- Year
Family & Education
- Father: Motilal Nehru, prominent Congress leader.
- Educated in England at Harrow School and at Trinity College, Cambridge.
- Qualified as a lawyer in London.
Early Career
- Joined the Indian National Congress in 1919 and devoted the rest of his life to politics.
- Leader of the left-wing (radical wing) of Congress; regarded as a militant revolutionary by conservatives.
- Jailed many times because of his role as a Congress leader working for the independence of India, spending a total of nine years as a political prisoner.
Contributions
Key Roles
- Partnered with Gandhi in active yet peaceful civil disobedience campaigns.
- Attracted support from the educated middle class, intellectuals and young people.
- Shaped the nature & structure of democracy in India as leader of Congress’s radical wing.
- Advocated a tolerant, secular democracy and became India’s first Prime Minister after independence.
Methods & Impact
- Pro-democracy, liberal & humanist; opposed outright socialism yet advocated socialist central planning to promote economic development.
- Methods of struggle: mass mobilisation, widespread popular support, occasionally divisive tactics.
- Helped amplify the impact of nationalist movements across British India.
Signature Moments
- 1928 – Authored The Nehru Report.
- December 1929 – Declared Purna Swaraj (total independence).
- 1937 – Refused to work with the Muslim League, ensuring India was not a Hindu mirror of Muslim Pakistan.
Grass-roots Activism
- Home Rule Movement – organised political education and mobilised public support.
- Salt March (1930) – led protests against the salt tax and was imprisoned for 6 months.
Ideology & Influences
Catalysts
- Amritsar Massacre aroused Nehru’s interest in politics.
- His generation deeply resented British attitudes, policies and actions in India.
Influence of Gandhi
- Inspired by Gandhi’s philosophy of peaceful civil disobedience, yet envisioned an industrialised modern India beyond Gandhi’s pastoralism.
- Recognised by Gandhi for liberal and humanist ideas and ability to draw left-wing youth.
First-hand Experience
- Travels during the 1920s as Congress General Secretary exposed him to poverty and oppression, fuelling determination to improve peasants’ lives.
Global Exposure
- Congress of the Oppressed Nations in Brussels (1927) exposed him to radical ideas – wanted socio-economic emancipation as well as political independence.
- Trip to the Soviet Union exposed him to socialism and central planning; viewed them as solutions for India.