Gallery of Prime Ministers of India Gallery of Prime Ministers of India PRIME MINISTERS OF INDIA PT. JAWAHARLAL NEHRU The first Prime Minister of Independent India, also holds the record for continuously being in the office for the longest period (Aug. 15, 1947 to May 27, 1964) about 17 years, or 6,131 days - to be precise! Born in Allahabad, November 14, 1889; died on May 27, 1964. A prolific writer ("Discovery of India") and a great orator, he was the co-founder of Non-Aligned Movement. Conferred Bharat Ratna (1955). GULZARI LAL NANDA A Gandhian to the core, was interim Prime Minister on two occasions - after the sudden demise of Pt.

Nehru (from may 27, 1964 to June 9, 1964), for 14 days, and again after the sudden demise of Lal Bahadur Shastri (from January 11 to 24, 1966), again for a period of 14 days. Born in Sialkot (now in Pakistan), July 4, 1898; died on January 15, 1998, as a centenarian. Was a leading light in the labour movement. Conferred Bharat Ratna (1997). LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI Though he came to power under the shadow cast of the ever-famous Pt. Nehru, he quickly won the hearts of all Indians, especially after routing Pakistan in the 1965 war. Indian still reverbrates with his slogan "Jai Jawan ! Jai Kisan !". He held office for 582 days, from June 9, 1964 to January 11, 1966.

Born in Moghalsarai (Varanasi), October 2, 1904; died in Tashkent (USSR) on January 11, 1966 , while negotiating peace talks with Pakistan. Conferred Bharat Ratna (posthumous, 1966). INDIRA GANDHI Proved her mettle as the chip of the old block; held office from Jan. 24, 1966 to March 24, 1977 and again |from Jan. 14 to Oct. 31,1984, for a total of 5,831 days, just 300 days short of her father, Pt. Nehru. Abolition of privy purse, nationalization of banks, birth of Bangladesh are some of her achievements. Born in Allahabad, Nov. 19, 1917; died on Oct. 31,1984. Conferred Bharat Ratna in 1971.

MORARJI DESAI The first non-congress Prime Minister since Independence, Morarji Desai headed the Janata Party Government for 857 days, from March 24, 1977 to July 28, 1979. He was one of those rare Gandhians. Born on 29th February, 1896, in Bahadesli Village, Gujarat; a centenarian, he passed away on April 10, 1995. Conferred Bharat Ratna in 1991. CHARAN SINGH A "kisan" Prime Minister from Uttar Pradesh, he never faced Parliament, even though he was in office for 171 days, from July 28, 1979 to Jan. 14, 1980. Within days of assuming office, one of the supporting parties withdrew its support, after which he continued as caretaker P.M , till fresh elections were held. Born in Noorpur, Meerut Dist., U. P. on Dec.23, 1902; died in 1987.

RAJIV GANDHI The youngest Prime Minister so far, this grand son of Pt. Nehru assumed office at the age of 41, the day his mother was assassinated (Oct. 31,1984). In the 1985 elections, he led his party to a big win and continued as P. M. till Dec. 1,1989, when his party lost the hustings. Born in Bombay (Mumbai, now) on Aug. 20, 1944; died in Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991, at the hands of a human bomb. Conferred Bharat Ratna (posthumous, 1991) V.P. SINGH Riding the wave of the Janata Dal, V. P. Singh became Prime Minister on Dec. 2,1989 and continued till Nov. 10, 1990 (344 days). He took a major decision in implementing the Mandal Commission recommendations. Born in Allahabad on June 25, 1931. CHANDRA SHEKHAR The " Young Turk" became Prime Minister on Nov.

10,1990 and continued till June 21, 1991 (224 days). Born in Village Ibrahimpatti in Ballia District, U P., on July 1, 1927. P. V. NARASIMHA RAO The first ever from South to hold this office, he ruled for full five years, from June 21, 1991 to May 10, 1996 (1, 785 days), despite a hung Parliament, initially. A literature, Pamulaparti Venkata Narasimha Rao was born in Vangara, Karimnagar District, Andhra Pradesh, on June 28, 1921. He launched the Economic Liberalisation Programme. A. B. VAJPAYEE The first "bachelor" Prime Minister, he was at the helm for 16 days from May 16 to June 1, 1996, creating a record for the shortest stint in office. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born in Gwalior (M.

P) on 25th December, 1926. A prolific writer and a great orator. H D DEVE GOWDA The second Government of the 11th Lok Sabha was headed by Haradanahalli Dodde Deve Gowda, who was in office from June 1, 1996 to April 21, 1997 (for roughly 11 months). Deve Gowda was born on May 18, 1933, in Haradanahalli Village, Hassan District, Karnataka. I. K. GUJRAL Inder Kumar Gujral became Prime Minister on April 21, 1997. He resigned office on Nov. 28. 1997. Gujral was born on December 4, 1919, in Jhelum (in the undivided Punjab, now in Pakistan). A. B. VAJPAYEE He assumed charge for the second time on March 19, 1998. He took the oath on October 13, 1999 after General Election. He submitted resignation on May 13, 2004.

Manas: History and Politics, Constitution of India Independent India India acquired independence on 15 August 1947 though sections of the country were carved out and stitched together to create another new country, Pakistan. The “institutional” road to independence was perhaps laid down by the Government of India Act of 1935, where the gradual emergence of India as a self-governing entity had first been partly envisioned. Following India's independence in 1947, the Constituent Assembly deliberated over the precise constitutional future of India. On 26 January 1950, India became a Republic, and the Constitution of India was promulgated. Jawaharlal Nehru had become the country’s first Prime Minister in 1947, and in 1952, in the country’s first general election with a universal franchise, Nehru led the Indian National Congress to a clear victory. The Congress had long been the principal political party in India, providing the leadership to the struggle for independence, and under Nehru’s stewardship it remained the largest and most influential party over the next three decades.

In 1957, Nehru was elected to yet another five-year term as a member of the Lok Sabha and chosen to head the government. His ‘regime’ was marked by the advent of five-year plans, designed to bring big science and industry to India; in Nehru's own language, steel mills and dams were to be the temples of modern India. Relations with Pakistan remained chilling, and the purported friendship of India and China proved to be something of a hoax. China’s invasion of India's borders in 1962 is said to have dealt a mortal blow to Nehru. Nehru was succeeded at his death on 27 May 1964 for a period of two weeks by Gulzarilal Nanda (1898-1998), a veteran Congress politician who became active in the non-cooperation movement in 1922 and served several prison terms, principally in 1932 and from 1942-44 during the Quit India movement. Nanda served as acting Prime Minister until the Congress had elected a new leader, Lal Bahadur Shastri, also a veteran politician who came of age during the Gandhi-led non-cooperation movement.

Shastri was the compromise candidate who, perhaps unexpectedly, led the country to something of a victory over Pakistan in 1965. Shastri and the vanquished Pakistani President, Muhammad Ayub Khan, signed a peace treaty at Tashkent in the former Soviet Union on 10 January 1966, but Shastri barely lived to witness the accolades that were now being showered upon him since he died of an heart attack the day after the treaty was signed. Shastri’s empathy for the subaltern classes is conveyed through the slogan, “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan”, “Hail the Soldier, Hail the Farmer”, which is attributed to him and through which he is remembered at Vijay Ghat, the national memorial to him in New Delhi in the proximity of Rajghat, the national memorial to Mohandas Gandhi. On Shastri’s death, the Congress was once again engulfed by an internal struggle. Gulzarilal Nanda once again served as the acting Prime Minister, again for a period of less than a month, before being succeeded by Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter.

By the late 1960s, Indira Gandhi had engineered a split in the Congress, as the only means to ensure her political survival, and the Congress party, which with every passing year was losing something of its shine, now went into a precipitous decline. In 1971, India crushed Pakistan in a short war that also saw the birth of Bangladesh, and Indira was now at the helm of her powers. But the Congress was now a mere shadow of its former self, and as domestic problems mounted and popular movements directed at Indira Gandhi began to show their effect, she resorted to more repressive measures. An internal emergency, which placed almost the entire opposition behind bars, was proclaimed in May 1975, and only removed in 1977; and the same opposition, which hastily convened to chart its strategy, achieved in delivering the Congress party its first loss in national elections. This government, serving various political interests and led by the victorious Janata Party, which had been formed out of various opposition parties, lasted a mere three years.

It was led by the controversial Gandhian and Congress stalwart, Morarji Desai, for two years, and for another year by Chaudhary Charan Singh (1902-1987), who came from a Jat farming community with roots in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. The Lok Sabha or Lower Assembly never met during Charan Singh’s Prime Ministership and the political alliance crumbled. Indira Gandhi rode a spectacular wave of victory in 1980. But she did not live to complete her term: shot by her own Sikh bodyguards, who sought to avenge the destruction unleashed upon the Golden Temple, the venerable shrine of the Sikh faith, by Indian government troops given the task of flushing out the terrorists holed in the shrine, she was succeeded by her son, Rajiv Gandhi, in late 1984. In the December 1994 Lok Sabha elections, Rajiv Gandhi and the Congress party won a landslide election.

But Rajiv’s premiership was to be marked by numerous political disasters, and Rajiv’s own name was tainted by the allegation that he had received huge bribes from a Swedish firm of Bofors, manufacturers of a machine-gun for which the Indian army placed a large order. His own finance minister, V. P. Singh (1931-), once a Indira Gandhi loyalist who had been picked by her in 1980 to serve as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, was to turn against Rajiv; and in 1989, V. P. Singh led the Janata Party to an electoral rout over the Congress. However, the revived Janata party mustered only 145 votes, and it had to take the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by L. K. Advani and Atal Behari Vajpayee, in order to form a government. It is at this juncture that India truly entered the era of coalition governments. V. P.

Singh would soon be brought down by two disputes: one over the status of the Babri Masjid, a sixteenth-century mosque that Hindu militants claimed had been built over the Ram Janmasthan [birthplace], and the second over the recommendations of the Mandal commission pertaining to quotas for various elements of India’s underprivileged masses. On 7 November 1990, by a vote of 356-151, V. P. Singh lost the confidence of the Lok Sabha, and some days later Chandra Sekhar (1927-), with the support of Rajiv Gandhi’s Congress, was sworn in as the next prime minister. However, Congress withdrew its support in March 1991, and elections were called in May. On 21 May 1991, as intense electioneering was taking place, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a Sri Lankan suicide bomber. The mantle of Congress leadership fell on the veteran P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921-2004), who led the party to triumph, even as the BJP raised the number of its seats in Parliament from a little over 80 to 120.

On 6 December 1992, acting in defiance of Supreme Court orders, Hindu militants destroyed the Babri Masjid, and so initiated one of the most intense crises in India’s post-independent history. Rao weathered many a storm, and presided over the liberalization of the economy -- the architect of which was Manmohan Singh, then Finance Minister and, since 2004, the Prime Minister of India. But Rao could not keep the BJP and its friends in check. In the general elections of 1996, the BJP emerged as the largest party, but its 194 seats were not enough to give it a working majority in the 545-seat Lok Sabha, and Atal Behari Vajpayee’s first government lasted a mere twelve days.

A 13-party coalition of the United National Front and the Indian left was brought into power, and Deve Gowda, the Chief Minister of Karnataka, was raised to the office of the Prime Minister; but after less than a year in office, he resigned and was succeeded by Inder Kumar Gujral, whose main contribution in office was to bequeath “the Gujral doctrine” – a reference to his genuine attempts to mend India’s relations with its South Asian neighbors, based on the principle that as the largest country, India could afford to be generous, and did not have to require reciprocity for all its munificent actions. But Gujral’s government similarly lasted less than a year; and in the general elections of February 1998, the BJP emerged again as the single largest party, this time with 200 seats. Vajpayee was invited to form a government, and did so with a coalition of several parties, including the AIADMK, led by Jayalalitha. Nothing that the BJP did was so ripe with consequences as the decision to turn India into a nuclear state with a series of nuclear tests in May 1998.

The coalition, not unpredictably, broke down; but the general elections of September 1999, in which the BJP again emerged as the single largest party, and the Congress had a poor showing at the polls, despite being led by Sonia Gandhi, a scion of the ‘Nehru dynasty’, were to reinforce the impression that regional parties and politics have fundamentally altered the state of Indian politics. Under Vajpayee, the BJP presided over the country’s destiny until 2004, even though it was becoming inescapably clear that the dominance of any one party is no longer a foregone conclusion and that coalition politics appears to be the way of the future. Many commentators were rightfully alarmed by various ominous developments that transpired during the BJP’s years in office, such as the coercive Hinduization of the country, the inability of the state to guarantee the rights of religious minorities, and other obvious manifestations of an utter disregard for human rights, such as state-sponsored killings in Kashmir, the north-east, and elsewhere, or the oppressions unleashed upon Christians and women.

On the other hand, Vajpayee and the BJP are not only credited with having administered a crushing blow to Pakistan’s adventurism on the Himalayan mountain tops at Kargil, but with having spearheaded a rapid expansion of the Indian economy. In provincial elections held in several states in late 2003, the BJP registered impressive triumphs and the party leadership was led into thinking that, in calling for early elections, it could consolidate its gains with a magisterial showing in national elections. The BJP waged a campaign on the slogan of “India Shining”, trumpeting the emergence of India as a major power. However, the Indian electorate once again showed that it was not to be taken for granted, and the BJP and its allies lost to a coalition headed by the Congress party. [ See India’s Moment: Elections 2004. ] The Fourteenth Lok Sabha convened on 17 May 2004 and Manmohan Singh (1932-) assumed the office of the Prime Minister at the head of what is known as the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government.

The UPA is supported by the Left Front, a coalition of parties headed by the CPM, or the Communist Party of India (Marxist). For a Slovak translation of this page, go to: For a Russian translation of this page, go to: Nehru | Define Nehru at Dictionary.com Nehru [ney-roo, ne-roo] /ˈneɪ ru, ˈnɛ ru/ Spell 1. Jawaharlal [juh-wah-her-lahl] /dʒəˈwɑ hər lɑl/ (Show IPA), 1889–1964, Hindu political leader in India: first prime minister of the republic of India 1947–64 (father of Indira Gandhi). 2. [moh-ti-lahl] /ˈmoʊ tɪ lɑl/ (Show IPA), 1861–1931, Indian lawyer and statesman. adjective 3. indicating a man's close-fitting jacket or coat with long sleeves, a Mandarin-type collar, and front buttons to the neckline, as usually worn by J. Nehru. 4.

indicating a man's suit consisting of such a jacket and very narrow trousers. Dictionary.com Unabridged Examples from the Web for Nehru Expand Hold Onto Your Penis David Frum, Justin Green November 28, 2012 Historical Examples Again the great coin glittered high in the air while none other than Nehru himself called out, tensely: "Heads!" British Dictionary definitions for Nehru Expand noun 1. Jawaharlal (dʒəwəhəˈlɑːl). 1889–1964, Indian statesman and nationalist leader. He spent several periods in prison for his nationalist activities and practised a policy of noncooperation with Britain during World War II. He was the first prime minister of the republic of India (1947–64) 2. his father, Motilal (məʊtɪˈlɑːl), known as Pandit Nehru. 1861–1931, Indian nationalist, lawyer, and journalist; first president of the reconstructed Indian National Congress Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd.

1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for Nehru Expand of a type of long, narrow jacket with a standing collar (popular in Western fashion late 1960s), 1967, a reference to Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), first prime minister of independent India (1947-1964), who often wore such a jacket in public appearances. Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper Nehru - definition of Nehru by The Free Dictionary Nehru - definition of Nehru by The Free Dictionary Related to Nehru: Motilal Nehru Neh·ru (nā′ro͞o), Motilal 1861-1931. Indian nationalist politician who was an associate of Mahatma Gandhi and an influential leader in the years leading to India's independence.

His son Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), also greatly involved in the movement for self-governance, was the political heir to Gandhi and the first prime minister of independent India (1947-1964). Nehru (ˈnɛəruː) n 1. (Biography) Jawaharlal (dʒəwəhəˈlɑːl). 1889–1964, Indian statesman and nationalist leader. He spent several periods in prison for his nationalist activities and practised a policy of noncooperation with Britain during World War II. He was the first prime minister of the republic of India (1947–64) 2. (Biography) his father, Motilal (məʊtɪˈlɑːl), known as Pandit Nehru. 1861–1931, Indian nationalist, lawyer, and journalist; first president of the reconstructed Indian National Congress Neh•ru 1. Jawaharlal, 1889–1964, first prime minister of the republic of India 1947–64. 2.

his father Motilal, 1861–1931, Indian lawyer and statesman. ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend: Noun 1. Nehru - Indian statesman and leader with Gandhi in the struggle for home rule; was the first prime minister of the Republic of India from 1947 to 1964 (1889-1964) Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us , add a link to this page, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content . Link to this page: pandit References in periodicals archive ? The Congress is miffed as the BJP government has been attacking Nehru since it came to power in May 2014. Nehruvian Economic Philosophy and its Contemporary Relevance (ed.) Electromagnetic Field (EMF) radiation is increasingly affecting our daily lives, said Dr Nehru, and narrated a case study of a 39-year-old "perfectly healthy" sound engineer, who visited him complaining of dizziness and a burning sensation around his ear for the past eight months.

Ghosts of 1962 war haunt India again The decision to move venue of the third edition of India Art Festival to Nehru Centre is mainly attributed to the costly logistics associated with mounting the art festival in the open ground, as real estate, open spaces and correlated infrastructures are costly in Mumbai compare to Delhi. India art festival: third edition at Nehur centre, mumbai, India Delivering the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial lecture in New Delhi on Wednesday, she thanked Nehru and Gandhi for being her life-long source of inspiration, whose lives and struggle for democracy taught her to find her own path through "uncharted terrain" of brutal politics, as reported by Firstpost. Aung San Suu Kyi Takes A Walk Down Memory Lane, Feels Herself 'Partly A Citizen Of India' (PHOTOS) As a leading figure in the Indian Independence Movement and first Prime Minister of India from 1947 to 1964, Jawaharlal Nehru remains a towering figure in the history of India, justifying the recent establishment of the Nehru Studies Centre at the U.

Partition & Independence | The Story of India - Photo Gallery | PBS The Story of India Click for detailed map Anand Bhavan is the ancestral home of the Nehru family, in Allahabad. At midnight on August 14/15th, 1947, India and Pakistan became independent states. With Jawaharlal Nehru as prime minister of the new democracy in India, the Indian National Congress —the country's strongest advocate for self-rule—became the dominant political party. Pakistan's emergence as an independent nation realized the ambitions of the Muslim League led by Mohammad Ali Jinnah . Along with the pressure exerted by Mahatma Gandhi , Nehru and Jinnah, and public outrage at events like the Amritsar Massacre , independence for India and Pakistan came as the result of developments in the region during World War II. After Britain declared itself and India at war with Germany, without consulting Indian legislatures, the Indian National Congress leaders demanded independence in return for wartime cooperation. Britain, desperate for India's support, agreed to negotiate after the war, stipulating that no regions would be forced to join the independent state.

In 1946, after negotiations between Britain, the Indian National Congress, and the Muslim League failed, a plan was adopted for partition of the subcontinent into the separate nations of India and Pakistan, which at the time also included what is now Bangladesh. Partition led to mass migrations of Muslims to Pakistan and Hindus and Sikhs to India, and violence in both countries that resulted in more than a half million deaths. For decades, territorial and religious disputes would characterize the relationship between the two countries. Indeed, in 2009, Indian and Pakistani troops still face each other across a ceasefire line in Kashmir, now divided between the two countries. Anand Bhavan Library in Anand Bhavan Anand Bhavan (House of Joy) in Allahabad , in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, was the ancestral home of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru , and was the site of much political activity in the years leading up to India's independence. When Nehru was ten, his father, Motilal Nehru, a lawyer and leader of the Indian National Congress , acquired the lavish 42–room house. Nehru learned to swim in the house's indoor swimming pool and enjoyed its expansive garden.

In 1917, Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter and Prime Minister of India from 1966–1971 and 1980–1984, was born in the house. In 1930, Motilal Nehru renamed the house Swaraj Bhavan (Independence House) and donated the property to the Indian National Congress, which used it as a hospital and headquarters for the All-Indian Congress Committee. The family moved into a smaller but still ornate two-story house nearby, also named Anand Bhavan, which was donated to the government in 1970 by Indira Gandhi. As centers of political activity, Anand Bhavan and Swaraj Bhavan were often searched by the British, and the latter was occupied in 1942 by the British government. Today, both houses are part of a museum complex with exhibits detailing events related to India's independence and to the prominent members of the Nehru family, as well the room in which Mahatma Gandhi frequently stayed.

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (Panditji or Pandit Nehru), India's first prime minister, was a committed social reformer, skilled orator and Mahatma Gandhi's political heir. Born into a wealthy family and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (England), Nehru succeeded his father, Motilal Nehru, as leader of the Indian National Congress in 1929. Imprisoned nine times by the British for his nationalist campaigns during the 1930s and 1940s, Nehru wrote his first book, The Discovery of India, a history of India, during a prison term. Nehru served as prime minister from 1947 to 1964, and the first two decades of India's independence might be called the Age of Nehru. Social reforms during this period included land redistribution, removal of barriers to inter-caste marriage, and women gaining the right to sue for divorce. To advance his economic ideals, Nehru formed and headed a National Planning Commission that developed three five-year economic plans focused on state-directed rural development, agriculture, and industry.

In foreign policy, Nehru advocated nonalignment, taking the side of neither capitalism nor communism in the Cold War. Noninterference and peaceful co-existence were his goals with countries in the region, including China. However, that stance was untenable after China invaded Tibet in 1959, after which India gave the Dalai Lama asylum. Although still controversial, Nehru's legacy is one of faith in democracy, constitutional authority, and secularism. His daughter, Indira Gandhi, served as prime minister of India from 1966 to 1984. Democracy India Gate India is the world's largest democracy, with a diverse population—at least 22 different language groups are represented—of over one billion people. Federalism is integral to India's government, and the capital in New Delhi shares power with 28 states and 7 territories. The country's system of parliamentary democracy includes a parliament with two houses, Lok Sabha (House of the People) and Rajya Sabha (Council of States). Members of the Lok Sabha are directly elected by the people, while those in the Rajya Sabha are elected mostly by state and territorial legislatures.

The majority party in the lower house elects a prime minister while the president is elected by members of both houses. Although the Indian National Congress has been the dominant political party, in power since India's independence in 1947, approximately 200 political parties exist in the country. India's constitution, developed between 1947 and 1950, incorporates ideas from Western democracies, including universal suffrage, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech. The constitution also guarantees citizens freedom from caste discrimination, although caste continues to strongly influence an individual's social status. Nehru conceived of India as a secular democracy in which the state does not participate in or promote religious activities. To support that principle, Nehru chose a lion from the age of Ashoka as the national symbol, evoking the religious tolerance that proliferated under that emperor's rule. Indian National Congress Members of the first Indian National Congress, 1885 Founded in 1885, the Indian National Congress political party was central to India's independence movement and has been the dominant ruling party since 1947. Over 70 self-appointed delegates from across India participated in the Congress's first meeting in December 1885.

By 1887, the Congress included 600 members, a number that grew to 2,000 in 1889; delegates were Hindu, Muslim, Parsi, and Jain and belonged to the middle or upper classes. In its first decades, the Congress agitated for increased Indian representation in the civil service and government, jobs held at the time mostly by British citizens. Under Mahatma Gandhi in the 1920s and 1930s, the Congress Party made purna swaraj (complete independence) and a representative form of government its primary objectives. To that end, the Congress supported satyagraha , civil disobedience campaigns, against British taxes. After Britain unilaterally declared Britain and India at war with Germany in World War II, the Congress passed a "Quit India" resolution in 1942 that demanded the British government give all political power to the Indian people in return for India's cooperation in the war effort. Instrumental in negotiations for independence, the Congress became independent India's first ruling party. By 1947, the Congress was a diverse party, including members of various castes and linguistic and religious groups.

Jawaharlal Nehru , the country's first Prime Minister, led the Congress from 1946 until his death in 1964. He championed state-led economic reforms and a foreign policy of nonalignment while in office. In 1966, Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi, assumed the party's mantle until she was defeated in 1977, bringing to a close 30 years of Congress rule. Over the following decades, the party would be in and out of power; Indira Gandhi would again lead the party (1980-1984) as would her son, Rajiv Gandhi (1984-1989). In the election of 2004, at which nearly 400 million people voted, Congress was returned to power. Muslim League Mohammad Ali Jinnah, president of the Muslim League The Muslim League was a political organization formed in December 1906 to defend the rights of Muslims in India during British colonial rule . The League helped establish the independent nation of Pakistan.

In 1916, the League entered into an agreement, the Lucknow Pact, with the Indian National Congress that called for greater Indian self-government, with separate Hindu and Muslim electorates. After 1920, the relationship between the two organizations grew more contentious as their interests and methods to achieve self-rule diverged. (The League did not support Congress leader Gandhi's calls for non-violent resistance against the British.) The League's political activity gained momentum in the 1930s under the leadership of Mohammad Ali Jinnah , who became its president in 1934, and after the introduction of the Government of India Act of 1935, which allowed for the election of Indian representatives to provincial assemblies. The League won few seats in the elections of 1937; most went to the Congress, which retained the support of India's Muslims. However, the Congress's governance in the provinces came to be viewed as too preferential to Hindus and led many Muslims to switch allegiance to the League.

Jinnah increasingly lost faith in the Congress's ability to represent Muslim interests, and in 1940, the League adopted a resolution calling for the establishment of an independent Muslim nation, Pakistan, comprised of the northwestern and northeastern areas of India. During the years that Britain fought in World War II, membership in the League increased, thanks to Jinnah's advocacy, as did Muslim support for an independent Muslim state. (At the same time, the Congress's leaders were jailed for engaging in civil disobedience campaigns.) In the 1946 provincial elections, the League won the vast majority of the Muslim vote, and subsequently reached an agreement with the British and the Congress to partition the subcontinent into the separate nations of India and Pakistan upon independence . On August 14, 1947, Pakistan was established and Jinnah became its first governor general, with Liaquat Ali Khan as the nation's first prime minister. Mohammad Ali Jinnah Mohammad Ali Jinnah Mohammad Ali Jinnah was Pakistan's first governor-general following the partition of Britain's South Asian colony into India and Pakistan in 1947.

In 1896, Jinnah joined the Indian National Congress but by 1913 he had left the Congress and joined India's Muslim League , the leading organization for Muslims. Jinnah became popular for winning both Indian National Congress and League support for the Lucknow Pact, a proposal that called for Britain to give India dominion status at the end of World War I. Disillusioned with politics, disunity in the Muslim League, and the Congress under Mahatma Gandhi , Jinnah left political life in 1931. He returned to the League in 1934 and became its head in 1937. A charismatic and eloquent politician, Jinnah was elected the League's permanent president and given the title Qaid-e-Azam, or "great leader," by his followers. In subsequent years, Jinnah would increasingly lose faith in the Congress's ability to represent Muslim interests and distanced himself from the idea of a united Hindu-Muslim independent state of India.

In 1940, the League adopted a Muslim homeland resolution calling for the establishment of Pakistan (an acronym for the proposed territories in the provinces of Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sind, and Baluchistan). In 1946, the British, the League, and Congress came to an agreement that divided the territory united under British rule into India and Pakistan. The partition led to a mass migration of Muslims to Pakistan and Hindus and Sikhs to India, which was accompanied by unprecedented communal violence that led to the deaths of between 500,000 and 1 million people. It was also the source of the territorial disputes that characterized the relationship between the two countries for decades. Jinnah was a proponent of parliamentary democracy and was against the idea of Pakistan as a theocracy. Considered the father of the nation, Jinnah led the independent nation of Pakistan for just over a year before dying in 1948. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Mohandas Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948), known as Mahatma ("Great Soul"), was the great political leader and social reformer who founded India's nonviolent movement against British colonial rule.

Born the son of a state minister in Gujarat in 1869, Gandhi moved to South Africa after studying law in London. While practicing law in South Africa, between 1893 and 1914, he became a social reformer and mobilized diverse South African communities to protest British laws, such as the poll tax, that discriminated against Indians. While in Africa, he developed the practice of satyagraha , or nonviolent protest, based on the ethical ideal of ahimsa ("no-harm" or non-violence) a precept deeply rooted in the three faiths that originated in India— Hinduism , Buddhism , and Jainism . In 1909, he wrote his landmark work, Hind Swaraj, or Freedom of India, that discussed nonviolent non-cooperation as a means to end British colonial rule. After returning to India in 1915, Gandhi organized satyagrahas against poverty and unfair taxes, championing boycotts and peaceful strikes. In the 1920s, Gandhi reorganized the Indian National Congress and wrote its constitution that prioritized Congressional representation for rural India and created a permanent committee to agitate for independence.

He also adopted a simpler way of life, eschewing European clothes for the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, which he spun on a charkha; adhering to a strictly vegetarian diet; and undertaking fasts that he also employed in social protest. From 1920 to 1948, Gandhi organized a series of campaigns that successfully mobilized Indians across the country against British rule. A non-cooperation movement in the early 1920s that urged citizens to boycott civic services and withhold tax revenues led to thousands of arrests and a government ban on public meetings. In 1930, he led a satyagraha against the British salt tax, marching 240 miles from his Sabarmati ashram to Dandi beach, in Gujarat. After picking up a lump of sea salt on the beach, Gandhi was arrested for breaking the law and 60,000 to 90,000 others would be arrested over the next few months. Before Gandhi could organize a "Quit India" campaign against British rule in 1942, he was arrested and detained in jail for the duration of World War II.

On January 30, 1948, Gandhi was assassinated in Delhi by a radical Hindu nationalist, Naturam Godse. India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru famously said after Gandhi's assassination: "The light has gone out of our lives." His methods of nonviolence would influence civil rights movements around the world and figures including Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela. 15th August 1947: India after Partition is declared Independent of British Rule 15th August 1947: India after Partition is declared Independent of British Rule On 15 August 1947, India after Partition was declared independent of British rule and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was sworn in as the first Prime Minister of independent India. Independence of India was preceded by the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics. The partition of the country gave birth to the Dominion of Pakistan, a new homeland for Indian Muslims (which would later be further divided into the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh). Pakistan came into existence on 14 August 1947, while India gained Independence on 15 August of the same year.

The partition of India is one of the most violent and tragic events in the sub continent in recent history and saw massive migration across the border. Indian Muslims left for their new homeland Pakistan, while Hindus and Sikhs left what was now Pakistan for India. Partition resulted in gruesome riots, killings, abductions and rapes. Trains full of butchered bodies crossed the newly drawn Radcliffe Line, which divided both countries. Many people fled from their homes, leaving behind all their possessions in fear of communal violence. Ten million people travelled miles on foot, bullock cart and train towards their newly promised homes. By the end of World War II, Britain had exhausted most of its resources and it realised that it no longer had what it took to rule an increasingly agitated India. It was then that the British decided to end their rule in India and in the beginning of 1947 it was announced that Britain would hand back power to India by June 1948.

But as time progressed the violence between the Hindus and the Muslims intensified, especially in the states of Punjab and Bengal and with the British army unprepared to control this large scale violence, the then Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, brought forward the date of transfer of power; giving both India and Pakistan less than six months for the mutually agreed plan for Independence. In June 1947, nationalist leaders such as, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Abul Kalam Azad and Muhammad Ali Jinnah who was representing the All India Muslim League (which he created when he branched out from the Congress), B.R Ambedkar representing the Dalits and Master Tara Singh representing the Sikh community, agreed to partition the country along religious lines; something which Mahatma Gandhi had opposed all along. Hindus and Sikhs were assigned to India, whereas Muslims were to move to the new nation of Pakistan. The two self-governing countries, India and Pakistan came into being at the stroke of midnight on 14th and 15th August 1947, respectively.

Lord Mountbatten had attended the ceremony of the transfer of power held a day earlier in Karachi, the then capital of Pakistan and a day later was present in Delhi, for the transfer of power for India. Pakistan celebrates their Independence Day on 14th August, while India celebrates its Independence on 15th August each year. The independence of India was inaugurated with a speech by Jawaharlal Nehru called "Tryst with Destiny". Nehru made this speech to the Indian Constituent Assembly in Parliament on the eve of Independence, almost towards midnight on 14 August 1947. This is considered to be one of the greatest and most famous speeches of all times and encapsulates the victory of India achieved in its non-violent struggle against the British. In this legendary speech Nehru proclaimed, "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." Through his speech Nehru also reminded his countrymen saying, "freedom and power bring responsibility".

During his speech Nehru also remembered those who had moved across the border during Partition and said "We think also of our brothers and sisters who have been cut off from us by political boundaries and who unhappily cannot share at present in the freedom that has come. They are of us and will remain of us whatever may happen, and we shall be sharers in their good and ill fortune alike." Nehru ended his speech by paying homage to India saying, "And to India, our much-loved motherland, the ancient, the eternal and the ever-new, we pay our reverent homage and we bind ourselves afresh to her service. Jai Hind [Victory to India]." The Independence of India on 15th August 1947 also marked the end of the Interim Government of India which was formed on 2 September 1946 from the newly elected Constituent Assembly of India and that was responsible for the transition of India and Pakistan from British India to Independence. The Constitution was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949 and came into force on 26 January 1950 (which is celebrated as Republic Day every year).

By the adoption of the Constitution, the Union of India came to be known as the Republic of India. After Independence, Jawaharlal Nehru was appointed as the first Prime Minister of India and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as the Deputy Prime Minister. Sardar Patel invited Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last Governor-General of India to continue as the Governor-General of now Independent India. Lord Mountbatten was replaced by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari in June 1948. The Independence of India also marked the establishment of Wartime Gallantry Awards such as the Param Vir Chakra (the highest military honour to military personnel), Maha Vir Chakra (the second highest military honour given to soldiers for displaying exemplary bravery and valour in the presence of an enemy) and the Vir Chakra (third highest military honour), which are essentially bravery awards given to soldiers of the Indian Army. Following Independence, India has remained in the Commonwealth of Nations and has maintained a friendly relationship with the United Kingdom since then. Both countries share strong cultural and social ties and currently there are over 1 million Indians residing in the United Kingdom. Independence Day in India is observed by marking it as a public holiday across the country.

On the eve of Independence Day each year, the Prime Minister of India delivers an "Address to the Nation" and hoists the national flag at the Red Fort. This is followed by twenty one gun shots in honour of the occasion and the singing of the national anthem. Government buildings are beautifully lit up and schools, colleges and offices around the country have flag hoisting ceremonies. People also fly tricolour kites which are symbolic of freedom and a popular way to enjoy and commemorate Independence Day. Also on This Day: 1772: The East India Company took the decision for separate civil and criminal courts in districts. 1854: East India Railway ran its first passenger train from Calcutta (now Kolkata) to Hooghly, covering a distance of 37 km. This line was officially inaugurated in 1855. 1872: Indian nationalist and philosopher, Sri Aurobindo was born. 1972: Postal Index Number (PIN code) was inaugurated. 1982: Nationwide colour telecasting and national programme of TV was inaugurated at Delhi.

1990: Akash, a medium range land-to-air missile was successfully launched.﻿﻿﻿﻿ Browse by Jawaharlal nehru | Define Jawaharlal nehru at Dictionary.com noun 1. Jawaharlal (dʒəwəhəˈlɑːl). 1889–1964, Indian statesman and nationalist leader. He spent several periods in prison for his nationalist activities and practised a policy of noncooperation with Britain during World War II. He was the first prime minister of the republic of India (1947–64) 2. his father, Motilal (məʊtɪˈlɑːl), known as Pandit Nehru. 1861–1931, Indian nationalist, lawyer, and journalist; first president of the reconstructed Indian National Congress Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd.

1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for jawaharlal nehru Expand Nehru of a type of long, narrow jacket with a standing collar (popular in Western fashion late 1960s), 1967, a reference to Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), first prime minister of independent India (1947-1964), who often wore such a jacket in public appearances. Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Question: Who was the first Prime Minister of the Repubic of India when it was created in 1947?
Answer: Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru