpat Rai was seriously injured in Lathi
charge to which he succumbed. The nation
grew angry and Bha at Singh emerged as
the symbol of revolution. Jawaharlal travel-
led all over the country spreading the call
of the nation and organising people for a
stronger political action against the British
rule. During this time he attended and
adlressed several meeting and confer-
ences including the Punjab Provincial
Conference and the Kerala Provinci~l
Confererce. He also attended the first All
1nd1a Youth Conference held at Calcutta
in the same year. The Nehru Committee
report on Constitution was also signed
in the same year. He then founded the
Independence of lndla League which adv*
cated complete severence of British
connections and became its General Secre-
tary. And, when the AlCC met at Calcutta
in 1928, Jawaharlal moved an amendment
to Gandhiji's resolution on Dominion
Status. In 1929 the Congress realised that
rigorous action is needed to attain f e d o m
and the Lahore Corgress met in the same
year and set complete freedom as the goal.
The Congress Legislators in the Centre
and in the Provinces resigned. In 1930,
Gandhiji called for the Civil I)iscbedknce
movement. And when Gandhiji decidd to
violate the Salt Law and proceeded with
it Jawaharlal, who was the Corgress Presi-
dent then, appealed to the people to nlarch
forward with the Mahatma holding the
independence flag high. The British go-
vernment understood what was in store
and arrested Jawaharlal and sentenced him
to six months. Motilal had much earlier
bec me,active in the movement and gave
away ha palatial Anand Bhatan to the
nation. The nation-wide u surge had even
influenced Kamala who had not been
taking any acfive interest in politics. But
later Jawaharlal was surprised ,,hen he
h:ard in prison that his wife was taking active
Dart in th. Civil Disobedience movement
in Allahabad. On December 29, 1930 when
she was press
arrested Kamala
to the which said :g \te am
a message
happy
 \ THE CENTURY
beyond mpaure and proud to follow in went to Simla where he had a I % m b t e following year he demanded .from Pakistan
the footsteus of my husband. I hope the blks w; 1? the Viceroy. 'n that metirg he a no-war agreement and also lnformed them
people will keep the flag flying." urged upon the Vice oy the need for :hap@ : if Kashmir was attacked it would be re-
of government. The British Cov-rnmcnt garded as an attack on India. He in the
On February 6, 1931 Jawaharlal received then deputed Viceroy Wavel to form an meanwhile devoted great attention to the
a great blow. That was the dtath of Motilal interim government as a first step towards rthabilitation of refugees from Pakistan.
who till then stood by the side of his son. transfer of power.
In the same year Jawaharlal was arrested He could never relish the idza of colm-
during the agrarian troubles in UP and was In 1946, Jawal-arlal formed th- interim tries taking up arms to settle dis~utes.
rebased in 1973. In February 1934 he government. He went to Kasbrnir In July 1950 he appealed to the USA and
was arrested again ar.d released n ~ a r o l and visited NWFP Khjbcr Pass the USSR to end the Korean war. In 19;i4,
to visit his wife who was seriously ill. In accompanied by the Kbxm brothers. Marshal Tito visited India. The Prime
1935, while in Almo-ah Jail. Jawaha la1 In December he made a statzmzzt .mwing Minister of China, Chou E?-lai, also came
completed his autobiography' which ?as the Objectives' Resolution m the to lndia in the same year. After having
published in the following year. Constituent Assembly. discussions with the Chinese Premier at
Diwan-e-Khas in Delhi Jawaharlal s i u e d
Sh-i Jawabarlal received another serious In the following days comrnm--l bitred with him the five principles of co-existenm
F l ~ wwhen Kama'a died on F bruary 28, develoned and the Muslin League's "Direct which later came to be known as Pmch
1936. He had f o vn to Switzerland soon after Action" Day caused gloom over the comtry. Sheel.
he heard of ker condition and was at her The communal violence spread to different Later, in the Afro-Asian Summit held
bed side in Lausanne when the sad moment areas, and massacre took ptace. The Corg- in Bsndurg in the year 1955 Jawaharld
came. ress was then forced to agree to partition. upheld the slogan of ~eacefulco-eri:tencc
Thus, at the stroke of midnight of August and made an historicaf speecl in whicb ha
O n his return from Switzerland Jawahar- 14, 1947. India, though partitioned, beatme put forward 10 points for world pace.
la1 was elected President of Lucknow free, and Jawaharlal became the first Prime In the same year he went to the Soviet
Congess. W'hen the Congress decided to Minister of free India. Union and signed with Prime Minister
contest the gen. elect-on;. Jawaharlal became Bulganin a statement on co-existence. In
extremely busy runnirg about the country Moments before the country attained the following year when an Anglo-F~ncl~
addressing e!ection meetings. He carried independence Jawaharlal spoke : "Long Israeli invasion of Egypt was in the cffing
with.him vast multitude of people in every years ago we made a t q ~ with and Jawaharl~lurged swift artion in a mesaga
meatrng he addressed. This trend he could now the time comes when twe sostiny, b 9 d e e m to the UN Stcretary General.
maintann till the last moment of his life. our pl:dge. A moment comes, which comes
0 2 the assurance of the th:n Viceroy that M%nufhile, the indian Constitutior rn
the Government would cooperate with the but the
rarely in history, when we s t c out from finalised
old to*the new, when an and ndia became a Republ,~id
ag? ends. and Janu ry 26, 1950. And the first gmeral
elected ministers, :he Congress decided when the soul of a nation. l a g * ~ v p r e ~ ~ e d ,
to form ministries in the five states where finds utteranw. It is fitting that at this solemn elections, based on aault franchise, was held
they could obtain majority. But Jawaharlal moment we take a pldge of dedication to in India in 1952. It was the acid test for the
was against forming a coalition ministry the policies Jawaharlal's Government pasued
with the Muslim 1e- in those states causeservices of India and to t k still larger till
of humanitv." This dedhtion was manifesto then. Jawaharlal drafted the election
where the Congress lacked majority. This Jawaharlal's guide-light for the 17 years of the Co~gressParty and travellad
disuleased Mohammed Ali Jinnah and he which followed to lead the nation to the from one cornsr of the country to the other
decided to evoke Muslim sentiments against path of soaalism, democracy, secularism, campaignirg for the Congress. Similarly,
the Congress and went around the country since cons9tutlon of the Planning Cornis-
like a whirlwind with his programme of non-alignment and pea=. sion under his Chairmanship, Jawaharlal
enrofliag m r e and more Muslims into the The communal hatred and the m s s a c F concentrated
to build a
his attention on tsking Ftew
wealthier nation. Many of h b
kcw. took place left d e q scars I> later utterances proved that he laid great
I n 1938, when Nazism was gaining Jawaharlal's heart. The panlntriken emphasis on aglculture. That was the basis
strength in Europe, Jawaharlal went to Muslims from lndia started running for the first Five Year Plan. The river pro-
Europe and vlslted Spain together with his to Pakistan and Hindus from Pakis- jzcts India had planned, and especiafly the
t r u s t 4 frizcd. Krihna Menon. In the follow. tan to India. It was a challenge to the ideals Bhakra Dam, 'had captured Jawaharlal's
ing year, he visi'ed, Ceylon and China Bg of secularism which Jawakdal always im3gination. While inaugurating the Bhakrn
the time be returned to India war was cherished. The premienbp of the nation Dam he compared the river projects to
spreading to many parts. Nazis were going was not at all a flower bed for h.He knew temple, mosque and gurudwara, a r d de+
from v i c t o ~to victory, and when France that the country wanted more service and cribzd them as the shrines of modern India.
@oo was def2ated. Jawaharlal again met devotion from him. I n a word, there was no fidd of danning
.the Yice~oyto have a formula so that lndia In 1948, he went to S 6- and dep- which did not receke Jawaharlal's attm-
could cooperate with Britain in the war. lored Pakistan's a n t i - I n d h propganda. tion. H: worked almost 19 hours every
?But the conditions the Congress. put for- On January 30, 1948, when Gandhiji was day : and his Ia:t words were "I disposd
-ward were not acceptable to B r ~ t a ~and n of all my files.
Gmndhiji s'arted the individual Satyagraha assassinated by a Hindu famtic Jawaharlal
was taken beck. At that sad moment he
movement. Jawaharlal was arrested in 1940 said He was an anti-colonialist. H h d e s h
and sent to four years rlgorous imprison- and there : "The light has gone out of oor lives to free India totally by eliminating all
m t . This shocked the nation and protest
is darkness everywhm." Actually vestiges of colonialism was fully achieved
mpetipgs were held all over the country. he felt that he was left done in mid -only when the 40D-year old Portugasa
B* lat r when the British Gover ment sea. colonialism war driven off from Goa, Daman
rdlised that it would create more complica- and Diu, in 1961. The Indian actron had
tions if the Congress leaders were kept in In 1949, Jawaharlal gave assurance to provoked serious criticism in Western
jail, they releascd ail of them including aKashmir about Inria's help, a d addressed circles. However, a few days back, the
conference on Canal Waters Dispute bet- French TV Service in a comment justified
Jawaharlal. ween Inoia and Pakistan. Then, he visited Jawah rl 1's action over the Po t. guc>e
O n August 7, 1942, the ATCC met in US on a goodwill mission on the invitation colonies.
Bombay, Jawaharlal moved the Quit India of President T u:man. Wf..il= addressirg
resolrrtion. AS usual mdSS arrests the US Congress he p l d g d Lndia to wo k In 1959, Jawaharlal reported. to the
followed ano lawaharlal was arrested for justice, liberty and wcc. H3 also ex- Indian Parliament on Chinese mtrusions
the next dav alc n: with Garldhiji, Maulana plained to the US . G m . m t India's and firing in the Indian border, The China0
Azad, Sarcar Patel and others. He w.rs neutral policy m foretgn afhrs. Later, he attack was no doubt a blow to Pis sircera
taken to tr e A'lmdnagar Fort which was w-nt to Canada and addressed the Canadian belief in peaceful co-existence aad Pan h
his last and losgjit imprisonmsnt. Jawah~rldl Parliament. Sheel. And, e pecially when it c a n e from a
de- oted this p:r13d in jail mainly for reading country with which he had signed rhe princi-
and writing : the outcoms being his remark- When the refugees from Paki t m had ples of p-acefi I co-existence, its impact was
abl? wo k, Discow y of India, which was stzrted flowing into West Bengzl after great. However, he never withdrew from his
published in 1946. independence the situatbn became Noise war against wxrs, and went on with
and many had d:macdcd direct action the call for world peace. In October 1960
Jawaharlal served a to.il term of against Pakistan. But Jawlt at la1 never he ettended the UN General Assemhly
3,262 days in jail. submitted to any such de.mds, for he Sssion where he urged the need for o orlf
believed that t'le army was to prevent wars peace, and also urged upon Eisenhower a:d
The Biitish Gwemm-nl graduallv realised and not to wage wars. However, when he Khrushchev to renew contacts. The massive
from the nation-wide resmtment and the started talking to F i s t a n in. strong and aggression China made on India soil in
INA m3verneot that she could not czrry c l s r terms the Paklstan Prem:er agreed to October 1962 forced Jawaharlal to move
0.1 her rule over India for lorg. On his a meeting with Jawahark1 and signed an heads of nation to support India's just
r e l a : from prison in 1945 Jawaharlal agreement on minorihes in 1950. In the stand and also to o5tain arms aid from
JUNE 6, 1964
 THE CENTURY

w
b a s countries to defend the nation.
e this was going on, on the other hand,
ne unres~rvedly accepted the Colombo Pro-
The Man of Action
posals on the Sino-Indian dispute. Again,
his irresistable desire for peace definitely When Jawaharlal Nehru returned home of neacarts in January 1921 marched on
was the one reason which made him ac-ept in August 1916 he found Ind~asomewhat Rai Rareill , U.P.. to protest against the
the Proposals unreservedly. different from the one he had left bekind arrest of their leaders. Jawaharlal Nehru
rushed to the scene to avoid any violence
It was in January this year (1964) that seven years earlier. His father, Motilal b-cause these marchers were barrid t o
Jawaharlal's health deteriorated and he Nehru, was no an active moderate in the advance further by armed police and troo~s.
became ill while attending the AICC Session Congress Party; there was the aftermath of They all had gathered on the opposite
at Bhubaneswar. But, soon he recouped his the Bengal "anti-partition" agitation and bank of the river when Jawaharlal reached
health and resumed work. While addressing the clear division of the Congress in moderate there, but he was prevented by the local
a news conference in New Delhi on May 22, and extremist itopinions. The bar did not
was "not intelkctually sti- magidrate from crossing the bridge. The
after several months (his monthly press interest him:
conferencs was discontinued since he fell mulating" and "the life at Anand Bhacan d:monstrators were asked to disperse and
they agreed on condition that Mr. Nehru
ill) he had said that his life ua; "not e n d i ~ g soon began to bore him:" The d-..ire for was allowed to appear before them. This
ve y soon". This reminds of what Motilal "a soft life and pleasant expzrience" t )o waf request w2.s turned down and the peasarts
used to say about death. Jawaharlal has now wearing thin. He had met Mahatma
discribed it in his autobiography in the Gandhi at the Lucknow Congress in 1916 also refused to obey the orders. Police '

following words : "He had ,always laughed but was sceptical of his orthodox approach firing followed and many died and wounded.
at the idea of death, made fun of it, and and appearance. He had almost given L p Jawaharlal has se-n the colour and the
told us that he proposed to live for a further moving in cars and even sometimes walked warmth of human blood.
long term of years". Further, Jawaharlal barefooted to attempt an identification with The impact of these two evepts and
had written about himself on Febrca y 14, the peasant masses. Gandhiii'. simple and ractic ways led him
1935, again in the autobicgraphy : "Some- Motilal Nehru, his father, was not oppo- to etcer:ment with vegetalilnism, his leaving
times a sense of age and weariness steals sed to his interest in the Kissn movement; smoking and reading of t.liirg)iad Gira
over me, at other times I feel full of energy. what he disliked was his complete identi- afresh. This Iajted for five years before he
and vitality.. . .I imagine I shall yet fication with their rustic lot. To him politics went to th. European tour. He was by
survive for !n:g unless some sudden fate was the constitutional approach to social now completely spiritualised. The European
overtaks me. questiors, which was also the attitude of tour gave to this spiritualism the scientific
moderate politicians and to Jawaharlal content of socialism. Jawaharlal Nehru
On May 23, 1964 he went to.Dehra "it offered no hope of success'. There were spoke in 1929 on his election to the position
Dun for a fday rest. Before leav~ngthe the terrorists, whom "I could not accept." of the President of the Indian National
Dehra Dun Circuit House he had written The J; 1 ianwalla Bagh tragedy had shaken Congress in his own voice. Jawatarlal's
in the visitors' book : "I have come here his faith in British justice and liberal idealism radicalism even disturbed Gandhiji who
for rest and quiet often with my daughter. ar d forced him to seek other ways than the even wrote, "differences between you and
The three days I have spent here have been existing modes of political action. Gandhiji's me appear to be so vast and so radical that
quiet and restful". When he returned to formation of Satyagrah Society on April 6, there seems to b: no meting ground bet-
the Capital on May 26 he looked much 1919 seemed to offer an alternative. He ween us. I cannot conceal from you my
refreshed, and nobody could imagine that wrote, "here at least was a wly out of the grief that I will lose a comrade so valiant,
tht fatal-stroke was so near. On the mornirg tangle. a mode of action uhich was.straight so faithful, so able and so honest that you
of May 27, Jawaharlal's sudden illness and open and possibly effective. I was a re always have been; but in serving a cause
.
spread in the Canital like fire and people with enthusiasm and wanted to join.. . comradeship have got to be sacrificed."
from all walks o' life rushed to Prime immediately. I hardly thought of the conse- Jawaharlal now was the leader of the left
Minister's House at Teen Murtl. At about quences-law-brelking, jail-going etc.- in the Congress.
2.70 p.m. on that day All India Rrdio from and if I thought of them I did not care". He however never led the left though
Delhi announced the shocking news to the He joined Gandhiji's movement although he remained a socialist throughout his life.
narion in its special news broadcast which his father was "furious.. . .Once in a rage Nor did he ever allowed his socialist ideas
to limit his political actio~ls,just as his
he (Mct'lalji) ordered (his son) ot4t of the
said : "We announce with deep regret house." The cleavage lasted about eighteen being a follower-rather the political heir-
that the Prime Minister passed away a little months : "It was a tremendous struggle for of Gandhiji has not clouded his socialist
wh~leago." The light of hope of this country him(his father) to uproot himself and to way of thinking. This apparent contradiction
and the world thus burnt out. fit himself into this new environment". in hisfthinking he resolved by treating these
As for conversion : "it is perhaps a triangle, two as aspects of ideology. The politicat
action however covered a larger field and
The revolution we have started under Mr. Gandhi, my father and myself; each involved greater range of values than are
influencing the other to some extent. But
the expert guidance of and control of principally, I should imagine, it was Gandhi- admitted into the closed circle of the
Jawaharlal is s t 4 unfinished. The loss of ji's amazing capacity to tone down opposi- ideolof y .
Jawaharbl is a catastrophe for India, for tion by his fr~endlyapproach.. . .Secondly This concern foi the totality of politicarc
action g ~ v e him a new insight into t h e
the world and for world peace. At this our closer association brought out that medning of polltical r o w r . In Gardh~~l's.
Gandhi wls not only a very big man and
moment 01 profound grief le. us take, as our a very fine man but al ,o an effxtive man. . . . ph~l~)sc.phy oi pd sive re islance hc dis-
beloved leader said on the night of August (no less important) father was forced to covered the same actionist elemmts as w e e
14, 1947, a pledge of dedication "to the think because of my reaction. I was his to be fo n ! in s3cizlism. P~wer,he r a i i d ,
springs up b~tween men when thry act
service of India and to the still larger cause only son ; he was much interested in me." together and disappears t i e moment they
of humanity," and promise to ca I y out the Gandhiji's wzs the most colos:cl 2perime: t dijpzrse. The popular revolt against armed
ideals Jawaharlal cherished, holding the in world history and Jawaharlal was the rulers with non-violent means creates new
first to ,realise the revolutionary dimensions sources of power. The non-ti~lent civil
Bag of soii~lismand world peace high. of his non-violent methods. This realisation disobedience movement was the rnost
opened up a new world when in 1920 he effective mode of action ever dtvised. Such
first came into contact with the peasants a movemel;t cannot be defsated bec a lse it

' of Partabgarh District of Oudh in U.P. cannot be countered by fighting. Ttje orly
He had gone to the vlllage to enquire into way of d:feating it is by mzans of mass
their complaints. He wrote later: "We slaughter. In which case even the victor is
found the countryside afire with enthusiasm defeated since nobody can rule over dmd
and full of strange excitement.. . . I was men. T i e story of Dayid and G3liath is the
I The Century Digest is a pa^
I1
filled with shame and sorrow-shame at my illustration of thls obvious truth : the power
own easygoing and comfortable life and of a fw
our petty politics of the city which ignored many.
: can be greater than the power of
\ of The Century, and is this vast multitude of semi-naked sons and
daughters of India and sorrow at the de- Clearly, Jawaharlal N;hru has read
gradation and overwheliming poverty of M3itesquizu c!o~ly. Mmtasquieu's thesis
( iwued free. The Digest cannati
1 India. A new picture of India seemed to was that the foreign rule exercised its power
rise before m?, n a k d , starving, crushed and in complete isolation of its subjrts and that
utterly miserable. And their faith in us, the people t o ~ living l in fear and suspicion
casual visitors from the distant city; emba- of each other w:re isolated. Such a rule
rrassed me and filled me with a new res- generates impotence which, in other words,
ponsibility that frightened me." Another develops the gmns of its own dzctruction.
event that made him a firm believer in Jawaharlal despite his socialis: orienta-
I non-violence was the one when thousands tion realised this Montesq~ie,ia.~ truth in
#

Gandhiii's programme of civil disobedience.
He knew that this non-cooperation civil
disobedience movemert extended. to t t e
1 whole of society involving the entlre publlc
realm of action unlike the marxian methods
1 of rwolutionarv violence. \'iolence, cur~ousl
y and, in my own way, I seek to expreience
enough. destroyed power more easily
than did the strmgth which presupposed
the existence of mutually antagonistic
groups. It was for this teason that he never
liked the marxian methods of securing
power.
The Tndian mlitical leaders. whether of
moderate or of extreme opinions before
Gandhiii's lead-rship of the freedom struggle,
have been c~ncemedu ~ t hQuestions of law
and the demandc for ~rogressive partici-
pation and a voice in the administration
of the country. They had comuletely over-
looked the fact that the British rule was
characterixd by the imwtence of the sub-
jects who had lost their human capacity
to act and speak together. The soci:fy
therefore remained untouched by thelr
attempts. The character of the mgvement
changed after Gandhiji's lead-rship and
the world of public realm bzame involved
in the o:ganised action against the foreign
rulers.
Jawaharlal's rejsction of the available
modes of political action and his attemot
at converting his father to his way of think-
ing a r b iqdicative of his strong will-power
and intellectual prowess. He had a mind
of his own and in following Gandhiji's
example of complet: identity between the
word and deed he kept to his own ideals
which were the creations of conditions for
the establishment of humanist society. And
therefore like the master be spoke to the
whole nation ; the people in turn identified
themselves ujth his voice so verv completely
that t t e $ also bec m: a nation : Jawaharlal
became m x e than a statesman : he was
tne nation rimself.
* Jawaharlal's life had not come to an end
After Gandhiji. Jawaharlat is the only
man of action : to act meant to him to take
an initiative, "to begin," "to Itad'' and also
ato set something in motion: h: w i ~ t ein
&is Discovery rf India:
*'The call of action has long been with
me; nor action divorced from thought,
but rather fforving from it in one conti-
nuous sequence. And when, rarely,
there has been full harmony between
the two, thoug4t leading to action and
finding its fulfilment In it, action
leading back to thought and a fuller
understanding- then I have sensed a
certain fulness of life and a vivid in-
tensity in that moment of existence.
But such moments are rare, very rare,
and usually one outstrips the other and
there is a l ~ c kof harm?ny,. and vain
effort to bnng the two In hne. There
was a time, many years ago, when I lived
for considera le periods in a state of
emotional exaltation, wrapped UD in
the action which absorbed me. Those
days of my youth seem far away now,
not merely because of the passage of
years but far more so because of the
mean of experience and painful thought
that separates them from today. The
old exuberance is much I s s now, the
almost u-ncontrollable impluses have
toned d w n . and oassion and feelirg
are more in check The bsrdcn of thought
is often 11 hindrance, and in the mird
where there was once certainty, doubt
creeps in. Perhaps it is" just age, or the
the common temper of our day.
"Acd yet, even now, the call of action
stirs strarge depths within me, and
often a brief tussle with thougbt. I want
to e x ~ s r i again
e ~ 'that Imely impulse
of ddight' which turns to risk and dsngzr
!
THE CENTURY
and faces and mocks at death. I am not
enamoured of death, though I do not
think it frightens me. I do not believe
The Rose
in the negation of or abstention from Irfe.
I have loved life and it attracts me still and the Jewel
it, though many invisible barriers have
grown up which surround me; bct tbat
very desire leads me to play with life,
to peep over its edges, not to bc a slave
to it, so that we may value each other all
the more. Perhaos I ought to have been
an aviztor, so that when the sl v:rl ness
and dullness of life overcame me 1 could
have rushed irto the tumult of the
clouds and said to myself
'I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of
breath,
A waste of breath the years Fehhd,
In balance with this life, this dzth.',
m e leader particularly when -.Jawaharb1 is
known as much by his achevwnmts in
which many may have joined as by his cam-
city to take initiative a ~ therefore
d risks. Mod-
errl India is a Irving monumeot of the acts
of Jawaharlal. He brought a world outlook
to the freedom struggle, gave us the funda-
m:ltal rights. the conce~tof planned deve-
lopment and taught us in the ways of
democracy. All these actions that are part
of the very structure of modem India
disclose his identity, have the poutr to
The oeople who &ore him
force open all limitations and cut across Dowir to tho ~acredRojghat
all boundaries. The light .that illumhated The o7ople who wept by his side
the processes of the e asuons has already
And those far away
b x n experienced by many perceptibv eyes. Who wept in lheir heart of hurts
The full magnitude of which will reveal
itself fully only t o the historian and the
The vast, loving nrultitd
story-tsll-r wien all other panicipants have Of his struflling land
also departed.
Has been d e s e r ~ d .
This need not be, because the story of H -w st-ange!
Till the procession was mar~hing
like that of Gandhiji's His is the story of Till the pier was lit
modern independent Indie ard it will come
There wrs stiN the belief
to an end only when Irdia loses its freedom. He is not really dead,
And this is not a common story as the non-
Just asleep
violent struggle of our fnedom mevement For a while perhps
was not, It has Homerc grandlfur be- Taking rest
cause it insists on tl-e 11vir.gderls ar d not As u.nral
the spoken words.: they are indeed actua- Afrer a busy doy.
isations in the Arlstot lian srrsc cf ercrf its,
and it is from the experierce of actual y Pr~tthe quietly slipping J a m m
that they exhaust their full rnea~bpin tl-e The senseless Iying Rajghat
performaoce itself. This is Jawaharlal's AII speak of he loss
legacy. Until cutother such a rose
This leads us to the poli-in of Jawaharlal Sn~iles in the garden
which always a i t ac ass party loyalities. And the Bahar bewmes memhg/uI
' ~ seemed
e to say :The art of politics teaches Once again.
mzn how to brrrg forth w t r t is great and
radiant-fa m q c l ~kai lamp ra n the words Ordina-y hen we aN are
of Democritus. It was only throrgh polltlcs And ordinary we :hall be.
-because only the political activity has a Only our ( wn, contributed i m q p
Once in a while
direct reference to the public rxilm-ttat
men can actualise their ovrn passitity not Becomes w h t we cherished
As A ehru
in order to effect any chsnpes in society
bl t for articulatirg what otherwise they The Jawdhar.
suffer passively. His was. a call to end the
private realm of each mdivldual ard his Histo Y shall bear witness
advocacy of Pancf a p t i Rzj w7s directtd The kisto*y of all peoples oaf the world
to enlargirg the pt blic realm. This also The Ganga, the Jamuna, and all ,he
demonstrates his faith in the human condi- :acred rivers
tion of plurality wfich he ph Id throug - That the ose of humanity
out against !he attempts that seemed to d o H a d finully withered
Bur has been placed
away wlth ~ t .
As near to our hearts
Jawaharlal N e h ~therefore kept alive As i s own beating is-
the contact with Indian masses. There was Prernial
an unusual emotiorai link tetween him Perpetuating.
and the p o 1 . "When I am in D41-i"
he told a g oup of p litical workerj some Farewell Nehru then
years ago, "a terrible feclirg comes to me Fir well to yvur mortol r e m a h
about this lack of contact w ~ t h people. And welcome JawWahar.
When I get that feelirg f rush out and meet
peo~le." He needed the crowd as much (Poem by R. S. Yadav; Draw-
perhaps as they needed him. i ig by Dixit)
JUNE 6, lr54
 PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU
GOVERNMENT OF IXTDIA

1. Name of paper . . .. 2 ~ i n d u & h g d & a d a d

Before independence and after,

A Beloved he educated us to the awareness of
the world of which we are bat a
part in common with other nxions
India and the world mourn stewardship as head of its govem- and to the incompatibility of empire
the death of a great and good man, ment and as virtual head of the to freedom or peace. Our national
Congress. movement also stood warned off
a leader of people, a lover of humani- from the excesses and narrowrmesses
For fifty years, he served this
ty, a man of courage and integrity, of nation and wore himself out in its of nationalism. Nationalist India
firmness and sense of compromise, of service. He has been through much became significant in international
strong views and mind yet endowej grief, shame and humiliation, as thinking even before Independence.
during the post-partition violence and In the years of Panditji's stewardship
with the qualities of toleration and oftentimes clu? to the failures of our of a free India which followed, she
flexibility. own people. But he never lost heart emerged not as a Great Power but as
or faith or flinched from duty. a significant and often indispensible
We are too near events to I factor in world affairs and contri-
assess all his achievements, He administered the pledge. of buted to peace and cooperation.
but the role of Panditji as a maker of Independence to us in 1930, and in
history, of modern India, and as 1947 he became the first Prime Panditji has left us a rich legacy,
a significant figure in the modern Minister of a free though truncated a great example and many tasks.
world stood assured long years past. India. 1 . Thousands of meetings at which
His has been a rich and full life. millions gather recount incidents
The end, though feared, almost It was also the life of the nation in Panditji's life and his manifold
dreaded for some years now, came itself. His Autobiography (1935) qualities and achievements. The
rather suddenly though, perhaps, is the history of India of the pQisd! nation will raise memorials to them.
not unexpectedly. He leaves behind The only true homage and memo-
a grieved and orphaned nation. In *Of He
few leaders can it be so, said.
was truly the nation's leader, rial to this great national leader and
his later days he has been trying to -not alone its political head or.Prime world statesman, this lover of free-
crowd into Iife and work as much and Minister. dom and peace, this redoubtable
more than he could do. champion of justice, this true em-
A great humanist, he has brought bodiment of integrity and dignity
For several years, from various into our nation's life by his insistence
quarters, mainly foreign, the ques- and ex?mple the beginning of a and this champion of liberty and
tion has been asked: "After Nehru, scientific approach. Let us hope we equality for all his fellowmen is for
Who?'Speculation became a habit, develop a fuller understanding of us to help to raise our country
some may have considered it a legi- humanism which alone can be the and people to the heights which he
timate political exercise! They tried '%reedw of the modern age. envisioned.
to believe that Panditji was evading Our task and mission, our duty
and avoiding the inevitable-death! He helped to develop our and priv;lege,is to endeavour tirelessly
National
They whispered that he would not one, importing movement into a Socialist and with courage and patience to
face the issue of "succession". into our thinking the build a truly socialist India which
essential truth that the real content will advance dignity, justic,, pros-
No one faced the issue of "s*lcce- of liberty is equality. There has been perity and toler nce at home, and
sion" more realistically, more truth- no national movement in the world. enable us to contribute effectively
fully and more sensibly than the late which adopted a socialist democracy to peace and cooperation abroad.
Prime Minister. Latterly, he proclai- as its objective and plans. Social justice and democracy will be
med his view but not a choice. He accepted or recognised the twin pillars of our strength.
It was not for him, he aid, to will the diversitieswhich are part of India's We need to be a strong nation, in-
away his office! It was a Trust he rich legacy. He sought to weave them deed, to survive. Our strength stands
held on ehalf of the people and under into the essential compositeness of challenged by our internal problems
the Constitution of India which the a nationhood. This is National in- and adverse factors as well as by
people had given to themselves. tegration. It is the essential basis external threats and dangers. We
He had the correct appreciation of of the nationalism which enabled are a nation, although an orphaned
the dem~craticsentiment, he de- us to displace a mighty Empire. one. We have a rich inheritance and
mocratic function and the capacity Panditji helped to make the an inspiring background and fore-
of the people in this reg rd. Propa- masses significantand conclusively so. ground! We dare not fail.
ganda was not going to lead him From the thirties of this century The India for which Panditji
into the error of an ass y into a * when his travels among the peasants wore himself out is a socialist,
testamentary succession! Further- began, he sought and found inspira- generous, free and peaceful India
more, he knew that it would be no tion from them He says 'he looked c f his vision and faith! That, and
answer and would create more into their eyes'. that alone is the only true
problems than it sought to solve. Today, we have a Constitution, memorial of a life greatIy, tirelessly
Events have proved him right.. wherein undaunted by the size of our and courageously lived. To play
His faith in his Party, Parliament, prospective electors we chose to each one of us our part in building
and the people has been vindicated. distribute our legacy of independence this memorial is a debt we owe to
The transition has been smooth. equally among all our people without .posterity and also a debt we have to
It as agreeably surprised our friends distinctions and discriminations. discharge to the memory of our
and the doubting Thomases. It Our economic policies are pointed great leader.
has confounded the cynics and the to the great and vast social and eco- Inspired by his humanity and his
"gl~omists.'~ nomic changes which alone will humanism, by his selflessness and
enable India to survive as a nation. courage, by his sense of tolerance
Panditji left Tndia stronger, richer, To these Panditji led this ountry, and of the practical, equalled by
more united and more hopeful than its government and its largest poli- your own determination and pa trio-
at the time when he assumed the tical party. tic fervour, let us face the future.

Man of Letters
writi~gsis volum~nous, m x h biggw than
one supposed. The late Prim? Minister had
Ion; bsen famous for his b9oks, incidental^
all written in prison, Glimpses of World
Hi.,rory, written for his daughter the school-
girl [ndira Gandhi. The Dis oyerJ1of India,
a new and pzrsonal interpretatlo? of,Indlan
history that has been praised for 1:s tnsrght,
and the Au.obiograpl~y.These would have
b x n more than enough for Jawaharlal
Nehru to attain a place among the greatest
writers, perhaps both in English and Hindi
and also p:rhaps the other Indian Ian-uages
in translation of his ideas. For, .primarily,
the greatness of Nehru's wnt!ng is its
thought, where Nehru dwls .lsn d~rect com-
munication of the hard to communicate,
and not m~relyir elaboration of what need
n t have b x n commun~cated.Such writing
of his is intensely personal ; and there
Nehru is a poet and not a poet. Only in
his Au obiography can personal be taken to
m s n the directly personal and ever. :here
that is not what is most important.' Nehru
cannot be said to have mastered, in the
final analysis, self-portrayal. That was not
his intention, elther, nor h ~ sforte. His
aim, and surely he succeeded in it, was to
give, as in the histor~es,a personal inter-
pretation to what he deemed the most
important and necessary. And nothing so
much as the Freedom Movement. He was
the best if not the only spokesman for it.
As far as this is concerned it can be consi-
dered fortunate that he had, to put in spells
in prison. To give an enduring form to his
interpretation he needed such a retreat,
where he could reflect and szarch within
himself tor the right, the most hore:tand
the least bigoted Interpretation of mo-
mentous matters that were even then goirg
on in the outside woed. It is a measure of
his sense of respons~b~lity that he antago-
nised none and enlightened all who came
across these interpretations.
But. and this is imuortant, Panditii
never stopped his interpretkg and,.especialjy
after inteuendence, his direction of events
and positions, things which he in his role
was immersed in, by word of mouth and,
occasionally, very occasionally, by writing.
This, mostly his speeches in Parliament
but also his fantastically nume ous public
engagements (this can be gauged from the
number and variety of them eve11 in the
days following upon Gandhiji's death),
has been collected by the publications Divi
sion so far in three volumes.
Of his speeches the most important,
of course, is the one he broadcast (and
this can be considered writing, if that is
nzxi:d) on the assassination of Mahatma
Gmdhi. It is significant how much Jawahar-
la1 Nshru loved and respected Gandhiji
and yet, even here, he was content to
step aside from the great emotion inhere t
in the opening of his address and to give
place to the needs of others and to consider
and reflect what he should .tell them of
Gandhiji that was of the greatest moment
at that particular time.
"All this has happened," he .said,
"when there was so much more for him to
do. We could never think that he was
unnecessary or that he had done his task."
But what st ikes us most of all in such
a speech as this is not it5 enterprise alone.
I t is a keynote of most of Nehru's words
that they are sincere and it is sincerity
and the hardly attained solemnity of it
. that has made the famous opening sentences
-"The light has gone out of our lives ar.d
JUNE 6, 1964
THE CENTURY
scarcely be noticed in Parliamcnt. What
would, especially on re-reading them, be
noticed is their relevance, almost always
and however mundane their subject, quite
beyond themselves. Sometimes like this :
there is darkness everywhere", and, later,
the words "the light has gone out, I said, An atmosphere of approaching com-
and yet I was wrong. For the light that promise pervades the courtrv when,
shone in this country was no o:dinal y lith'. in effect, there is no ground for it. It
The light that has illumined this country is enervating and depressing because it
for these many many years will ill mine does not come out of strength but, in
this country for many more years, and a the case of many individuals, from the
thousand years later, that light will still excessive desire to avoid conflict at all
b: seen in this country and the world wlll costs and to g:t back to the shreds of
see it and it will give solace to innumerable power which wc had previously.
heartsw-what makes them surely immortal.
And yet it is curious how these words could
remain great and immortal and stlll have a Mr. Mulk Raj Anand has spoken, with
reference to Nehru's writings, of "the
curlous resemr lzcce to some words w~itten
nineteen hundred and odd Tears ako by naivete of the emzrgznt Indian-English style
of writing, the awareness of the poetry of
Saint John the Apostle, speakkg about Jesus
Christ, as translated, of course. in the>even- human life," He, quite rightly but narrowly,
considered them also as integrally patholo-
teenth century by the authorisat~onof
King James the First. I would not stretch gical. "I think one can safely say that if
the resemblance or debt that Jawaharlal Jawaharlal Nehru had not written the
Nehru's way of writing has to the Autho Autobiography, he would certainly never
rised Version (it is hardly singular) but I have achieved the dignity and status of a
would, now that this great man is no more, world citizen long before he was to become
draw attention to what has struck me of a Prime M~nister of India." The publicity
wonderful and historic similarity. I may be was afrer the poetry. "The sense of humanity
wrong in thinkirg it at all significant. which pervades the book, the iiaivere of
But the fact that has t ken root in my mind the ern-rgent Indian-English style of writing,
since apprehending such a sjmilari!~ the awareness of the poetry of human life,
as the speech on Gandhiji's death has is already show tile future visionary to whom
this: that just as it was recognised that action is not merely political opportunism
Gandhiji loved Jawaharlal Nehru more but compulsion from the innermost depths
than any other of his followers, so the person of feelings and ideas." ( A Study of Neltru.
who wrote the similar words was loved by edited by Rafia Zakaria, A Times of India
Jesus Christ, Publication, 1959).
Jawahlrlal Nehm may never again have Perhaps it is the izaivete and the humanity
spoken so moving words again. Tnere very and the em:rgent Indian Erg'ish style,
seldom was any need for him to do so, but I think that a reader woelld search in
for his words were n~ostlytaken up with vain in Nehru's writings for w iat is called
the mundane affairs of governing. And yet a sensc of humour. Even in Pdrliament, one
it is true to say that in all his collected recalls, the humour, if one would like to
speeches there IS none that cannot be, take it that way, was incidental to his
read at least with interest, with the interest losing his temper. In whatever other ways
of meeting his personality anew and afresh. that he could make people laugh, he could
This could only mean that he never allowed never make them laugh intellectually. A type
the affairs of state-and mo tly these were of wit that we associate with great states-
difficult-t 1 get him down and make him men and especially great oixtors was absent
speak half truths, platitudes or eva ions, in Mr. N-hru. He was invariably solemn
What pervades his speeches is at least an in public speeches ; he treated them, in this
essential apprehension of what, he is speak- sense, rather as lectures. In his writings. in
ing about, never overbearing or dogmatic, his Autobiograplry where he is rightly reflec-
an air of counselling or humility where
necessary. Here is an impression recorded tive, he does tell funny episodes, and that is
of Nehru a a speaker by the British Secre- about all. Those eyes with depths in them.
tary for India at the time of the handlog- made famous by photographers and painters,
over of Government : could never lo2k at anything sup-rfi-ially
except, cerrtainly, with children. A different
Jt is an experience for a Westerner to cast of the naivete that Mr. Anand spoke
attend one of his political meetings and of and of his natural solemnity could be
hear him address his audience. Unlike seen in two of his letters to children published
a European or American orator he does in the Shankar's Weekly Children's numkr,
not comm:nce on a bold and .emphatic
note or end with a carefully prepared where he speaks to children of the pestering
rhetorical peroration. His voice b-gins editor that Sankar has been to him and,
quietly, almost imperceptibly like a
piece of Indian music, it rises to a height. absolutely unselfconsciously, goes on t o
of passionte pleading and fades away tell them of some of the burdens of his
at the end into silence.
office.
The element of didacticism that I spoke
of in Nehru's words is not merely found A good example of the naivete may be
in his courage and direction as Prime Minis- that, after saying that "grown-ups have a
ter in Parliament, it is also his capacity to put
the simple truths in a forceful way. For strdnge way of putting themselves in com-
example, in his convocation address to the partments and groups," and elaborating
Ceylon University, he said, that "there are barriers of religion, of caste, :
There is much talk of One World and of colour, of party, of nation, of province, '
I believe that, at some time or other, of language, of custon~and of wealth and
that talk must bear fruit or else this
world will go to pieces. It may be that poverty," Chacha Nehru added : "Fortu- '
we will not see that One world in our nately, children do not know much about
generation but if you want to prepare
for that One orld you must at least these barries which separate." However, '
think about it. looking at it again, Panditji was being abso-
In Parliament itself he often struck a
note of teaching, but then, that wouli dren.
lutely honest and realistic, even with chil-
 THE CENTURY

Friend to Children
Chacha Nehm to children. That was not
a role adopted after bxoming a national NINE YEARS IN
idol and the political leader. Only a child
can truly say what Chacha Nehru meant. Sentence h t e s of hpriso-ment Days Place
P:rhaps, most likely, it m-mt different
things to different chifdren as indeed, -
not b:ing a poseur, he must have wznted. 1. sixmonths
There must, houzwr. and however unlikely, 6 December 1921-3 March 87 Lucknow District Jail
hrv: been scm: th'ldren who were in awe 1922
of Chacha Nehru from a distarrce. But one 2. Eighteen months
thing seems certain :there was not and will 1 1 May 1922-31 January 265 Lucknow District Jail
not be any ch.1d who has not heard of 1923
Cnacha Nehru. 3. Two years (suspend,od) 2? S~vtembsr1923- 12 Nabha Jail (Nabha State)
It is not ~ntzndedthat this note should 4 October 1925
read a child's mird. h'or is it meant to 4. SL( months 14 April 1930-1 1 October 180 Naini Central prison
analyse Jawaharlal Nehru's attitude to 1930 Allahabad
children. His bzhaviour in children's com-
pany. of coune, has not lacked descr;ption. 5. TWOYears and four 19 October 1930-26 Jan- 99 Naini Central Prison
M x t . often and natunliy this was simply months uary 19 1
affect~onate. There were.. then, the other
equally s p o n t a n ~ u sactlons such as, I 6. Two years 2; December 1931- 612 Naini Central hison
t h ~ n k~t was in Trrvandnm. when there was 30 August 1933 Bareilly District Jail, Pun-
a crow I and children lifted on elders' jab
shoulders to get a glimpse of Cbachaji, Dehra Dun Jail, U.P.
and Chachaji climbed a lamp post. But 7. Two years 12 February 1934--4 Sept- 569 Presidency Jail. Calcutta,
that is hardly a singular sight uhich children ember 1935 Allwore Central Jail,
could boast of as having initialed. Clownirg Calcutta
s e e m 4 to comz easy to Nehru when not Dehra Dun Jail
in Parliament. There was the occasion of a Naini Central Prison,
display by fencersfrom Kerala when Chacha Almora District Jail, U.P
Nehru (there must have been a lot of un-
politial children in the audience) rushed years 31 October 1940-3 Decem- 398 Gorakhpur Prison, U.P.
Q with his salking stick. ber 1941
The only records of childhood memory 9. Indefinite detention 9 August 1942-15 June 1040 Ahmadnagar Fort, Bom-
of Chacha Nehru happen to be when the 1945 bay Province
Chacha w ~ syounger and was a 'Bhai'. -
His attitt.d.2 to children could already, Total 3262 m i n e years less twenty
with hindstght, be glirnmed negatively three days)
from Mrs. Vijavalaksbmi's account of
her childhood with 'Bhai' :
He was 'Bhai', the beloved elder brother.
but still merely a p r t of the family stoicism. It hab, in turn, repaid us in ample
which, in the manner of tkose days. background with awe and trepidation when
was more important than any single the intruder hero 'noticed me, took me in m:asure, teaching us that we were part
member of it. (The Familv Botzd in A his arms and swung me up. kissed me, of a largcr whole, loved and cherished as
Study o f N,hru, 1959) muttered qomethifig about the "baby sister children, but required to respond with
being quite a little lady now" and put me intellig?nce and vigour to all that went on
Pn the same book his younger sister, down as abruptly as he had picked me up.' around us. In such an atmosphere there was
Mrs. Krishna Hutheesmg, makes it apparent But very soon Shri Chacha Nehru as no room for the timid and the self-inaulgent
that 'Bhai' was far from being 'any singlewe know him was to dwelop. H s treated and we had exerted ourselves to bz as mlch
m2mber' of the family and that. on the his younger sister almost as a daughter, as possible like Mzmu. I do not think there
1eg:ndary 'Bha's return from England, sending her, as we know letters of advice was anvthing unusual or szntimental aboyt
with the family breathless, she was in thefrom prison quite the sam5 way as he sent our admiration for him. He was, qulte
letters of historical knowlxlge (Gliwpses simply, the most wonderful perwn we knew,
of World Hicto y\ later to his daughter. and children have an unerri~ginstinct for
Hz addressed his little sister w i o was tn singlirg out wonderful people for their
SUBSCRIBERS ctevotion".
her teens, as Bctidarling or darling daughter. That r?ay not be whtt many adults
But that was later. As a yo:lng law gaduate who cam3 into contact w ~ t hhim could say.
Readere who receive returned from Eqgland h ~ sidsa of gxnes But the lovalty that he commanded was a
were peculiarlv military. MT. H l'htesi~g real and a lasting loyalty, unchangirg to the
oopiee of THE CENTUKY might retort (she writes with fxling on end. However distant Mamu was and how-
by p ~ may t p l w lrlforlu us My Bro her-Then and Now) that he had ever old his child friends grew, to quote his
sufficiently In advance if aud not yet met Gandhiji. He once threw her neice again, "because we saw that he was
when they intend t o change into a . pond and left her there to learn courageous and inconuptible, we were
swlmmmg. ashamed when we fell short of his belief
their ddress. in us. Now, with childhood long past,
With his steps lengthening in nationalism,
we see Mamu, as Nayantara Sehg~l calls that stardard still persists, and his belief
him meanire the same thirg as ChacFa, in us ic still a gliding factor in all our actions".
Any change rrho~ild be was not wholly available to children. Her A bclief that is remembered to havec harac-
intimated tn UR at haat 16 account of Life wi h Lhcl~is. consequently, terised all his relations with children, even

I davs in advance of ita coming without the Uncle, with the Uncle in prison
but, curiously like child friends and adult
into effect. friends of his later years, holding sway
over their lives in his absence and in the
m:mory of what Mamu or Chacba or
Plmw attach the addrnns Panditji or Jawaharlalji was on different
\ahel from the lateat i ~ s u eyou occasions. How he had told t h m , s m i n g
receive when ~ e n d i n pthe new "from time to time our b:wilderm=t at
the rapidly varyirg emotional climate of
ddrese We reqaire hoth the our childhood, for wisely he had providd
old and t h e new ~rfrlm~.ure us with a secret and he assured us, m-gic
as well 8s the namher givm formula to be repeated in times of need so
that we would not be upset by any unpl-a-
of, t h e lahel to record the
santness around us. Thorough breds. he
change. had told us, did not cry. So we had rem-m-
bered our secret and taken pride in our
through the medium of unting. The last
two examples as yet of this latter are pub-
li$hed, rightly, in Jaw9ahar[a! N hru's
Spee-hes, 1949-1953, among all the others
on Kashmir, the Five-Year Plans, to the
Press and to university students. One of
th5s: two, I5ttcrs written to theshankar's
W:?klv Children's Number in 1949 and
1950, knds thus :
I hav- tried to talk to vou in this letter
as if you were sitting ne& me and I
have written more than I intended.
Now it is the children's turn to t;rlk cf
Chactji. Perhaps they could do so be'ter
than anybody else. For he was a g.,t
friend of their's.

JUNE 6, 1964