How was the early life of Jawaharlal Nehru and what role did he played in India's struggle for

Independence?

1 Answer

Mrinal Harsh

Mrinal Harsh, I belong to a family of "Freedom Fighters".

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Jawaharlal Nehru was born on 14 November 1889 at Allahabad in a wealthy family which belonged
to the Kashmiri Pandit community. His father a wealthy and renowned barrister named Motilal
Nehru and was the leader of Indian Independence Movement, who later became one of the most
prominent associates of Mohandas Gandhi.

(Motilal Nehru : 1861-1931)

Nehru received most of his primary education at home by a series of English governesses and tutors.
Out of them only one managed to influence him. His name was Ferdinand Brooks—a part-Irish, part-
Belgian theosophist. Under him Nehru became interested in Science and Theosophy. Nehru 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.

Nehru described his childhood as a "sheltered and uneventful one".

Much of his childhood was spent in this Palatial Building named Anand Bhawan spread on 16 acres
situated very close to the University of Allahabad.

(Anand Bhawan : Later known as Swaraj Bhawan, after Motilal donated it to Congress)

(The new house build my Nehru's after they donated the previous one)
In 1905 he went to Harrow, a leading English school, where he stayed for two years. Nehru’s
academic career was in no way outstanding. From Harrow he went to Trinity College,Cambridge,
where he spent three years earning an honours degree in natural science. On leaving Cambridge he
qualified as a barrister after two years at the Inner Temple, London, where in his own words he
passed his examinations “with neither glory nor ignominy.”

(Nehru at Harrow School, England)

Jawaharlal Nehru greatly contributed towards the Indian Freedom Struggle as an active member of
the Indian National Congress. On his return to India, Nehru at first had tried to settle down as a
lawyer. Unlike his father, however, he had only a desultory interest in his profession and did not
relish either the practice of law or the company of lawyers. For that time he might be described, like
many of his generation, as an instinctive nationalist who yearned for his country’s freedom, but, like
most of his contemporaries, he had not formulated any precise ideas on how it could be achieved.

While moving up the ranks of Congress during World War I. He first met Gandhi in the year 1916 at
Lucknow session of Congress. It was to be the lifelong partnership between the two that lasted until
the death of Gandhi. Under the mentorship of Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru quickly rose to fame and
prominence, and by the year 1921 he was already one of the important leaders of Congress party.

As and when the British colonial administration outlawed the Congress party, Nehru, for the first
time, went to the prison. And over the next eight years he served eight periods of detentions.
Overall he spent over nine years in jail.

Non-Cooperation Movement by Jawaharlal Nehru

Major national movement of Nehru came with the start of non-cooperation movement in 1920. He
also led the movement in the Uttar Pradesh. He, in the year 1921, was arrested on severe charges of
anti-governmental activities, and was released a few months later. In the crack that formed within
the fractions of Congress following the closure of non-cooperation 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 Chittaranjan Das.

Nehru, along with other freedom fighters, played a major role in the development of the
internationalist outlook of the Indian freedom struggle. He also sought foreign allies for India and
forged links with movements for democracy and freedom all over the world.

Civil Disobedience by Jawaharlal Nehru

Though in the beginning Nehru was skeptical about the Civil Disobedience led by Gandhi but soon
joined the movement. He was arrested on 14th April 1930 while going to Raipur from Allahabad.
Nehru nominated Gandhi to succeed him as Congress President while he was detained 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.

Nehru was a pivotal force towards making of modern India. He also declared that main aims of
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. During his tenure as the president of
the Indian National Congress he brought forth several reforms measures concerning both the
national and foreign policies. Nehru, during his term as the Prime Minister, developed good relations
with governments all over the globe. He, during a time when the world was under the threat of
fascism, placed India strongly on the side of freedom and democracy.