Jawaharlal Nehru - Wikipedia Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru in 1947 1st Prime Minister of India In office 15 August 1947 -- 27 May 1964 Monarch George VI ( until 26 January 1950 ) President Rajendra Prasad Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Governor General The Earl Mountbatten of Burma Chakravarti Rajagopalachari ( until 26 January 1950 ) Deputy Vallabhbhai Patel Preceded by Position established Succeeded by Gulzarilal Nanda ( Acting ) Minister of Defence In office 31 October 1962 -- 14 November 1962 Preceded by V.K. Krishna Menon Succeeded by Yashwantrao Chavan In office 30 January 1957 -- 17 April 1957 Preceded by Kailash Nath Katju Succeeded by V.K. Krishna Menon In office 10 February 1953 -- 10 January 1955 Preceded by N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar Succeeded by Kailash Nath Katju Minister of Finance In office 13 February 1958 -- 13 March 1958 Preceded by Tiruvellore Thattai Krishnamachariar Succeeded by Morarji Desai In office 24 July 1956 -- 30 August 1956 Preceded by Chintaman Dwarakanath Deshmukh Succeeded by Tiruvellore Thattai Krishnamachariar Minister of External Affairs In office 2 September 1946 -- 27 May 1964 Preceded by Position established Succeeded by Gulzarilal Nanda Vice President of Executive Council In office 2 September 1946 -- 15 August 1947 Personal details Born ( 1889 - 11 - 14 ) 14 November 1889 Allahabad, United Provinces, British India ( now in Uttar Pradesh, India ) 27 May 1964 ( 1964 - 05 - 27 ) ( aged 74 ) New Delhi, India Cause of death Heart attack Resting place Shantivan Political party Indian National Congress Spouse ( s ) Kamala Nehru ( m. 1916 ; d. 1936 ) Relations See Nehru -- Gandhi family Children Indira Gandhi Parents Motilal Nehru Swaruprani Thussu Alma mater Trinity College, Cambridge Inns of Court Occupation Barrister writer politician Awards Bharat Ratna ( 1955 ) Signature This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text. Jawaharlal Nehru ( / ˈneɪruː, ˈnɛruː / ; Hindustani : ( ˈdʒəʋaːɦərˈlaːl ˈneːɦru ) ( listen ) ; 14 November 1889 -- 27 May 1964 ) was the first Prime Minister of India and a central figure in Indian politics before and after independence. He emerged as the paramount leader of the Indian independence movement under the tutelage of Mahatma Gandhi and ruled India from its establishment as an independent nation in 1947 until his death in 1964. He is considered to be the architect of the modern Indian nation - state : a sovereign, socialist, secular, and democratic republic. He was also known as Pandit Nehru due to his roots with the Kashmiri Pandit community while many Indian children knew him as Chacha Nehru ( Hindi, lit., `` Uncle Nehru '' ). The son of Motilal Nehru, a prominent lawyer and nationalist statesman and Swaroop Rani, Nehru was a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge and the Inner Temple, where he trained to be a barrister. Upon his return to India, he enrolled at the Allahabad High Court, and took an interest in national politics, which eventually replaced his legal practice. A committed nationalist since his teenage years, he became a rising figure in Indian politics during the upheavals of the 1910s. He became the prominent leader of the left - wing factions of the Indian National Congress during the 1920s, and eventually of the entire Congress, with the tacit approval of his mentor, Gandhi. As Congress President in 1929, Nehru called for complete independence from the British Raj and instigated the Congress 's decisive shift towards the left. Nehru and the Congress dominated Indian politics during the 1930s as the country moved towards independence. His idea of a secular nation - state was seemingly validated when the Congress, under his leadership, swept the 1937 provincial elections and formed the government in several provinces ; on the other hand, the separatist Muslim League fared much poorer. But these achievements were seriously compromised in the aftermath of the Quit India Movement in 1942, which saw the British effectively crush the Congress as a political organisation. Nehru, who had reluctantly heeded Gandhi 's call for immediate independence, for he had desired to support the Allied war effort during World War II, came out of a lengthy prison term to a much altered political landscape. The Muslim League under his old Congress colleague and now opponent, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had come to dominate Muslim politics in India. Negotiations between Nehru and Jinnah for power sharing failed and gave way to the independence and bloody partition of India in 1947. Nehru was elected by the Congress to assume office as independent India 's first Prime Minister, although the question of leadership had been settled as far back as 1941, when Gandhi acknowledged Nehru as his political heir and successor. As Prime Minister, he set out to realise his vision of India. The Constitution of India was enacted in 1950, after which he embarked on an ambitious program of economic, social and political reforms. Chiefly, he oversaw India 's transition from a colony to a republic, while nurturing a plural, multi-party system. In foreign policy, he took a leading role in the Non-Aligned Movement while projecting India as a regional hegemon in South Asia. Under Nehru 's leadership, the Congress emerged as a catch - all party, dominating national and state - level politics and winning consecutive elections in 1951, 1957, and 1962. He remained popular with the people of India in spite of political troubles in his final years and failure of leadership during the 1962 Sino - Indian War. In India, his birthday is celebrated as Bal Diwas ( Children 's Day ). Contents 1 Early life and career ( 1889 -- 1912 ) 1.1 Born 1.2 Childhood 1.3 Youth 1.4 Graduation 1.5 Advocate practice 2 Struggle for Indian independence ( 1912 -- 1947 ) 2.1 Britain 2.2 World War I 2.3 Home rule movement 2.4 Non-cooperation 2.4. 1 Internationalising the struggle 2.4. 2 Mid 1930s 2.4. 3 Company with Subhas Chandra Bose 2.5 Republicanism 2.5. 1 Independence 2.6 Declaration of Independence 2.6. 1 Draft of the declaration of independence 2.7 Civil disobedience 2.7. 1 Salt satyagraha success 2.8 Architect of India 2.9 Electoral politics 2.10 World War II and Quit India movement 2.10. 1 Pakistan Resolution 2.10. 2 Japan attacks India 3 Prime Minister of India ( 1947 -- 64 ) 3.1 Assassination attempts and security 3.2 Economic policies 3.3 Agriculture policies 3.4 Domestic policies 3.5 Social policies 3.6 Foreign policies 4 Sino - Indian War of 1962 5 Death 6 Religion 7 Personal life 8 Legacy 8.1 Commemoration 8.2 In popular culture 9 Writings 10 Awards 11 See also 12 References 13 Further reading 14 External links Early life and career ( 1889 -- 1912 ) Born Jawaharlal Nehru was born on 14 November 1889 in Allahabad in British India. His father, Motilal Nehru ( 1861 -- 1931 ), a wealthy barrister who belonged to the Kashmiri Pandit community, served twice as President of the Indian National Congress during the Independence Struggle. His mother, Swaruprani Thussu ( 1868 -- 1938 ), who came from a well - known Kashmiri Brahmin family settled in Lahore, was Motilal 's second wife, the first having died in child birth. Jawaharlal was the eldest of three children, two of whom were girls. The elder sister, Vijaya Lakshmi, later became the first female president of the United Nations General Assembly. The youngest sister, Krishna Hutheesing, became a noted writer and authored several books on her brother. Childhood Nehru described his childhood as a `` sheltered and uneventful one ''. He grew up in an atmosphere of privilege at wealthy homes including a palatial estate called the Anand Bhavan. His father had him educated at home by private governesses and tutors. Under the influence of a tutor, Ferdinand T. Brooks, he became interested in science and theosophy. He was subsequently initiated into the Theosophical Society at age thirteen by family friend Annie Besant. However, his interest in theosophy did not prove to be enduring and he left the society shortly after Brooks departed as his tutor. He wrote : `` for nearly three years ( Brooks ) was with me and in many ways he influenced me greatly ''. Nehru 's theosophical interests had induced him to the study of the Buddhist and Hindu scriptures. According to Bal Ram Nanda, these scriptures were Nehru 's `` first introduction to the religious and cultural heritage of ( India )... ( they ) provided Nehru the initial impulse for ( his ) long intellectual quest which culminated... in The Discovery of India. '' Youth Nehru became an ardent nationalist during his youth. The Second Boer War and the Russo - Japanese War intensified his feelings. About the latter he wrote, `` ( The ) Japanese victories ( had ) stirred up my enthusiasm... Nationalistic ideas filled my mind... I mused of Indian freedom and Asiatic freedom from the thraldom of Europe. '' Later when he had begun his institutional schooling in 1905 at Harrow, a leading school in England, he was greatly influenced by G.M. Trevelyan 's Garibaldi books, which he had received as prizes for academic merit. He viewed Garibaldi as a revolutionary hero. He wrote : `` Visions of similar deeds in India came before, of ( my ) gallant fight for ( Indian ) freedom and in my mind India and Italy got strangely mixed together. '' Graduation Nehru went to Trinity College, Cambridge in October 1907 and graduated with an honours degree in natural science in 1910. During this period, he also studied politics, economics, history and literature desultorily. Writings of Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, J.M. Keynes, Bertrand Russell, Lowes Dickinson and Meredith Townsend moulded much of his political and economic thinking. After completing his degree in 1910, Nehru moved to London and studied law at Inner temple Inn During this time, he continued to study the scholars of the Fabian Society including Beatrice Webb. He was called to the Bar in 1912, Advocate practice After returning to India in August 1912, Nehru enrolled himself as an advocate of the Allahabad High Court and tried to settle down as a barrister. But, unlike his father, he had only a desultory interest in his profession and did not relish either the practice of law or the company of lawyers. He wrote : `` Decidedly the atmosphere was not intellectually stimulating and a sense of the utter insipidity of life grew upon me. '' His involvement in nationalist politics would gradually replace his legal practice in the coming years. The Nehru family c. 1890s Nehru dressed in cadet uniform at Harrow School in England Nehru in khaki uniform as a member of Seva Dal Nehru at the Allahabad High Court Struggle for Indian independence ( 1912 -- 1947 ) Britain Nehru had developed an interest in Indian politics during his time in Britain. Within months of his return to India in 1912 he had attended an annual session of the Indian National Congress in Patna. He was disconcerted with what he saw as a `` very much an English - knowing upper class affair ''. The Congress in 1912 had been the party of moderates and elites. Nehru harboured doubts regarding the ineffectualness of the Congress but agreed to work for the party in support of the Indian civil rights movement in South Africa. He collected funds for the civil rights campaigners led by Mahatma Gandhi in 1913. Later, he campaigned against the indentured labour and other such discriminations faced by Indians in the British colonies. World war I When World War I broke out, sympathy in India was divided. Although educated Indians `` by and large took a vicarious pleasure '' in seeing the British rulers humbled, the ruling upper classes sided with the Allies. Nehru confessed that he viewed the war with mixed feelings. Frank Moraes wrote : `` If ( Nehru 's ) sympathy was with any country it was with France, whose culture he greatly admired. '' During the war, Nehru volunteered for the St John Ambulance and worked as one of the provincial secretaries of the organisation in Allahabad. He also spoke out against the censorship acts passed by the British government in India. Nehru in 1919 with wife Kamala and daughter Indira Nehru emerged from the war years as a leader whose political views were considered radical. Although the political discourse had been dominated at this time by Gopal Krishna Gokhale, a moderate who said that it was `` madness to think of independence '', Nehru had spoken `` openly of the politics of non-cooperation, of the need of resigning from honorary positions under the government and of not continuing the futile politics of representation ''. He ridiculed the Indian Civil Service for its support of British policies. He noted that someone had once defined the Indian Civil Service, `` with which we are unfortunately still afflicted in this country, as neither Indian, nor civil, nor a service ''. Motilal Nehru, a prominent moderate leader, acknowledged the limits of constitutional agitation, but counselled his son that there was no other `` practical alternative '' to it. Nehru, however, was not satisfied with the pace of the national movement. He became involved with aggressive nationalists leaders who were demanding Home Rule for Indians. The influence of the moderates on Congress politics began to wane after Gokhale died in 1915. Anti-moderate leaders such as Annie Beasant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak took the opportunity to call for a national movement for Home Rule. But, in 1915, the proposal was rejected because of the reluctance of the moderates to commit to such a radical course of action. Besant nevertheless formed a league for advocating Home Rule in 1916 ; and Tilak, on his release from a prison term, had in April 1916 formed his own league. Nehru joined both leagues but worked especially for the former. He remarked later : `` ( Besant ) had a very powerful influence on me in my childhood... even later when I entered political life her influence continued. '' Another development which brought about a radical change in Indian politics was the espousal of Hindu - Muslim unity with the Lucknow Pact at the annual meeting of the Congress in December 1916. The pact had been initiated earlier in the year at Allahabad at a meeting of the All India Congress Committee which was held at the Nehru residence at Anand Bhawan. Nehru welcomed and encouraged the rapprochement between the two Indian communities. Home rule movement Several nationalist leaders banded together in 1916 under the leadership of Annie Besant to voice a demand for self - governance, and to obtain the status of a Dominion within the British Empire as enjoyed by Australia, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Newfoundland at the time. Nehru joined the movement and rose to become secretary of Besant 's Home Rule League. In June 1917 Besant was arrested and interned by the British government. The Congress and various other Indian organisations threatened to launch protests if she were not set free. The British government was subsequently forced to release Besant and make significant concessions after a period of intense protest. Non-cooperation The first big national involvement of Nehru came at the onset of the Non-cooperation movement in 1920. He led the movement in the United Provinces ( now Uttar Pradesh ). Nehru was arrested on charges of anti-governmental activities in 1921, and was released a few months later. In the rift that formed within the Congress following the sudden closure of the non-co - operation movement after the Chauri Chaura incident, Nehru remained loyal to Gandhi and did not join the Swaraj Party formed by his father Motilal Nehru and CR Das. Internationalising the struggle Nehru and his daughter Indira in Britain, 1930s Nehru played a leading role in the development of the internationalist outlook of the Indian independence struggle. He sought foreign allies for India and forged links with movements for independence and democracy all over the world. In 1927, his efforts paid off and the Congress was invited to attend the congress of oppressed nationalities in Brussels in Belgium. The meeting was called to co-ordinate and plan a common struggle against imperialism. Nehru represented India and was elected to the Executive Council of the League against Imperialism that was born at this meeting. Mid 1930s During the mid-1930s, Nehru was much concerned with developments in Europe, which seemed to be drifting toward another world war. He was in Europe in early 1936, visiting his ailing wife, shortly before she died in a sanitarium in Switzerland. Even at this time, he emphasised that, in the event of war, India 's place was alongside the democracies, though he insisted that India could only fight in support of Great Britain and France as a free country. Company with Subhas Chandra Bose Nehru closely worked with Subhas Chandra Bose in developing good relations with governments of free countries all over the world. However, the two split in the late 1930s, when Bose agreed to seek the help of fascists in driving the British out of India. At the same time, Nehru had supported the Republicans who were fighting against Francisco Franco 's forces in the Spanish Civil War. Nehru along with his aide V.K. Krishna Menon visited Spain and declared support for the Republicans. He refused to meet Benito Mussolini, the dictator of Italy when the latter expressed his desire to meet him. Republicanism Nehru was one of the first nationalist leaders to realise the sufferings of the people in the states ruled by Indian princes. He suffered imprisonment in Nabha, a princely state, when he went there to see the struggle that was being waged by the Sikhs against the corrupt Mahants. The nationalist movement had been confined to the territories under direct British rule. He helped to make the struggle of the people in the princely states a part of the nationalist movement for independence. The All India States Peoples Conference was formed in 1927. Nehru who had been supporting the cause of the people of the princely states for many years was made the President of the conference in 1935. He opened up its ranks to membership from across the political spectrum. The body would play an important role during the political integration of India, helping Indian leaders Vallabhbhai Patel and V.P. Menon ( to whom Nehru had delegated the task of integrating the princely states into India ) negotiate with hundreds of princes. Independence In July 1946, Nehru pointedly observed that no princely state could prevail militarily against the army of independent India. In January 1947, he said that independent India would not accept the Divine right of kings, and in May 1947, he declared that any princely state which refused to join the Constituent Assembly would be treated as an enemy state. During the drafting of the Indian constitution, many Indian leaders ( except Nehru ) of that time were in favour of allowing each Princely state or Covenanting State to be independent as a federal state along the lines suggested originally by the Government of India act ( 1935 ). But as the drafting of the constitution progressed and the idea of forming a republic took concrete shape ( because of the efforts of Nehru ), it was decided that all the Princely states / Covenanting States would merge with the Indian republic. Nehru 's daughter, Indira Gandhi, de-recognised all the rulers by a presidential order in 1969. But this was struck down by the Supreme Court of India. Eventually, the government by the 26th Amendment to the constitution was successful in abolishing the Princely states of India. The process began by Nehru was finally completed by his daughter by the end of 1971. Declaration of independence Nehru was one of the first leaders to demand that the Congress Party should resolve to make a complete and explicit break from all ties with the British Empire. His resolution for independence was approved at the Madras session of Congress in 1927 despite Gandhi 's criticism. At that time he also formed Independence for India league, a pressure group within the Congress, In 1928, Gandhi agreed to Nehru 's demands and proposed a resolution that called for the British to grant dominion status to India within two years. If the British failed to meet the deadline, the Congress would call upon all Indians to fight for complete independence. Nehru was one of the leaders who objected to the time given to the British -- he pressed Gandhi to demand immediate actions from the British. Gandhi brokered a further compromise by reducing the time given from two years to one. Nehru agreed to vote for the new resolution. Demands for dominion status were rejected by the British in 1929. Nehru assumed the presidency of the Congress party during the Lahore session on 29 December 1929 and introduced a successful resolution calling for complete independence. Draft of the Declaration of independence Nehru drafted the Indian declaration of independence, which stated : We believe that it is the inalienable right of the Indian people, as of any other people, to have freedom and to enjoy the fruits of their toil and have the necessities of life, so that they may have full opportunities of growth. We believe also that if any government deprives a people of these rights and oppresses them the people have a further right to alter it or abolish it. The British government in India has not only deprived the Indian people of their freedom but has based itself on the exploitation of the masses, and has ruined India economically, politically, culturally and spiritually. We believe therefore, that India must sever the British connection and attain Purna Swaraj or complete independence. At midnight on New Year 's Eve 1929, Nehru hoisted the tricolour flag of India upon the banks of the Ravi in Lahore. A pledge of independence was read out, which included a readiness to withhold taxes. The massive gathering of public attending the ceremony was asked if they agreed with it, and the vast majority of people were witnessed to raise their hands in approval. 172 Indian members of central and provincial legislatures resigned in support of the resolution and in accordance with Indian public sentiment. The Congress asked the people of India to observe 26 January as Independence Day. The flag of India was hoisted publicly across India by Congress volunteers, nationalists and the public. Plans for a mass civil disobedience were also underway. After the Lahore session of the Congress in 1929, Nehru gradually emerged as the paramount leader of the Indian independence movement. Gandhi stepped back into a more spiritual role. Although Gandhi did not officially designate Nehru his political heir until 1942, the country as early as the mid-1930s saw in Nehru the natural successor to Gandhi. Civil disobedience Nehru and most of the Congress leaders were initially ambivalent about Gandhi 's plan to begin civil disobedience with a satyagraha aimed at the British salt tax. After the protest gathered steam, they realised the power of salt as a symbol. Nehru remarked about the unprecedented popular response, `` it seemed as though a spring had been suddenly released ''. He was arrested on 14 April 1930 while entraining from Allahabad for Raipur. He had earlier, after addressing a huge meeting and leading a vast procession, ceremoniously manufactured some contraband salt. He was charged with breach of the salt law, tried summarily behind prison walls and sentenced to six months of imprisonment. He nominated Gandhi to succeed him as Congress President during his absence in jail, but Gandhi declined, and Nehru then nominated his father as his successor. With Nehru 's arrest the civil disobedience acquired a new tempo, and arrests, firing on crowds and lathi charges grew to be ordinary occurrences. Salt satyagraha success The Salt Satyagraha succeeded in drawing the attention of the world. Indian, British, and world opinion increasingly began to recognise the legitimacy of the claims by the Congress party for independence. Nehru considered the salt satyagraha the high - water mark of his association with Gandhi, and felt that its lasting importance was in changing the attitudes of Indians : Of course these movements exercised tremendous pressure on the British Government and shook the government machinery. But the real importance, to my mind, lay in the effect they had on our own people, and especially the village masses... Non-cooperation dragged them out of the mire and gave them self - respect and self - reliance... They acted courageously and did not submit so easily to unjust oppression ; their outlook widened and they began to think a little in terms of India as a whole... It was a remarkable transformation and the Congress, under Gandhi 's leadership, must have the credit for it. Architect of India Gandhi and Nehru in 1942 Nehru elaborated the policies of the Congress and a future Indian nation under his leadership in 1929. He declared that the aims of the congress were freedom of religion, right to form associations, freedom of expression of thought, equality before law for every individual without distinction of caste, colour, creed or religion, protection to regional languages and cultures, safeguarding the interests of the peasants and labour, abolition of untouchability, introduction of adult franchise, imposition of prohibition, nationalisation of industries, socialism, and establishment of a secular India. All these aims formed the core of the `` Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy '' resolution drafted by Nehru in 1929 -- 31 and were ratified by the All India Congress Committee under Gandhi 's leadership. However, some Congress leaders objected to the resolution and decided to oppose Nehru. The espousal of socialism as the Congress goal was most difficult to achieve. Nehru was opposed in this by the right - wing Congressmen Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad and C. Rajagopalachari. He had the support of the left - wing Congressmen Maulana Azad and Subhas Chandra Bose. The trio combined to oust Dr. Prasad as Congress President in 1936. Nehru was elected in his place and held the presidency for two years ( 1936 -- 37 ). He was then succeeded by his socialist colleagues Bose ( 1938 -- 39 ) and Azad ( 1940 -- 46 ). After the fall of Bose from the mainstream of Indian politics ( because of his support of violence in driving the British out of India ), the power struggle between the socialists and conservatives balanced out. However, Sardar Patel died in 1950, leaving Nehru as the sole remaining iconic national leader, and soon the situation became such that Nehru was able to implement many of his basic policies without hindrance. The conservative right - wing of the Congress ( composed of India 's upper class elites ) would continue opposing the socialists until the great schism in 1969. Nehru 's daughter, Indira Gandhi, was able to fulfill her father 's dream by the 42nd amendment ( 1976 ) of the Indian constitution by which India officially became `` socialist '' and `` secular ''. During Nehru 's second term as general secretary of the Congress, he proposed certain resolutions concerning the foreign policy of India. From that time onward, he was given carte blanche in framing the foreign policy of any future Indian nation. He developed good relations with governments all over the world. He firmly placed India on the side of democracy and freedom during a time when the world was under the threat of fascism. He was also given the responsibility of planning the economy of a future India. He appointed the National Planning Commission in 1938 to help in framing such policies. However, many of the plans framed by Nehru and his colleagues would come undone with the unexpected partition of India in 1947. Electoral politics Jawaharlal Nehru and Rabindranath Tagore Nehru 's visit to Europe in 1936 proved to be the watershed in his political and economic thinking. His real interest in Marxism and his socialist pattern of thought stem from that tour. His subsequent sojourns in prison enabled him to study Marxism in more depth. Interested in its ideas but repelled by some of its methods, he could never bring himself to accept Karl Marx 's writings as revealed scripture. Yet from then on, the yardstick of his economic thinking remained Marxist, adjusted, where necessary, to Indian conditions. When the Congress party under Nehru chose to contest elections and accept power under the Federation scheme, Gandhi resigned from party membership. Gandhi did not disagree with Nehru 's move, but felt that if he resigned, his popularity with Indians would cease to stifle the party 's membership. When the elections following the introduction of provincial autonomy ( under the government of India act 1935 ) brought the Congress party to power in a majority of the provinces, Nehru 's popularity and power were unmatched. The Muslim League under Muhammad Ali Jinnah ( who was to become the creator of Pakistan ) had fared badly at the polls. Nehru declared that the only two parties that mattered in India were the British Raj and Congress. Jinnah 's statements that the Muslim League was the third and `` equal partner '' within Indian politics was widely rejected. Nehru had hoped to elevate Maulana Azad as the pre-eminent leader of Indian Muslims, but in this, he was undermined by Gandhi, who continued to treat Jinnah as the voice of Indian Muslims. World war II and Quit India movement This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( November 2016 ) When World war II started, Viceroy Linlithgow had unilaterally declared India a belligerent on the side of the Britain, without consulting the elected Indian representatives. Nehru hurried back from a visit to China, announcing that, in a conflict between democracy and Fascism, `` our sympathies must inevitably be on the side of democracy... I should like India to play its full part and throw all her resources into the struggle for a new order. '' After much deliberation, the Congress under Nehru informed the government that it would co-operate with the British but on certain conditions. First, Britain must give an assurance of full independence for India after the war and allow the election of a constituent assembly to frame a new constitution ; second, although the Indian armed forces would remain under the British Commander - in - Chief, Indians must be included immediately in the central government and given a chance to share power and responsibility. When Nehru presented Lord Linlithgow with the demands, he chose to reject them. A deadlock was reached. `` The same old game is played again '', Nehru wrote bitterly to Gandhi, `` the background is the same, the various epithets are the same and the actors are the same and the results must be the same ''. On 23 October 1939, the Congress condemned the Viceroy 's attitude and called upon the Congress ministries in the various provinces to resign in protest. Before this crucial announcement, Nehru urged Jinnah and the Muslim League to join the protest but the latter declined. Pakistan resolution In March 1940 Jinnah passed what would come to be known as the `` Pakistan Resolution '', declaring `` Muslims are a nation according to any definition of a nation, and they must have their homelands, their territory and their State. '' This state was to be known as Pakistan, meaning `` Land of the Pure ''. Nehru angrily declared that `` all the old problems... pale into insignificance before the latest stand taken by the Muslim League leader in Lahore ''. Linlithgow made Nehru an offer on 8 October 1940. It stated that Dominion status for India was the objective of the British government. However, it referred neither to a date nor method of accomplishment. Only Jinnah got something more precise. `` The British would not contemplate transferring power to a Congress - dominated national government the authority of which was `` denied by large and powerful elements in India 's national life ''. In October 1940, Gandhi and Nehru, abandoning their original stand of supporting Britain, decided to launch a limited civil disobedience campaign in which leading advocates of Indian independence were selected to participate one by one. Nehru was arrested and sentenced to four years ' imprisonment. After spending a little more than a year in jail, he was released, along with other Congress prisoners, three days before the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Nehru and Jinnah walk together at Simla, 1946 Japan attacks India When the Japanese carried their attack through Burma ( now Myanmar ) to the borders of India in the spring of 1942, the British government, faced by this new military threat, decided to make some overtures to India, as Nehru had originally desired. Prime Minister Winston Churchill dispatched Sir Stafford Cripps, a member of the war Cabinet who was known to be politically close to Nehru and also knew Jinnah, with proposals for a settlement of the constitutional problem. As soon as he arrived he discovered that India was more deeply divided than he had imagined. Nehru, eager for a compromise, was hopeful. Gandhi was not. Jinnah had continued opposing the Congress. `` Pakistan is our only demand, and by God we will have it. '', declared the Muslim League newspaper `` Dawn ''. Cripps 's mission failed as Gandhi would accept nothing less than independence. Relations between Nehru and Gandhi cooled over the latter 's refusal to co-operate with Cripps, but the two later reconciled. On 15 January 1941, Gandhi had stated : Some say Pandit Nehru and I were estranged. It will require much more than difference of opinion to estrange us. We had differences from the time we became co-workers and yet I have said for some years and say so now that not Rajaji but Jawaharlal will be my successor. Gandhi called on the British to leave India ; Nehru, though reluctant to embarrass the allied war effort, had no alternative but to join Gandhi. Following the Quit India resolution passed by the Congress party in Bombay ( now Mumbai ) on 8 August 1942, the entire Congress working committee, including Gandhi and Nehru, was arrested and imprisoned. Nehru emerged from this -- his ninth and last detention -- only on 15 June 1945. During the period where all of the Congress leadership were in jail, the Muslim League under Jinnah grew in power. In April 1943, the League captured the governments of Bengal and, a month later, that of the North West Frontier Province. In none of these provinces had the League previously had a majority -- only the arrest of Congress members made it possible. With all the Muslim dominated provinces except the Punjab under Jinnah 's control, the artificial concept of a separate Muslim State was turning into a reality. However, by 1944, Jinnah 's power and prestige were on the wane. A general sympathy towards the jailed Congress leaders was developing among Muslims, and much of the blame for the disastrous Bengal famine of 1943 -- 44 during which two million died, had been laid on the shoulders of the province 's Muslim League government. The numbers at Jinnah 's meetings, once counted in thousands soon numbered only a few hundreds. In despair, Jinnah left the political scene for a stay in Kashmir. His prestige was restored unwittingly by Gandhi, who had been released from prison on medical grounds in May 1944 and had met Jinnah in Bombay in September. There he offered the Muslim leader a plebiscite in the Muslim areas after the war to see whether they wanted to separate from the rest of India. Essentially, it was an acceptance of the principle of Pakistan -- but not in so many words. Jinnah demanded that the exact words be said ; Gandhi refused and the talks broke down. Jinnah, however, had greatly strengthened his own position and that of the League. The most influential member of Congress had been seen to negotiate with him on equal terms. Other Muslim League leaders, opposed both to Jinnah and to the partition of India, lost strength. Indira Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi Prime Minister of India ( 1947 -- 64 ) Nehru signing the Indian Constitution c. 1950 Lord Mountbatten swears in Jawaharlal Nehru as the first Prime Minister of free India at the ceremony held at 8 : 30 am IST on 15 August 1947 Teen Murti Bhavan, Nehru 's residence as Prime Minister, now a museum in his memory. Nehru and his colleagues had been released as the 1946 Cabinet Mission to India arrived to propose plans for transfer of power. Once elected, Nehru headed an interim government, which was impaired by outbreaks of communal violence and political disorder, and the opposition of the Muslim League led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who were demanding a separate Muslim state of Pakistan. After failed bids to form coalitions, Nehru reluctantly supported the partition of India, according to a plan released by the British on 3 June 1947. He took office as the Prime Minister of India on 15 August, and delivered his inaugural address titled `` Tryst with Destiny ''. `` Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity. '' On 30 January 1948, Gandhi was shot while he was walking to a platform from which he was to address a prayer meeting. The assassin, Nathuram Godse, was a Hindu nationalist with links to the extremist Hindu Mahasabha, who held Gandhi responsible for weakening India by insisting upon a payment to Pakistan. Nehru addressed the nation through radio : Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives, and there is darkness everywhere, and I do not quite know what to tell you or how to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the father of the nation, is no more. Perhaps I am wrong to say that ; nevertheless, we will not see him again, as we have seen him for these many years, we will not run to him for advice or seek solace from him, and that is a terrible blow, not only for me, but for millions and millions in this country. President Harry Truman and Jawaharlal Nehru, with Nehru 's sister, Madame Pandit, during Nehru 's visit to the United States, October 1949 Yasmin Khan argued that Gandhi 's death and funeral helped consolidate the authority of the new Indian state under Nehru and Patel. The Congress tightly controlled the epic public displays of grief over a two - week period -- the funeral, mortuary rituals and distribution of the martyr 's ashes -- as millions participated and hundreds of millions watched. The goal was to assert the power of the government, legitimise the Congress party 's control and suppress all religious para-military groups. Nehru and Patel suppressed the RSS, the Muslim National Guards, and the Khaksars, with some 200,000 arrests. Gandhi 's death and funeral linked the distant state with the Indian people and made more understand the need to suppress religious parties during the transition to independence for the Indian people. In later years, there emerged a revisionist school of history which sought to blame Nehru for the partition of India, mostly referring to his highly centralised policies for an independent India in 1947, which Jinnah opposed in favour of a more decentralised India. Such views has been promoted by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP ), which favours a decentralised central government in India. In the years following independence, Nehru frequently turned to his daughter Indira to look after him and manage his personal affairs. Under his leadership, the Congress won an overwhelming majority in the elections of 1952. Indira moved into Nehru 's official residence to attend to him and became his constant companion in his travels across India and the world. Indira would virtually become Nehru 's chief of staff. Nehru had led the Congress to a major victory in the 1957 elections, but his government was facing rising problems and criticism. Disillusioned by alleged intra-party corruption and bickering, Nehru contemplated resigning but continued to serve. The election of his daughter Indira as Congress President in 1959 aroused criticism for alleged nepotism, although actually Nehru had disapproved of her election, partly because he considered it smacked of `` dynasticism '' ; he said, indeed it was `` wholly undemocratic and an undesirable thing '', and refused her a position in his cabinet. Indira herself was at loggerheads with her father over policy ; most notably, she used his oft - stated personal deference to the Congress Working Committee to push through the dismissal of the Communist Party of India government in the state of Kerala, over his own objections. Nehru began to be frequently embarrassed by her ruthlessness and disregard for parliamentary tradition, and was `` hurt '' by what he saw as an assertiveness with no purpose other than to stake out an identity independent of her father. In the 1962 elections, Nehru led the Congress to victory yet with a diminished majority. Communist and socialist parties were the main beneficiaries although some right wing groups like Bharatiya Jana Sangh also did well. Assassination attempts and Security There were four known assassination attempts on Nehru. The first attempt on his life was during partition in 1947 while he was visiting North - West Frontier Province ( now in Pakistan ) in a car. The second one was by a knife - wielding rickshaw - puller in Maharashtra in 1955. The third one happened in Bombay ( now Maharashtra ) in 1956. The fourth one was a failed bombing attempt on train tracks in Maharashtra in 1961. Despite threats to his life, Nehru despised having too much security around him and did not like to disrupt traffic due to his movement. Economic policies Nehru meeting with Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and Deutsche Bank chairman Hermann Josef Abs during a state visit to West Germany in June 1956. Nehru implemented policies based on import substitution industrialization and advocated a mixed economy where the government controlled public sector would co-exist with the private sector. He believed that the establishment of basic and heavy industry was fundamental to the development and modernisation of the Indian economy. The government, therefore, directed investment primarily into key public sector industries -- steel, iron, coal, and power -- promoting their development with subsidies and protectionist policies. The policy of non-alignment during the Cold War meant that Nehru received financial and technical support from both power blocs in building India 's industrial base from scratch. Steel mill complexes were built at Bokaro and Rourkela with assistance from the Soviet Union and West Germany. There was substantial industrial development. Industry grew 7.0 percent annually between 1950 and 1965 -- almost trebling industrial output and making India the world 's seventh largest industrial country. Nehru 's critics, however, contended that India 's import substitution industrialisation, which was continued long after the Nehru era, weakened the international competitiveness of its manufacturing industries. India 's share of world trade fell from 1.4 per cent in 1951 -- 1960 to 0.5 per cent over 1981 -- 1990. On the other hand, India 's export performance is argued to have actually showed sustained improvement over the period. The volume of exports went up at an annual rate of 2.9 per cent in 1951 -- 1960 to 7.6 per cent in 1971 -- 1980. GDP and GNP grew 3.9 and 4.0 per cent annually between 1950 -- 51 and 1964 -- 65. It was a radical break from the British colonial period. But, in comparison to other industrial powers in Europe and East Asia, the growth rates were considered anemic at best. India lagged behind the miracle economies ( Japan, West Germany, France, and Italy ). State planning, controls, and regulations were argued to have impaired economic growth. While India 's economy grew faster than both the United Kingdom and the United States -- low initial income and rapid population increase -- meant that growth was inadequate for any sort of catch - up with rich income nations. Agriculture policies Under Nehru 's leadership, the government attempted to develop India quickly by embarking on agrarian reform and rapid industrialisation. A successful land reform was introduced that abolished giant landholdings, but efforts to redistribute land by placing limits on landownership failed. Attempts to introduce large - scale cooperative farming were frustrated by landowning rural elites, who formed the core of the powerful right - wing of the Congress and had considerable political support in opposing the efforts of Nehru. Agricultural production expanded until the early 1960s, as additional land was brought under cultivation and some irrigation projects began to have an effect. The establishment of agricultural universities, modelled after land - grant colleges in the United States, contributed to the development of the economy. These universities worked with high - yielding varieties of wheat and rice, initially developed in Mexico and the Philippines, that in the 1960s began the Green Revolution, an effort to diversify and increase crop production. At the same time a series of failed monsoons would cause serious food shortages despite the steady progress and increase in agricultural production. Domestic policies Nehru 's study in Teen Murti Bhavan. ( From left to right ) : Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Nizam VII and Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri after Hyderabad 's accession to India See also : States Reorganisation Act, 1956 The British Indian Empire, which included present - day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, was divided into two types of territories : the Provinces of British India, which were governed directly by British officials responsible to the Governor - General of India ; and princely states, under the rule of local hereditary rulers who recognised British suzerainty in return for local autonomy, in most cases as established by treaty. Between 1947 and about 1950, the territories of the princely states were politically integrated into the Indian Union under Nehru and Sardar Patel. Most were merged into existing provinces ; others were organised into new provinces, such as Rajputana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Bharat, and Vindhya Pradesh, made up of multiple princely states ; a few, including Mysore, Hyderabad, Bhopal, and Bilaspur, became separate provinces. The Government of India Act, 1935 remained the constitutional law of India pending adoption of a new Constitution. The new Constitution of India, which came into force on 26 January 1950, made India a sovereign democratic republic. Nehru declared the new republic to be a `` Union of States ''. The constitution of 1950 distinguished between three main types of states : Part A states, which were the former governors ' provinces of British India, were ruled by an elected governor and state legislature. The Part B states were former princely states or groups of princely states, governed by a rajpramukh, who was usually the ruler of a constituent state, and an elected legislature. The rajpramukh was appointed by the President of India. The Part C states included both the former chief commissioners ' provinces and some princely states, and each was governed by a chief commissioner appointed by the President of India. The sole Part D state was the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which were administered by a lieutenant governor appointed by the central government. In December 1953, Nehru appointed the States Reorganisation Commission to prepare for the creation of states on linguistic lines. This was headed by Justice Fazal Ali and the commission itself was also known as the Fazal Ali Commission. The efforts of this commission were overseen by Govind Ballabh Pant, who served as Nehru 's Home Minister from December 1954. The commission created a report in 1955 recommending the reorganisation of India 's states. Under the Seventh Amendment, the existing distinction between Part A, Part B, Part C, and Part D states was abolished. The distinction between Part A and Part B states was removed, becoming known simply as `` states ''. A new type of entity, the union territory, replaced the classification as a Part C or Part D state. Nehru stressed commonality among Indians and promoted pan-Indianism. He refused to reorganise states on either religious or ethnic lines. Western scholars have mostly praised Nehru for the integration of the states into a modern republic but the act was not accepted universally in India. Social policies Nehru with schoolchildren at the Durgapur Steel Plant. Durgapur along with Rourkela and Bhilai were the three integrated steel plants set up under India 's Second Five - Year Plan in the late 1950s. Jawaharlal Nehru was a passionate advocate of education for India 's children and youth, believing it essential for India 's future progress. His government oversaw the establishment of many institutions of higher learning, including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the Indian Institutes of Technology, the Indian Institutes of Management and the National Institutes of Technology. Nehru also outlined a commitment in his five - year plans to guarantee free and compulsory primary education to all of India 's children. For this purpose, Nehru oversaw the creation of mass village enrollment programs and the construction of thousands of schools. Nehru also launched initiatives such as the provision of free milk and meals to children to fight malnutrition. Adult education centers, vocational and technical schools were also organised for adults, especially in the rural areas. Under Nehru, the Indian Parliament enacted many changes to Hindu law to criminalize caste discrimination and increase the legal rights and social freedoms of women. A system of reservations in government services and educational institutions was created to eradicate the social inequalities and disadvantages faced by peoples of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Nehru also championed secularism and religious harmony, increasing the representation of minorities in government. Nehru specifically wrote Article 44 of the Indian constitution under the Directive Principles of State Policy which states : ' The State shall endeavor to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India. ' The article has formed the basis of secularism in India. However, Nehru has been criticized for the inconsistent application of the law. Most notably, Nehru allowed Muslims to keep their personal law in matters relating to marriage and inheritance. Also in the small state of Goa, a civil code based on the old Portuguese Family Laws was allowed to continue, and Muslim Personal law was prohibited by Nehru. This was the result of the annexation of Goa in 1961 by India, when Nehru promised the people that their laws would be left intact. This has led to accusations of selective secularism. While Nehru exempted Muslim law from legislation and they remained unreformed, he did pass the Special Marriage Act in 1954. The idea behind this act was to give everyone in India the ability to marry outside the personal law under a civil marriage. As usual the law applied to all of India, except Jammu and Kashmir ( again leading to accusations of selective secularism ). In many respects, the act was almost identical to the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, which gives some idea as to how secularised the law regarding Hindus had become. The Special Marriage Act allowed Muslims to marry under it and thereby retain the protections, generally beneficial to Muslim women, that could not be found in the personal law. Under the act polygamy was illegal, and inheritance and succession would be governed by the Indian Succession Act, rather than the respective Muslim Personal Law. Divorce also would be governed by the secular law, and maintenance of a divorced wife would be along the lines set down in the civil law. Nehru led the faction of the Congress party which promoted Hindi as the lingua - franca of the Indian nation. After an exhaustive and divisive debate with the non-Hindi speakers, Hindi was adopted as the official language of India in 1950 with English continuing as an associate official language for a period of fifteen years, after which Hindi would become the sole official language. Efforts by the Indian Government to make Hindi the sole official language after 1965 were not acceptable to many non-Hindi Indian states, who wanted the continued use of English. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ( DMK ), a descendant of Dravidar Kazhagam, led the opposition to Hindi. To allay their fears, Nehru enacted the Official Languages Act in 1963 to ensure the continuing use of English beyond 1965. The text of the Act did not satisfy the DMK and increased their scepticism that his assurances might not be honoured by future administrations. The issue was resolved during the premiership of Lal Bahadur Shastri, who under great pressure from Nehru 's daughter, Indira Gandhi, was made to give assurances that English would continue to be used as the official language as long the non-Hindi speaking states wanted. The Official Languages Act was eventually amended in 1967 by the Congress Government headed by Indira Gandhi to guarantee the indefinite use of Hindi and English as official languages. This effectively ensured the current `` virtual indefinite policy of bilingualism '' of the Indian Republic. Foreign policies Nehru with Otto Grotewohl, the Prime Minister of East Germany Nehru with Girija Shankar Bajpai in the first meeting of Commonwealth Prime Ministers in 1948 in London. Further information : List of state visits made by Jawaharlal Nehru See also : India and the Non-Aligned Movement Nehru led newly independent India from 1947 to 1964, during its first years of independence from British rule. Both the United States and the Soviet Union competed to make India an ally throughout the Cold War. Nehru also maintained good relations with the British Empire. Under the London Declaration, India agreed that, when it became a republic in January 1950, it would join the Commonwealth of Nations and accept the British monarch as a `` symbol of the free association of its independent member nations and as such the Head of the Commonwealth. '' The other nations of the Commonwealth recognised India 's continuing membership of the association. The reaction back home was favourable ; only the far - left and the far - right criticised Nehru 's decision. On the international scene, Nehru was a champion of pacifism and a strong supporter of the United Nations. He pioneered the policy of non-alignment and co-founded the Non-Aligned Movement of nations professing neutrality between the rival blocs of nations led by the US and the USSR. Recognising the People 's Republic of China soon after its founding ( while most of the Western bloc continued relations with Taiwan ), Nehru argued for its inclusion in the United Nations and refused to brand the Chinese as the aggressors in their conflict with Korea. He sought to establish warm and friendly relations with China in 1950, and hoped to act as an intermediary to bridge the gulf and tensions between the communist states and the Western bloc. Nehru had promised in 1948 to hold a referendum in Kashmir under the auspices of the UN. Kashmir was a disputed territory between India and Pakistan, the two having gone to war with each other over the state in 1947. However, as Pakistan failed to pull back troops in accordance with the UN resolution and as Nehru grew increasingly wary of the UN, he declined to hold a plebiscite in 1953. His policies on Kashmir and the integration of the state into India was frequently defended in front of the United Nations by his aide, V.K. Krishna Menon, a brilliant diplomat who earned a reputation in India for his passionate speeches. Nehru receiving US President Dwight D. Eisenhower at Parliament House, 1959 Nehru, while a pacifist, was not blind to the political and geostrategic reality of India in 1947. While laying the foundation stone of the National Defence Academy in 1949, he stated : `` We, who for generations had talked about and attempted in everything a peaceful way and practised non-violence, should now be, in a sense, glorifying our army, navy and air force. It means a lot. Though it is odd, yet it simply reflects the oddness of life. Though life is logical, we have to face all contingencies, and unless we are prepared to face them, we will go under. There was no greater prince of peace and apostle of non-violence than Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, whom we have lost, but yet, he said it was better to take the sword than to surrender, fail or run away. We can not live carefree assuming that we are safe. Human nature is such. We can not take the risks and risk our hard - won freedom. We have to be prepared with all modern defense methods and a well - equipped army, navy and air force. '' Nehru envisioned the developing of nuclear weapons and established the Atomic Energy Commission of India in 1948. Nehru also called Dr. Homi J. Bhabha, a nuclear physicist, who was entrusted with complete authority over all nuclear - related affairs and programs and answered only to Nehru himself. Indian nuclear policy was set by unwritten personal understanding between Nehru and Bhabha. Nehru famously said to Bhabha, `` Professor Bhabha take care of Physics, leave international relation to me ''. From the outset in 1948, Nehru had high ambition to develop this program to stand against the industrialised states and the basis of this program was to establish an Indian nuclear weapons capability as part of India 's regional superiority to other South - Asian states, most particularly Pakistan. Nehru also told Bhabha, and later it was told by Bhabha to Raja Rammanna, that : `` We must have the capability. We should first prove ourselves and then talk of Gandhi, non-violence and a world without nuclear weapons. '' Nehru was hailed by many for working to defuse global tensions and the threat of nuclear weapons after the Korean War ( 1950 -- 1953 ). He commissioned the first study of the effects of nuclear explosions on human health, and campaigned ceaselessly for the abolition of what he called `` these frightful engines of destruction ''. He also had pragmatic reasons for promoting de-nuclearisation, fearing that a nuclear arms race would lead to over-militarisation that would be unaffordable for developing countries such as his own. Nehru ordered the arrest of the Kashmiri politician Sheikh Abdullah in 1953, whom he had previously supported but now suspected of harbouring separatist ambitions ; Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad replaced him. In 1954, Nehru signed with China the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, known in India as the Panchsheel ( from the Sanskrit words, panch : five, sheel : virtues ), a set of principles to govern relations between the two states. Their first formal codification in treaty form was in an agreement between China and India in 1954. They were enunciated in the preamble to the `` Agreement ( with exchange of notes ) on trade and intercourse between Tibet Region of China and India '', which was signed at Peking on 29 April 1954. Negotiations took place in Delhi from December 1953 to April 1954 between the Delegation of the PRC Government and the Delegation of the Indian Government on the relations between the two countries with respect to the disputed territories of Aksai Chin and South Tibet. By 1957, Chinese premier Zhou Enlai had also succeeded in persuading Nehru to accept the Chinese position on Tibet, thus depriving Tibet of a possible ally, and of the possibility of receiving military aid from India. The treaty was disregarded in the 1960s, but in the 1970s, the Five Principles again came to be seen as important in China -- India relations, and more generally as norms of relations between states. They became widely recognised and accepted throughout the region during the premiership of Indira Gandhi and the 3 - year rule of the Janata Party ( 1977 -- 1980 ). Although the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence were the basis of the 1954 Sino - Indian border treaty, in later years, Nehru 's foreign policy suffered from increasing Chinese assertiveness over border disputes and Nehru 's decision to grant asylum to the 14th Dalai Lama. In 1956, Nehru had criticised the joint invasion of the Suez Canal by the British, French and Israelis. The role of Nehru, both as Indian Prime Minister and a leader of the Non-Aligned Movement was significant ; he tried to be even - handed between the two sides, while denouncing Eden and co-sponsors of the invasion vigorously. Nehru had a powerful ally in the US president Dwight Eisenhower who, if relatively silent publicly, went to the extent of using America 's clout in the International Monetary Fund to make Britain and France back down. The episode greatly raised the prestige of Nehru and India among the third world nations. During the Suez crisis, Nehru 's right - hand man, Menon attempted to persuade a recalcitrant Gamal Nasser to compromise with the West, and was instrumental in moving Western powers towards an awareness that Nasser might prove willing to compromise. In 1957, Menon was instructed to deliver an unprecedented eight - hour speech defending India 's stand on Kashmir ; to date, the speech is the longest ever delivered in the United Nations Security Council, covering five hours of the 762nd meeting on 23 January, and two hours and forty - eight minutes on the 24th, reportedly concluding with Menon 's collapse on the Security Council floor. During the filibuster, Nehru moved swiftly and successfully to consolidate Indian power in Kashmir ( then under great unrest ). Menon 's passionate defence of Indian sovereignty in Kashmir enlarged his base of support in India, and led to the Indian press temporarily dubbing him the `` Hero of Kashmir ''. Nehru was then at the peak of his popularity in India ; the only ( minor ) criticism came from the far - right. The US had hoped to court Nehru after its intervention in favour of Nasser during the Suez crisis. However, Cold War suspicions and the American distrust of Nehruvian socialism cooled relations between India and the US, which suspected Nehru of tacitly supporting the Soviet Union. Nehru maintained good relations with Britain even after the Suez Crisis. Nehru accepted the arbitration of the UK and World Bank, signing the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960 with Pakistani ruler Ayub Khan to resolve long - standing disputes about sharing the resources of the major rivers of the Punjab region. After years of failed negotiations, Nehru authorised the Indian Army to invade Portuguese controlled Goa in 1961, and then he formally annexed it to India. It increased his popularity in India, but he was criticised by the communist opposition in India for the use of military force. The use of military force against Portugal earned him goodwill among the right - wing and far - right groups. Dag Hammarskjöld, the second Secretary - General of the United Nations, opined his comparison of Nehru and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai to Alexander Grantham, saying that while Nehru was superior from a moral point of view, Zhou Enlai was more skilled in realpolitik. Sino - Indian war of 1962 Prime Minister Nehru talks with United Nations General Assembly President Romulo ( October 1949 ). From 1959, in a process that accelerated in 1961, Nehru adopted the `` Forward Policy '' of setting up military outposts in disputed areas of the Sino - Indian border, including in 43 outposts in territory not previously controlled by India. China attacked some of these outposts, and thus the Sino - Indian War began, which India lost, and China withdrew to pre-war lines in eastern zone at Tawang but retained Aksai Chin which was within British India and was handed over to India after independence. Later, Pakistan handed over some portion of Kashmir near Siachen controlled by Pakistan since 1948 to China. The war exposed the unpreparedness of India 's military which could send only 14,000 troops to the war zone in opposition to the many times larger Chinese army, and Nehru was widely criticised for his government 's insufficient attention to defence. In response, Nehru sacked the defence minister V.K. Krishna Menon and sought US military aid. Nehru 's improved relations with the US under John F. Kennedy proved useful during the war, as in 1962, President of Pakistan ( then closely aligned with the Americans ) Ayub Khan was made to guarantee his neutrality in regards to India, who was threatened by `` communist aggression from Red China ''. The Indian relationship with the Soviet Union, criticised by right - wing groups supporting free - market policies was also seemingly validated. Nehru would continue to maintain his commitment to the non-aligned movement despite calls from some to settle down on one permanent ally. The aftermath of the war saw sweeping changes in the Indian military to prepare it for similar conflicts in the future, and placed pressure on Nehru, who was seen as responsible for failing to anticipate the Chinese attack on India. Under American advice ( by American envoy John Kenneth Galbraith who made and ran American policy on the war as all other top policy makers in the US were absorbed in coincident Cuban Missile Crisis ) Nehru refrained, not according to the best choices available, from using the Indian air force to beat back the Chinese advances. The CIA later revealed that at that time the Chinese had neither the fuel nor runways long enough for using their air force effectively in Tibet. Indians, in general, became highly sceptical of China and its military. Many Indians view the war as a betrayal of India 's attempts at establishing a long - standing peace with China and started to question Nehru 's usage of the term `` Hindi - Chini bhai - bhai '' ( meaning `` Indians and Chinese are brothers '' ). The war also put an end to Nehru 's earlier hopes that India and China would form a strong Asian Axis to counteract the increasing influence of the Cold War bloc superpowers. The unpreparedness of the army was blamed on Defence Minister Menon, who `` resigned '' his government post to allow for someone who might modernise India 's military further. India 's policy of weaponisation via indigenous sources and self - sufficiency began in earnest under Nehru, completed by his daughter Indira Gandhi, who later led India to a crushing military victory over rival Pakistan in 1971. Toward the end of the war India had increased her support for Tibetan refugees and revolutionaries, some of them having settled in India, as they were fighting the same common enemy in the region. Nehru ordered the raising of an elite Indian - trained `` Tibetan Armed Force '' composed of Tibetan refugees, which served with distinction in future wars against Pakistan in 1965 and 1971. During the conflict, Nehru wrote two desperate letters to US President John F. Kennedy, requesting 12 squadrons of fighter jets and a modern radar system. These jets were seen as necessary to beef up Indian air strength so that air - to - air combat could be initiated safely from the Indian perspective ( bombing troops was seen as unwise for fear of Chinese retaliatory action ). Nehru also asked that these aircraft be manned by American pilots until Indian airmen were trained to replace them. These requests were rejected by the Kennedy Administration ( which was involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis during most of the Sino - Indian War ), leading to a cool down in Indo - US relations. According to former Indian diplomat G Parthasarathy, `` only after we got nothing from the US did arms supplies from the Soviet Union to India commence ''. Per Time Magazine 's 1962 editorial on the war, however, this may not have been the case. The editorial states, ' When Washington finally turned its attention to India, it honoured the ambassador 's pledge, loaded 60 US planes with $5,000,000 worth of automatic weapons, heavy mortars and land mines. Twelve huge C - 130 Hercules transports, complete with US crews and maintenance teams, took off for New Delhi to fly Indian troops and equipment to the battle zone. Britain weighed in with Bren and Sten guns, and airlifted 150 tons of arms to India. Canada prepared to ship six transport planes. Australia opened Indian credits for $1,800,000 worth of munitions '. Death `` if any people choose to think of me, then I should like them to say : ' This was the man who, with all his mind and heart, loved India and the Indian people. And they, in turn, were indulgent to him and gave him of their love most abundantly and extravagantly. ' '' - Jawaharlal Nehru, Nehru 's health began declining steadily after 1962, and he spent months recuperating in Kashmir through 1963. Some historians attribute this dramatic decline to his surprise and chagrin over the Sino - Indian War, which he perceived as a betrayal of trust. Upon his return from Dehradun on 26 May 1964 he was feeling quite comfortable and went to bed at about 23 : 30 as usual, he had a restful night till about 06 : 30 soon after he returned from bathroom, Nehru complained of pain in the back. He spoke to the doctors who attended on him for a brief while and almost immediately Nehru collapsed. He remained unconscious until he died. His death was announced to Lok Sabha at 14 : 00 local time on 27 May 1964 ( same day ) ; cause of death is believed to be heart attack. Draped in the Indian national Tri-colour flag the body of Jawaharlal Nehru was placed for public viewing. `` Raghupati Raghava Rajaram '' was chanted as the body was placed on the platform. On 28 May, Nehru was cremated in accordance with Hindu rites at the Shantivan on the banks of the Yamuna, witnessed by 1.5 million mourners who had flocked into the streets of Delhi and the cremation grounds. Nehru, the man and politician made such a powerful imprint on India that his death on 27 May 1964, left India with no clear political heir to his leadership ( later Lal Bahadur Shastri succeeded him as the Prime Minister ). The death was announced to the Indian parliament in words similar to Nehru 's own at the time of Gandhi 's assassination : `` The light is out. '' Religion Described as Hindu Agnostic, and styling himself as a `` scientific humanist '', Nehru thought that religious taboos were preventing India from going forward and adapting to modern conditions : `` No country or people who are slaves to dogma and dogmatic mentality can progress, and unhappily our country and people have become extraordinarily dogmatic and little - minded. '' The spectacle of what is called religion, or at any rate organised religion, in India and elsewhere, has filled me with horror and I have frequently condemned it and wished to make a clean sweep of it. Almost always it seemed to stand for blind belief and reaction, dogma and bigotry, superstition, exploitation and the preservation of vested interests. -- Toward Freedom : The Autobiography of Jawaharlal Nehru ( 1936 ) ; pp. 240 -- 241. In his autobiography, he analysed Christianity and Islam, and their impact on India. He wanted to model India as a secular country ; his secularist policies remain a subject of debate. Personal life Nehru with Edwina Mountbatten Nehru married Kamala Kaul in 1916. Their only daughter Indira was born a year later in 1917. Kamala gave birth to a boy in November 1924, but he lived for only a week. Indira married Feroze Gandhi in 1942. They had two sons -- Rajiv ( b. 1944 ) and Sanjay ( b. 1946 ). Nehru was alleged to have had relationships with Shraddha Mata, Padmaja Naidu and Edwina Mountbatten. Edwina 's daughter Pamela acknowledged Nehru 's platonic relationship with Edwina. Nehru 's sister, Vijayalaxmi Pandit told Pupul Jayakar, Indira Gandhi 's friend and biographer, that Padmaja Naidu and Nehru lived together for many years. Legacy `` Nehru was a great man... Nehru gave to Indians an image of themselves that I do n't think others might have succeeded in doing. '' -- Sir Isaiah Berlin Statue of Nehru at Park Street, Kolkata Bust of Nehru at Aldwych, London As India 's first Prime minister and external affairs minister, Jawaharlal Nehru played a major role in shaping modern India 's government and political culture along with sound foreign policy. He is praised for creating a system providing universal primary education, reaching children in the farthest corners of rural India. Nehru 's education policy is also credited for the development of world - class educational institutions such as the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Indian Institutes of Technology, and the Indian Institutes of Management. In addition, Nehru 's stance as an unfailing nationalist led him to also implement policies which stressed commonality among Indians while still appreciating regional diversities. This proved particularly important as post-Independence differences surfaced since British withdrawal from the subcontinent prompted regional leaders to no longer relate to one another as allies against a common adversary. While differences of culture and, especially, language threatened the unity of the new nation, Nehru established programs such as the National Book Trust and the National Literary Academy which promoted the translation of regional literatures between languages and also organised the transfer of materials between regions. In pursuit of a single, unified India, Nehru warned, `` Integrate or perish. '' Historian Ramachandra Guha writes, `` ( had ) Nehru retired in 1958 he would be remembered as not just India 's best prime minister, but as one of the great statesmen of the modern world. '' Nehru, thus, left behind a disputed legacy, being `` either adored or reviled for India 's progress or lack of it ''. Commemoration Nehru distributes sweets among children at Nongpoh, Meghalaya Jawaharlal Nehru on a 1989 USSR commemorative stamp In his lifetime, Jawaharlal Nehru enjoyed an iconic status in India and was widely admired across the world for his idealism and statesmanship. His birthday, 14 November is celebrated in India as Bal Divas ( `` Children 's Day '' ) in recognition of his lifelong passion and work for the welfare, education and development of children and young people. Children across India remember him as Chacha Nehru ( Uncle Nehru ). Nehru remains a popular symbol of the Congress Party which frequently celebrates his memory. Congress leaders and activists often emulate his style of clothing, especially the Gandhi cap and the `` Nehru jacket '', and his mannerisms. Nehru 's ideals and policies continue to shape the Congress Party 's manifesto and core political philosophy. An emotional attachment to his legacy was instrumental in the rise of his daughter Indira to leadership of the Congress Party and the national government. Nehru 's personal preference for the sherwani ensured that it continues to be considered formal wear in North India today ; aside from lending his name to a kind of cap, the Nehru jacket is named in his honour because of his preference for that style. Numerous public institutions and memorials across India are dedicated to Nehru 's memory. The Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi is among the most prestigious universities in India. The Jawaharlal Nehru Port near the city of Mumbai is a modern port and dock designed to handle a huge cargo and traffic load. Nehru 's residence in Delhi is preserved as the Teen Murti House now has Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, and one of five Nehru Planetariums that were set in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Allahabad and Pune. The complex also houses the offices of the ' Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund ', established in 1964 under the Chairmanship of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, then President of India. The foundation also gives away the prestigious ' Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fellowship ', established in 1968. The Nehru family homes at Anand Bhavan and Swaraj Bhavan are also preserved to commemorate Nehru and his family 's legacy. In popular culture Many documentaries about Nehru 's life have been produced. He has also been portrayed in fictionalised films. The canonical performance is probably that of Roshan Seth, who played him three times : in Richard Attenborough 's 1982 film Gandhi, Shyam Benegal 's 1988 television series Bharat Ek Khoj, based on Nehru 's The Discovery of India, and in a 2007 TV film entitled The Last Days of the Raj. In Ketan Mehta 's film Sardar, Nehru was portrayed by Benjamin Gilani. Girish Karnad 's historical play, Tughlaq ( 1962 ) is an allegory about the Nehruvian era. It was staged by Ebrahim Alkazi with National School of Drama Repertory at Purana Qila, Delhi in the 1970s and later at the Festival of India, London in 1982. Writings Nehru was a prolific writer in English and wrote a number of books, such as The Discovery of India, Glimpses of World History, and his autobiography, Toward Freedom. He had written 30 letters to his daughter Indira Gandhi, when she was 10 years old and was in a boarding school in Mussoorie, teaching about natural history and the story of civilisations. The collection of these letters was later published as a book Letters from a Father to His Daughter. Awards In 1955, Nehru was awarded Bharat Ratna, India 's highest civilian honour. See also Biography portal Politics portal India portal List of political families Scientific temper, a system of scientific thinking introduced by Nehru References Jump up ^ `` Nehru ''. Random House Webster 's Unabridged Dictionary. Jump up ^ `` Indian National Congress ''. inc.in. Jump up ^ `` Nation pays tribute to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on his 124th birth anniversary Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis ''. dna. 2013 - 11 - 14. Retrieved 2017 - 05 - 18. Jump up ^ Moraes 2008, p. 4. Jump up ^ Zakaria, Rafiq A Study of Nehru, Times of India Press, 1960, p. 22 Jump up ^ Moraes 2008. Jump up ^ Bonnie G. Smith ; The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History. Oxford University Press. 2008. ISBN 978 - 0195148909. pp. 406 -- 407. Jump up ^ Moraes 2008, p. 22. ^ Jump up to : Om Prakash Misra ; Economic Thought of Gandhi and Nehru : A Comparative Analysis. M.D. Publications. 1995. ISBN 978 - 8185880716. pp. 49 -- 65. Jump up ^ Moraes 2008, p. 23. ^ Jump up to : Bal Ram Nanda ; The Nehrus. Oxford University Press. 1962. ISBN 978 - 0195693430. p. 65. Jump up ^ Moraes 2008, p. 36. Jump up ^ Moraes 2008, p. 43. ^ Jump up to : Sen, Z.K.C., 1964. Jawaharlal Nehru. Civilisations, pp. 25 -- 39 Jump up ^ Moraes 2008, p. 47. Jump up ^ Moraes 2008, p. 37. ^ Jump up to : Ghose 1993, p. 25. Jump up ^ Moraes 2008, p. 49. ^ Jump up to : Moraes 2008, p. 50. Jump up ^ In Jawaharlal Nehru 's autobiography, An Autobiography ( 1936 ) p. 33. Jump up ^ Moraes 2008, p. 52. Jump up ^ Moraes 2008, p. 53. Jump up ^ Ghose 1993, p. 26. Jump up ^ Nehru, Jawaharlal Glimpses of world history : being further letters to his daughter ( Lindsay Drummond Ltd., 1949 ), p. 94 Jump up ^ Moraes 2008, p. 56. ^ Jump up to : Moraes 2008, p. 55. Jump up ^ `` Jawaharlal Nehru -- a chronological account ''. Retrieved 23 June 2012. Jump up ^ Moraes 2008, p. 115. Jump up ^ Moraes 2008, p. 77. ^ Jump up to : Moraes 2008, p. 266. Jump up ^ Copland, Ian ( 1997 ), The Princes of India in the Endgame of Empire, 1917 -- 1947, Cambridge, England : Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0 - 521 - 57179 - 0 p. 258. Jump up ^ Lumby, E.W.R. ( 1954 ), The Transfer of Power in India, 1945 -- 1947, London : George Allen and Unwin p. 228 Jump up ^ Dutt, R.C. ( 1981 ). Socialism of Jawaharlal Nehru. New Delhi : Shakti Malik, Abhinav Publications. pp. 54 -- 55. Retrieved 8 September 2017. Jump up ^ Rajmohan Gandhi, Patel : A Life, p. 171, ASIN : B0006EYQ0A Jump up ^ `` Declaration of independence ''. Archived from the original on 17 May 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2012. Jump up ^ Gandhi, Gopalkrishna. `` The Great Dandi March -- eighty years after '', The Hindu, 5 April 2010 Jump up ^ Fisher, Margaret W. ( June 1967 ). `` India 's Jawaharlal Nehru '' p. 368. Jump up ^ Johnson, Richard L. ( 2005 ). Gandhi 's Experiments With Truth : Essential Writings By And About Mahatma Gandhi, Lexington Books, ISBN 0739111426 p. 37 Jump up ^ Moraes 2008, p. 196. Jump up ^ Moraes 2008, p. 234 - 238. Jump up ^ `` THE CONSTITUTION ( AMENDMENT ) ''. indiacode.nic.in. Retrieved 2017 - 05 - 18. Jump up ^ Moraes 2008, p. 129. Jump up ^ `` 3rd Five Year Plan ( Chapter 1 ) ''. Government of India. Retrieved 16 June 2012. Jump up ^ Science & culture, Volume 30. Indian Science News Association. 1964. Jump up ^ Wikisource : A Tryst With Destiny Jump up ^ Janak Raj Jai ( 1996 ). 1947 -- 1980. Regency Publications. pp. 45 -- 47. ISBN 978 - 81 - 86030 - 23 - 3. Jump up ^ Nehru 's address on Gandhi 's death. Retrieved 15 March 2007. Jump up ^ Yasmin Khan ( 2011 Jump up ^ Thapar, Karan ( 17 August 2009 ). `` Gandhi, Jinnah both failed : Jaswant ''. ibnlive.in.com. Jump up ^ `` After Advani, Jaswant turns Jinnah admirer ''. The Economic Times. India. 17 August 2009. Jump up ^ `` Walk The Talk with Jaswant Singh ''. Retrieved 23 August 2009. Jump up ^ Jawaharlal Nehru as they knew him - a collage of stories ^ Jump up to : Frank, Katherine ( 2002 ). Indira : The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi. Houghton Mifflin Books. p. 250. ISBN 0 - 395 - 73097 - X. Jump up ^ Marlay, Ross ; Clark D. Neher ( 1999 ). Patriots and Tyrants : Ten Asian Leaders. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 368. ISBN 0 - 8476 - 8442 - 3. Jump up ^ Mathai ( 1978 ). Reminiscences of the Nehru Age. Jump up ^ `` Assassination Attempt on Nehru Made in Car ''. Gettysburg Times. 22 March 1955. Jump up ^ `` Rickshaw Boy Arrested for Nehru Attack ''. Sarasota Herald Tribune. 14 March 1955. Jump up ^ `` Rickshaw Boy Arrested for Attempting to Kill Nehru ''. The Victoria Advocate. 14 March 1955. Jump up ^ `` Knife Wielder Jumps on Car of Indian Premier ''. The Telegraph. 12 March 1955. Jump up ^ `` Nehru 's Assassination is Balked in Bombay ''. The Miami News. 4 June 1956. Jump up ^ `` Police Say Nehru 's Assassination Plot is Thwarted ''. Altus Times - Democrat. 4 June 1956. Jump up ^ `` Bombay Police Thwart Attempt on Nehru 's Life ''. Oxnard Press - Courier. 4 June 1956. Jump up ^ `` Bomb Explodes on Nehru 's Route ''. Toledo Blade. 30 September 1961. Jump up ^ Mathai, M.O. ( 1979 ). My Days with Nehru. Vikas Publishing House. Jump up ^ Ghose 1993, p. 243. Jump up ^ Kopstein 2005, p. 364. ^ Jump up to : Walsh, Judith E. ( 2006 ). A Brief History of India. Infobase Publishing. p. 190. ISBN 978 - 1438108254. Jump up ^ Yokokawa, Nobuharu ; Jayati Ghosh ; Bob Rowthorn ( 2013 ). Industrialization of China and India : Their Impacts on the World Economy. Routledge. p. 213. ISBN 978 - 1134093878. ^ Jump up to : Grabowski, Richard ; Sharmistha Self ; Michael P. Shields ( 2007 ). Economic Development : A Regional, Institutional, And Historical Approach. M.E. Sharpe. p. 161. ISBN 978 - 1134093878. Jump up ^ Shand, R. Richard Tregurtha ; K.P. Kalirajan ; Ulaganathan Sankar ( 2003 ). Economic Reform and the Liberalisation of the Indian Economy : Essays in Honour of Richard T. Shand ; papers Presented at a Major Conference on Second Generation Reforms in Chennai from 8 -- 10 December 1999. Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 39. ISBN 978 - 1781959435. Jump up ^ Thakur, Anil Khumar ; Debes Mukhopadhayay ( 2010 ). Economic Philosophy of Jawaharlal Nehru. Deep and Deep Publications. p. 14. ISBN 978 - 8184502725. Jump up ^ Chandra, Bipan ; Aditya Mukherjee ; Mridula Mukherjee ( 2008 ). India Since Independence. Penguin Books India. p. 449. ISBN 978 - 0143104094. Jump up ^ Kapila, Uma ( 2009 ). Indian Economic Developments Since 1947 ( 3Rd Ed. ). Academic Foundation. p. 132. ISBN 978 - 8171887118. ^ Jump up to : Kapila, Uma ( 2009 ). Indian Economic Developments Since 1947 ( 3Rd Ed. ). Academic Foundation. p. 66. ISBN 978 - 8171887118. ^ Jump up to : Giersch, Herbert ; Karl - Heinz Paqué ; Holger Schmieding ( 1994 ). The Fading Miracle : Four Decades of Market Economy in Germany. Cambridge University Press. p. 4. ISBN 978 - 0521358699. Jump up ^ Kopstein 2005, p. 366. Jump up ^ Parker, Randall E. ; Robert M. Whaples ( 2013 ). The Routledge Handbook of Major Events in Economic History. Routledge. p. 306. ISBN 978 - 0415677035. Jump up ^ Farmer, B.H. ( 1993 ). An Introduction to South Asia. Routledge. p. 120. ISBN 0 - 415 - 05695 - 0. Jump up ^ Som, Reba ( February 1994 ). `` Jawaharlal Nehru and the Hindu Code : A Victory of Symbol over Substance ? ''. Modern Asian Studies. 28 ( 1 ) : 165 -- 194. doi : 10.1017 / S0026749X00011732. JSTOR 312925. Jump up ^ Basu, Srimati ( 2005 ). She Comes to Take Her Rights : Indian Women, Property, and Propriety. SUNY Press. p. 3. ISBN 81 - 86706 - 49 - 6. The Hindu Code Bill was visualised by Ambedkar and Nehru as the flagship of modernisation and a radical revision of Hindu law... it is widely regarded as dramatic benchmark legislation giving Hindu women equitable if not superior entitlements as legal subjects. Jump up ^ Kulke, Hermann ; Dietmar Rothermund ( 2004 ). A History of India. Routledge. p. 328. ISBN 0 - 415 - 32919 - 1. One subject that particularly interested Nehru was the reform of Hindu law, particularly with regard to the rights of Hindu women... Jump up ^ Forbes, Geraldine ; Geraldine Hancock Forbes ; Gordon Johnson ( 1999 ). Women in Modern India. Cambridge University Press. p. 115. ISBN 0 - 521 - 65377 - 0. It is our birthright to demand equitable adjustment of Hindu law... Jump up ^ Erckel, Sebastian ( 2011 ). India and the European Union -- Two Models of Integration, GRIN Verlag, ISBN 365601048X, p. 128 Jump up ^ Robert Sherrod ( 19 January 1963 ). `` Nehru : The Great Awakening ''. The Saturday Evening Post. 236 ( 2 ) : 60 -- 67. Jump up ^ Indian Express, 6 October 1949 at Pune at the time of lying of the foundation stone of National Defence Academy. Jump up ^ Mahatma Gandhi 's relevant quotes, `` My non-violence does not admit of running away from danger and leaving dear ones unprotected. Between violence and cowardly flight, I can only prefer violence to cowardice. Non-violence is the summit of bravery. '' `` I do believe that, where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence. '' `` I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honour than that she should in a cowardly manner become or remain a helpless witness to her own dishonour. '' -- All Men Are Brothers Life and Thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi as told in his own words. UNESCO. pp. 85 -- 108. ^ Jump up to : Sublet, Carrie. `` Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha ''. Nuclearweaponarchive.org. Retrieved 8 August 2011. Jump up ^ Bhatia, Vinod ( 1989 ). Jawaharlal Nehru, as Scholars of Socialist Countries See Him. Panchsheel Publishers. p. 131. Jump up ^ Dua, B.D. ; James Manor ( 1994 ). Nehru to the Nineties : The Changing Office of Prime Minister in India. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. pp. 141, 261. ISBN 1 - 85065 - 180 - 9. Jump up ^ Li, Jianglin ; 1956 -, 李江 琳, ( 2016 ). Tibet in agony : Lhasa 1959. Wilf, Susan,. Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press. pp. 40 -- 41. ISBN 9780674088894. OCLC 946579956. Jump up ^ The full text of this agreement ( which entered into force on 3 June 1954 ) : `` Treaties and international agreements registered or filed and recorded with the Secretariat of the United Nations '' ( PDF ). United Nations Treaty Series. New York : United Nations. 1958. pp. 57 -- 81. Retrieved 14 August 2012. Jump up ^ `` A short history of long speeches ''. BBC News. 25 September 2009. Jump up ^ Majid, Amir A. ( 2007 ). `` Can Self Determination Solve the Kashmir Dispute ? '' ( PDF ). Romanian Journal of European Affairs. 7 ( 3 ) : 38. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 16 March 2012. Jump up ^ Grantham, Alexander ( 2012 ). Via ports : from Hong Kong to Hong Kong ( New ed. ). Hong Kong : Hong Kong University Press. p. 184. ISBN 9789888083855. Jump up ^ Noorani, A.G. `` Perseverance in peace process '', Frontline, 29 August 2003. Jump up ^ `` Asia : Ending the Suspense ''. Time. 17 September 1965. Jump up ^ `` China 's Decision for War with India in 1962 by John W. Garver '' ( PDF ). Web.archive.org. 26 March 2009. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 26 March 2009. Retrieved 14 August 2012. Jump up ^ Gangdruk, Chushi. `` Chushi Gangdruk : History Archived 17 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine. '', ChushiGangdruk.Org Jump up ^ `` Jawaharlal Nehru pleaded for US help against China in 1962 ''. The Times of India. 16 November 2010. Jump up ^ `` India : Never Again the Same ''. Time. 30 November 1962. Jump up ^ Special Correspondent ( 1964 - 05 - 28 ). `` Jawaharlal Nehru : The Maker of Modern India ''. The Age Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved 2017 - 03 - 29. ^ Jump up to : `` ' A Man Who, with All His Mind and Heart, Loved India ' ''. Life Magazine. Time Inc. 1964 - 06 - 05. p. 32. Jump up ^ Dasgupta, Alaka Shankar ; line sketches by Sujasha ( 1986 ). Indira Priyadarshini. New Delhi : Children 's Book. pp. 80 -- 81. ISBN 9788170113577. Retrieved 5 October 2017. Jump up ^ Asia Society ( 1988 ). `` '' Jawaharlal Nehru `` ''. In Embree, Ainslie T. Encyclopedia of Asian History. 3. New York : Charles Scribner 's Sons. pp. 98 -- 100. ISBN 0 - 684 - 18899 - 6. CS1 maint : Uses authors parameter ( link ) Jump up ^ BBC ON THIS DAY 27 1964 : Light goes out in India as Nehru dies. BBC News. Retrieved 17 March 2011. Jump up ^ Times, Thomas F. Brady ; Special To The New York ( 1964 - 05 - 29 ). `` 1.5 MILLION VIEW RITES FOR NEHRU ''. The New York Times. ISSN 0362 - 4331. Retrieved 2017 - 05 - 18. Jump up ^ `` India Mourning Nehru, 74, Dead of a Heart Attack ; World Leaders Honor Him ''. www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2017 - 03 - 28. Jump up ^ Sarvepalii Gopal. Jawaharlal Nehru : A Biography, Volume 3 ; Volumes 1956 -- 1964. p. 17. Jump up ^ Jump up ^ `` Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru ( 1889 -- 1964 ) ''. Humanism.org.uk. Retrieved 14 August 2012. Jump up ^ Thursby, Gene R. ( 1975 - 01 - 01 ). Hindu - Muslim Relations in British India : A Study of Controversy, Conflict, and Communal Movements in Northern India 1923 - 1928. BRILL. p. 1. ISBN 9004043802. Jump up ^ A.A. Parvathy ( 1994 ). Secularism and Hindutva, a Discursive Study. p. 42. Jump up ^ Mohammad Jamil Akhtar. Babri Masjid : a tale untold. p. 359. Jump up ^ Ram Puniyani ( 1999 ). Communal Threat to Secular Democracy. p. 113. Jump up ^ Sankar Ghose ( 1993 ). Jawaharlal Nehru, a Biography. p. 210. Jump up ^ `` From years 1916 to 1964... The man and the times ''. The Windsor Star. 27 May 1964. Retrieved 19 January 2013. Jump up ^ Reddy, Sheela ( 23 February 2004 ). `` If I Were n't A Sanyasin, He Would Have Married Me ''. Outlook. Outlook. Retrieved 6 August 2015. Jump up ^ Srinivasan, Rajeev. `` The Rediff Interview / Stanley Wolpert ' I have tried to tell Nehru 's story as honestly as possible ' ''. The Rediff Interview. Rediff. Rediff. Retrieved 6 August 2015. Jump up ^ Wolpert, Stanley ( 1996 ). Nehru : A Tryst with Destiny. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 6 August 2015. Jump up ^ `` Nehru - Edwina were in love : Edwina 's daughter ''. The Indian Express. 15 July 2007. Retrieved 21 May 2010. Jump up ^ `` Love, longing & politics ! ''. The Times of India. 21 April 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2012. Jump up ^ Jayakar, Pupul ( 1995 ). Indira Gandhi, a biography ( Rev. ed. ). New Delhi, India : Penguin. pp. 90 -- 92. ISBN 978 - 0140114621. Jump up ^ Bose, Mihir ( 2004 ). Raj, secrets, revolution : a life of Subhas Chandra Bose. Norwich : Grice Chapman. pp. 137, 160. ISBN 9780954572648. Jump up ^ Jahanbegloo, Ramin Conversations with Isaiah Berlin ( London 2000 ), ISBN 1842121642 pp. 201 -- 202 Jump up ^ Universal primary education first on the Prime Minster 's agenda. Pucl.org ( 15 August 1947 ). Retrieved on 2013 - 12 - 06. Jump up ^ `` Introduction ''. AIIMS. Archived from the original on 25 June 2014. Jump up ^ `` Institute History ''. Archived from the original on 13 August 2007., Indian Institute of Technology Jump up ^ Harrison, Selig S. ( July 1956 ). `` The Challenge to Indian Nationalism ''. Foreign Affairs. 34 ( 2 ) : 620 -- 636. doi : 10.2307 / 20031191. Jump up ^ Ramachandra Guha ( 26 September 2012 ). `` Manmohan Singh at 80 ''. BBC. Jump up ^ `` A legacy that Nehru left behind ''. Times of India. 27 May 2005. Jump up ^ History Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, Official website. Jump up ^ The Last Days of the Raj ( 2007 ) ( TV ). imdb.com Jump up ^ `` Jawaharlal Nehru Biography - Childhood, Facts & Achievements of India 's First Prime Minister ''. Retrieved 2017 - 08 - 25. Jump up ^ AWARDS : The multi-faceted playwright Frontline, Vol. 16, No. 3, 30 January -- 12 February 1999. Jump up ^ Sachindananda ( 2006 ). `` Girish Karnad ''. Authors speak. Sahitya Akademi. p. 58. ISBN 81 - 260 - 1945 - X. Jump up ^ Balakrishnan, Anima ( 4 August 2006 ). `` The Hindu : Young World : From dad with love : ''. Chennai, India : The Hindu. Retrieved 31 October 2008. Jump up ^ `` Padma Awards Directory ( 1954 -- 2007 ) '' ( PDF ). Ministry of Home affairs. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 10 April 2009. Retrieved 26 November 2010. Further reading Frank Moraes ( 2008 ). Jawaharlal Nehru. Jaico Publishing House. ISBN 978 - 8179926956. Sankar Ghose ( 1993 ). Jawaharlal Nehru. Allied Publishers. ISBN 978 - 8170233695. Jeffrey Kopstein ( 2005 ). Comparative Politics : Interests, Identities, and Institutions in a Changing Global Order. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978 - 1139446044. A Tryst With Destiny historic speech made by Jawaharlal Nehru on 14 August 1947 Nehru : The Invention of India by Shashi Tharoor ( November 2003 ) Arcade Books ISBN 1 - 55970 - 697 - X Jawaharlal Nehru ( Edited by S. Gopal and Uma Iyengar ) ( July 2003 ) The Essential Writings of Jawaharlal Nehru Oxford University Press ISBN 0 - 19 - 565324 - 6 Autobiography : Toward freedom, Oxford University Press Jawaharlal Nehru : Life and work by M. Chalapathi Rau, National Book Club ( 1 January 1966 ) Jawaharlal Nehru by M. Chalapathi Rau. ( New Delhi ) Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India ( 1973 ) Letters from a father to his daughter by Jawaharlal Nehru, Children 's Book Trust Nehru : A Political Biography by Michael Brecher ( 1959 ). London : Oxford University Press. After Nehru, Who by Welles Hangen ( 1963 ). London : Rupert Hart - Davis. Nehru : The Years of Power by Geoffrey Tyson ( 1966 ). London : Pall Mall Press. Independence and After : A collection of the more important speeches of Jawaharlal Nehru from September 1946 to May 1949 ( 1949 ). Delhi : The Publications Division, Government of India. Joseph Stanislaw and Daniel A. Yergin ( 1988 ). `` Commanding Heights '' ( PDF ). New York : Simon & Schuster, Inc. `` The Challenge to Indian Nationalism. '' by Selig S. Harrison Foreign Affairs vol. 34, no. 2 ( 1956 ) : 620 -- 636. `` Nehru, Jawaharlal. '' by Ainslie T. Embree, ed., and the Asia Society. Encyclopedia of Asian History. Vol. 3. Charles Scribner 's Sons. New York. ( 1988 ) : 98 -- 100. External links Find more aboutJawaharlal Nehruat Wikipedia 's sister projects Media from Commons Quotations from Wikiquote Texts from Wikisource Data from Wikidata Profile of Nehru in India Today Nehru 's legacy to India Nehru on Communalism Jawaharlal Nehru materials in the South Asian American Digital Archive ( SAADA ) Jawaharlal Nehru on IMDb Jawaharlal Nehru ( Character ) on IMDb Offices held Political offices New office Prime Minister of India 1947 -- 1964 Succeeded by Gulzarilal Nanda Acting Minister of External Affairs 1947 -- 1964 Chairperson of the Planning Commission 1950 -- 1964 Preceded by N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar Minister of Defence 1953 -- 1955 Succeeded by Kailash Nath Katju Preceded by Chintaman Dwarakanath Deshmukh Minister of Finance 1956 Succeeded by Tiruvellore Thattai Krishnamachariar Preceded by Kailash Nath Katju Minister of Defence 1957 Succeeded by Vengalil Krishnan Krishna Menon Preceded by Tiruvellore Thattai Krishnamachariar Minister of Finance 1958 Succeeded by Morarji Desai Preceded by Vengalil Krishnan Krishna Menon Minister of Defence 1962 Succeeded by Yashwantrao Chavan Links to related articles First Cabinet of Independent India Nehru ( Prime Minister, External Affairs ) Patel ( Deputy Prime Minister, Home Affairs ) Baldev Singh ( Defence ) Chetty ( Finance ) Maulana Azad ( Education ) Jagjivan Ram ( Labour ) Ambedkar ( Law ) Gadgil ( Public Works, Power ) R. A. Kidwai ( Communications ) S. P. Mookerjee ( Industry ) Amrit Kaur ( Health ) Mathai ( Railways ) Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru Gulzarilal Nanda ( acting ) Lal Bahadur Shastri Gulzarilal Nanda ( acting ) Indira Gandhi Morarji Desai Charan Singh Rajiv Gandhi V.P. Singh Chandra Shekhar P.V. Narasimha Rao Atal Bihari Vajpayee H.D. Deve Gowda I.K. Gujral Manmohan Singh Narendra Modi List List by longevity Official residence PM 's Office Indian Independence Movement History Colonisation Porto Grande de Bengala Dutch Bengal East India Company British Raj French India Portuguese India Battle of Plassey Battle of Buxar Anglo - Mysore Wars First Second Third Fourth Anglo - Maratha Wars First Second Third Polygar Wars Vellore Mutiny First Anglo - Sikh War Second Anglo - Sikh War Sannyasi Rebellion Rebellion of 1857 Radcliffe Line more Philosophies and ideologies Ambedkarism Gandhism Hindu nationalism Indian nationalism Khilafat Movement Muslim nationalism in South Asia Satyagraha Socialism Swadeshi movement Swaraj Events and movements Partition of Bengal ( 1905 ) Partition of Bengal ( 1947 ) Revolutionaries Direct Action Day Delhi - Lahore Conspiracy The Indian Sociologist Singapore Mutiny Hindu -- German Conspiracy Champaran Satyagraha Kheda Satyagraha Rowlatt Committee Rowlatt Bills Jallianwala Bagh massacre Noakhali riots Non-Cooperation Movement Christmas Day Plot Coolie - Begar Movement Chauri Chaura incident, 1922 Kakori conspiracy Qissa Khwani Bazaar massacre Flag Satyagraha Bardoli 1928 Protests Nehru Report Fourteen Points of Jinnah Purna Swaraj Salt March Dharasana Satyagraha Vedaranyam March Chittagong armoury raid Gandhi -- Irwin Pact Round table conferences Act of 1935 Aundh Experiment Indische Legion Cripps ' mission Quit India Bombay Mutiny Coup d'état of Yanaon Provisional Government of India Independence Day Organisations All India Kisan Sabha All - India Muslim League Anushilan Samiti Arya Samaj Azad Hind Berlin Committee Ghadar Party Hindustan Socialist Republican Association Indian National Congress India House Indian Home Rule movement Indian Independence League Indian National Army Jugantar Khaksar Tehrik Khudai Khidmatgar Swaraj Party more Social reformers A. Vaidyanatha Iyer Ayya Vaikundar Ayyankali B.R. Ambedkar Baba Amte Bal Gangadhar Tilak Dayananda Saraswati Dhondo Keshav Karve G. Subramania Iyer Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty Gopal Ganesh Agarkar Gopal Hari Deshmukh Gopaldas Ambaidas Desai Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar J.B. Kripalani Jyotirao Phule Kandukuri Veeresalingam Mahadev Govind Ranade Mahatma Gandhi Muthulakshmi Reddi Narayana Guru Niralamba Swami Pandita Ramabai Periyar E.V. Ramasamy Ram Mohan Roy Rettamalai Srinivasan Sahajanand Saraswati Savitribai Phule Shahu Sister Nivedita Sri Aurobindo Syed Ahmad Khan Vakkom Moulavi Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Vinoba Bhave Vitthal Ramji Shinde Vivekananda Independence activists Abul Kalam Azad Accamma Cherian Achyut Patwardhan A.K. Fazlul Huq Alluri Sitarama Raju Annapurna Maharana Annie Besant Ashfaqulla Khan Babu Kunwar Singh Bagha Jatin Bahadur Shah II Bakht Khan Bal Gangadhar Tilak Basawon Singh Begum Hazrat Mahal Bhagat Singh Bharathidasan Bhavabhushan Mitra Bhikaiji Cama Bhupendra Kumar Datta Bidhan Chandra Roy Bipin Chandra Pal C. Rajagopalachari Chandra Shekhar Azad Chetram Jatav Chittaranjan Das Dadabhai Naoroji Dayananda Saraswati Dhan Singh Dukkipati Nageswara Rao Gopal Krishna Gokhale Govind Ballabh Pant Har Dayal Hemu Kalani Inayatullah Khan Mashriqi Jatindra Mohan Sengupta Jatindra Nath Das Jawaharlal Nehru K. Kamaraj Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Khudiram Bose Krishna Singh Lala Lajpat Rai M. Bhaktavatsalam M.N. Roy Mahadaji Shinde Mahatma Gandhi Mangal Pandey Mir Qasim Mithuben Petit ‎ Muhammad Ali Jauhar Muhammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Mian Mansoor Ansari Nagnath Naikwadi Nana Fadnavis Nana Sahib P. Kakkan Prafulla Chaki Pritilata Waddedar Pritilata Waddedar Purushottam Das Tandon R. Venkataraman Rahul Sankrityayan Rajendra Prasad Ram Prasad Bismil Rani Lakshmibai Rash Behari Bose Sahajanand Saraswati Sangolli Rayanna Sarojini Naidu Satyapal Dang Shuja - ud - Daula Shyamji Krishna Varma Sibghatullah Shah Rashidi Siraj ud - Daulah Subhas Chandra Bose Subramania Bharati Subramaniya Siva Surya Sen Syama Prasad Mukherjee Tara Rani Srivastava Tarak Nath Das Tatya Tope Tiruppur Kumaran Ubaidullah Sindhi VO Chidamabaram V.K. Krishna Menon Vallabhbhai Patel Vanchinathan Veeran Sundaralingam Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Virendranath Chattopadhyaya Yashwantrao Holkar Yogendra Shukla more British leaders Wavell Canning Cornwallis Irwin Chelmsford Curzon Ripon Minto Dalhousie Bentinck Mountbatten Wellesley Lytton Clive Outram Cripps Linlithgow Hastings Independence Cabinet Mission Annexation of French colonies in India Constitution Republic of India Indian annexation of Goa Indian Independence Act Partition of India Political integration Simla Conference Indian National Army Historical Revolutionary conspiracy of WWI Rash Behari Har Dayal Ghadr Chatto Berlin Committee Bagha Jatin Barkatullah Kabul mission Provisional Government of India Imperial Japan Pan Asianism Greater East Asia more Indian Independence League ( IIL ) Pritam Singh Swami Satyananda Puri Indian National Council I Fujiwara F Kikan K.P.K. Menon A.M. Sahay S.A. Ayer Rash Behari Bose Bidadary Resolutions Tokyo Conference H Iwakuro I Kikan Bangkok Conference Azad Hind Hikari Kikan Azad Hind Dal more Subhas Chandra Bose Indian National Congress C.R. Das Sarat Bose Purna Swaraj Bengal Volunteers Emilie Schenkl Forward Bloc Indian Legion U-180 Azad Hind Habib - ur - Rahman Death controversy more Indian National Army Battle of Malaya Mohan Singh Fall of Singapore Farrer Park First INA First Arakan offensive Hindustan Field Force Jiffs Azad Brigade Gandhi Brigade Nehru Brigade Subhas Brigade Bahadur Group Tokyo Boys Rani of Jhansi Regiment Andaman and Nicobar Islands M.Z. Kiani Lakshmi Sahgal A.D. Loganathan J.R. Bhonsle Janaki Davar Rasammah Bhupalan Shaukat Malik John Thivy Battles Burma theatre Ha - Go U-Go Battle of Imphal Battle of Kohima Battle of Irrawaddy Battle of Meiktila Surrender of Japan Controversies more Red Fort trials CSDIC Dhillon Sahgal Shah Nawaz Burhan - ud - Din INA Defence Committee Kailash Nath Katju Asaf Ali Tej Bahadur Sapru Bhulabhai Desai Jawaharlal Nehru Bombay mutiny more Related topics Azad Hind Radio Battaglione Azad Hindoustan Special Bureau for India Azad Hind Decorations Selarang Barracks incident Japanese occupation of Burma Burma Area Army Masakasu Kawabe India in World War II 14th Army William Slim Malaysian Indian Congress INA treasure Peter Fay Joyce Lebra Hugh Toye more Indian independence movement portal Indian National Congress Seva Dal Mahila Congress Minority Congress Youth Congress National Students Union of India ( NSUI ) Indian National Trade Union Congress ( INTUC ) Congress Karma Parishad History Statewise Election history of Congress Party Nehru -- Gandhi family Congress Radio 10 Janpath The Emergency Bofors scandal INA Defence Committee Indian National Congress ( Organisation ) Breakaway parties Internal Organisations Congress President Working President Congress Working Committee Central Election Committee All India Congress Committee Pradesh Congress Committees ( PCC ) Andhra Pradesh CC Assam PCC Bihar PCC Chhattisgarh PCC Core group Gujarat PCC Karnataka PCC Kerala PCC Maharashtra PCC Mizoram PCC Mumbai PCC Punjab PCC Tamil Nadu PCC Telangana PCC Uttarakhand PCC West Bengal PCC Presidents Banerjee Naoroji Tyabji Yule Wedderburn Mehta Charlappa Banerjee Naoroji Webb Banerjee Sayani Nair A.M. Bose Dutt Chandavarkar Wacha Banerjee L. Ghosh H. Cotton Gokhale Naoroji R. Ghosh ( 1907 -- 1908 ) Malaviya Wedderburn Dar Mudholkar Bahadur B.N. Bose Sinha Mazumdar Besant Malaviya Imam M. Nehru Rai C. Vijayaraghavachariar Khan Das M. Ali A.K. Azad Mahatma Gandhi Naidu Iyengar Ansari Motilal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru S.V. Patel Malaviya ( 1932 -- 1933 ) Nellie Sengupta Rajendra Prasad ( 1934 -- 1935 ) Jawaharlal Nehru ( 1936 -- 1937 ) S.C. Bose ( 1938 -- 1939 ) A.K. Azad ( 1940 -- 1946 ) J.B. Kripalani Sitaramayya ( 1948 -- 1949 ) Tandon Jawaharlal Nehru ( 1951 -- 1954 ) Dhebar ( 1955 -- 1959 ) Indira Gandhi Neelam Sanjiva Reddy ( 1960 -- 1963 ) K. Kamaraj ( 1964 -- 1967 ) S. Nijalingappa ( 1968 -- 1969 ) Jagjivan Ram ( 1970 -- 1971 ) S.D. Sharma ( 1972 -- 1974 ) Baruah ( 1975 -- 1977 ) Indira Gandhi ( 1978 -- 1984 ) Rajiv Gandhi ( 1985 -- 1991 ) Narasimha Rao ( 1992 -- 1996 ) Kesri ( 1996 -- 1998 ) Sonia Gandhi ( 1998 -- present ) Leaders in the Lok Sabha Gandhi Rao Pawar S. Gandhi Mukherjee Shinde Kharge Leaders in the Rajya Sabha Manmohan Singh Vora Patel Sharma Azad Ramesh Antony Digvijay Chidambaram Singhvi Sibal Category Bharat Ratna laureates 1954 -- 1960 C. Rajagopalachari, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and C.V. Raman ( 1954 ) Bhagwan Das, Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya, and Jawaharlal Nehru ( 1955 ) Govind Ballabh Pant ( 1957 ) Dhondo Keshav Karve ( 1958 ) 1961 -- 1980 Bidhan Chandra Roy and Purushottam Das Tandon ( 1961 ) Rajendra Prasad ( 1962 ) Zakir Husain and Pandurang Vaman Kane ( 1963 ) Lal Bahadur Shastri ( 1966 ) Indira Gandhi ( 1971 ) V.V. Giri ( 1975 ) K. Kamaraj ( 1976 ) Mother Teresa ( 1980 ) 1981 -- 2000 Vinoba Bhave ( 1983 ) Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan ( 1987 ) M.G. Ramachandran ( 1988 ) B.R. Ambedkar and Nelson Mandela ( 1990 ) Rajiv Gandhi, Vallabhbhai Patel, and Morarji Desai ( 1991 ) Abul Kalam Azad, J.R.D. Tata, and Satyajit Ray ( 1992 ) Gulzarilal Nanda, Aruna Asaf Ali, and A.P.J. Abdul Kalam ( 1997 ) M.S. Subbulakshmi and Chidambaram Subramaniam ( 1998 ) Jayaprakash Narayan, Amartya Sen, Gopinath Bordoloi, and Ravi Shankar ( 1999 ) 2001 -- present Lata Mangeshkar and Bismillah Khan ( 2001 ) Bhimsen Joshi ( 2008 ) C.N.R. Rao and Sachin Tendulkar ( 2014 ) Madan Mohan Malaviya and Atal Bihari Vajpayee ( 2015 ) Social democracy Precursors Humanism Age of Enlightenment French Revolution Utopian socialism Trade unionism Revolutions of 1848 Orthodox Marxism Development Revisionism Reformism Gradualism Democratic socialism Frankfurt Declaration Keynesianism Welfare capitalism Third Way Modern European socialism Policies Representative democracy Civil liberties Labor rights Mixed economy Land reform Nationalization Welfare state Fair trade Environmental protection Secularism Organizations Social democratic parties Socialist International Party of European Socialists Progressive Alliance International Trade Union Confederation ( ITUC ) People Clement Attlee Obafemi Awolowo José Batlle y Ordóñez David Ben - Gurion Eduard Bernstein Rómulo Betancourt Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Louis Blanc Willy Brandt Hjalmar Branting Gro Harlem Brundtland Jeremy Corbyn Bettino Craxi Ignacy Daszyński Eugene V. Debs Tommy Douglas Willem Drees Émile Durkheim Friedrich Ebert Bülent Ecevit Tage Erlander Einar Gerhardsen Felipe González João Goulart Bob Hawke Rudolf Hilferding Jean Jaurès Zhang Junmai Tetsu Katayama Karl Kautsky Charles Kennedy Alexander Kerensky John Maynard Keynes Ricardo Lagos Ferdinand Lassalle Jack Layton René Lévesque Ramsay MacDonald Nelson Mandela Jawaharlal Nehru Olof Palme Georgi Plekhanov Romano Prodi John Ruskin Bertrand Russell Bernie Sanders Michael Joseph Savage Thorvald Stauning Norman Thomas Anthem The Internationale Portal : Politics Portal : Economics Portal : Socialism Social and political philosophy Philosophers Alinsky Ambedkar Arendt Aristotle Augustine Aurobindo Aquinas Aron Averroes Azurmendi Badiou Bakunin Baudrillard Bauman Benoist Bentham Berlin Bonald Bosanquet Burke Judith Butler Camus Chanakya Chomsky Cicero Comte Confucius De Beauvoir Debord Djilas Du Bois Durkheim Emerson Engels Foucault Fourier Franklin Gandhi Gehlen Gentile Al - Ghazali Gramsci Grotius Habermas Han Fei Hayek Hegel Heidegger Hobbes Hume Irigaray Jefferson Kant Kierkegaard Kirk Kropotkin Laozi Le Bon Le Play Leibniz Lenin Locke Luxemburg Machiavelli Maistre Malebranche Mao Marcuse Maritain Marsilius Marx Mencius Michels Mill Mises Montesquieu Möser Mozi Muhammad Negri Nehru Niebuhr Nietzsche Nozick Oakeshott Ortega Paine Pareto Peterson Pettit Plamenatz Plato Polanyi Popper Radhakrishnan Rand Rawls Renan Rothbard Rousseau Royce Ruskin Russell Sade Santayana Sarkar Sartre Schmitt Searle Shang Simonović Skinner Smith Socrates Sombart Spann Spencer Spinoza Spirito Stirner Strauss Sun Sun Tzu Taine Taylor Thucydides Thoreau Tocqueville Vivekananda Voltaire Walzer Weber Žižek Social theories Ambedkarism Anarchism Authoritarianism Collectivism Communism Communitarianism Conflict theories Confucianism Consensus theory Conservatism Contractualism Cosmopolitanism Culturalism Fascism Feminist political theory Gandhism Individualism Legalism Liberalism Libertarianism Mohism National liberalism Republicanism Social constructionism Social constructivism Social Darwinism Social determinism Socialism Utilitarianism Vaisheshika Social concepts Civil disobedience Democracy Four occupations Justice Law Mandate of Heaven Peace Property Revolution Rights Social contract Society War more... Related articles Jurisprudence Philosophy and economics Philosophy of education Philosophy of history Philosophy of love Philosophy of sex Philosophy of social science Political ethics Social epistemology Category Portal Task Force VIAF : 49252619 LCCN : n79109335 ISNI : 0000 0000 8127 3684 GND : 118586866 SELIBR : 278412 SUDOC : 029265223 BNF : cb120929039 ( data ) MusicBrainz : de6267ca - 4612 - 447d - b5b4 - 9f1e73cac66b NLA : 41894740 NDL : 00524718 NKC : jn20000701315 BNE : XX1033941 IATH : w6sf2tx7 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jawaharlal_Nehru&oldid=808461356 '' Categories : First Nehru ministry Jawaharlal Nehru 1889 births 1964 deaths 1st Lok Sabha members 20th - century Indian lawyers 20th - century Indian philosophers 20th - century Indian writers 2nd Lok Sabha members 3rd Lok Sabha members Alumni of the Inns of Court School of Law Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Contemporary Indian philosophers Democratic socialists Finance Ministers of India Freemen of the City of London Indian agnostics Indian barristers Indian independence activists Indian National Army trials Indian nationalists Indian socialists Kashmiri people Lok Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh Members of the Constituent Assembly of India Nehru administration Nehru -- Gandhi family People educated at Harrow School People from Allahabad Presidents of the Indian National Congress Prime Ministers of India Prisoners and detainees of British India Recipients of the Bharat Ratna Recipients of the Order of the Companions of O.R. 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Question: who appointed the first prime minister of india in 1947
Answer: Jawaharlal Nehru