The First Prime Minister of India
Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India and he held the office for the longest term. Mr. Nehru became the prime Minister when India was still under the foreign rule. On August 15, 1947 again he was elected as the Prime Minister of independent India and held the post till 1964 when he died. 1946 and 1964 are significant because 4 and 6 simply change their places. Secret wisdom seems to hide in these numbers. Jawaharlal Nehru was the greatest Prime Minister of India and he held this post for the longest period of time i.e., seventeen years. His daughter could hold the post only for eleven years. It is not likely that the record of Mr. Nehru as the Prime Minister of India will ever be beaten.
Jawaharlal shone like a moon on the political horizon of India. He was a master mind, and apostle of world peace and the architect of India’s destiny, the author of Panch Sheel and creator of non-alignment which dominated the theatre of international politics for many decades.
Jawaharlal Nehru was born on November 15, 1889 at Allahabad. His father, Motilal Nehru was ‘a great lawyer and took part in the struggle for independence. He was responsible for the education of Jawaharlal and his final rise to power. They belonged to the family of Kashmiri Pandits.
Mr. Nehru was entirely educated in England and passed from the Harrow School and the Cambridge University. After graduation in 1913 he joined the Inner Temple to study law and became a Barrister-at-Law. On return from England he started practice at Allahabad High Court. But before long he was drawn into the Home Rule Movement of Anne Besant. He came under the influence of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and thus got fully involved in the freedom movement. He also came in contact with Mahatma Gandhi and became his disciple. Under his direction as a Congress leader Nehru took part in the Non-co-operation Movement, Salt Styagraha and Quit India Movement. He was married to Kamla Nehru in 1916 and Indira was born to them in 1917. Kamla Nehru fell sick and Nehru took her to Switzerland for treatment in 1926. But she did not live long. This in a way forced Nehru to spend more time for the cause of the poor and the needy.
He was arrested many times and spent several years in British Jails. He was the President of the Indian National Congress for four terms. In 1946 he first headed the Interim Government. Pandit Nehru died on May 27, 1964.
