Roots · राजनीति Statecraft

Jawaharlal Nehru: the builder of the frame.

Seventeen years as the first Prime Minister. The institutions, the plans and the democracy he set in place, and the war with China that he lost.

From Allahabad to the midnight hour.

In the Netherlands, July 1957. Photograph: Anefo, Nationaal Archief, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
Born
14 November 1889 in Allahabad, now Prayagraj. Wikipedia (Jawaharlal Nehru)
Education
Harrow, then Trinity College, Cambridge (natural sciences, 1910). Called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1912. Wikipedia (Jawaharlal Nehru)
Freedom movement
Congress president at Lahore in 1929, where Purna Swaraj was declared. Eight spells in prison between 1921 and 1945, more than nine years in all. Wikipedia (Jawaharlal Nehru)
Offices
Head of the Interim Government from 2 Sep 1946. Prime Minister and External Affairs Minister from 15 Aug 1947 until his death in office on 27 May 1964. Wikipedia (Jawaharlal Nehru)

Three wins by wide margins.

ElectionCongress seatsVote share
1951-52364 of 48944.99%
1957371 of 49447.78%
1962361 of 49444.72%

Electoral history of the INC

What was built and what it cost.

  1. Dec 1946 · Objectives Resolution (vijay). Moved in the Constituent Assembly. It became the basis of the Preamble. Wikipedia (Jawaharlal Nehru)
  2. 1947–1949 · The princely states join India (vijay). More than 550 states acceded. The credit belongs first to Sardar Patel and his secretary V. P. Menon. Hyderabad joined after Operation Polo in Sep 1948. Anantam IAS, on V. P. Menon and NCERT
  3. Jan 1948 · Kashmir taken to the UN (anubhav). India referred the Pakistan-backed tribal invasion to the Security Council. Resolution 47 asked Pakistan to withdraw and called for a plebiscite. A ceasefire line has divided Kashmir since 1949. Taking a dispute to a forum hands others a say in it. UNSC Resolution 47
  4. 1948–1962 · Institutions for a modern state (vijay). The Atomic Energy Commission (1948), the Planning Commission (1950), the first IIT at Kharagpur (1951), AIIMS (1956, with Health Minister Rajkumari Amrit Kaur) and INCOSPAR (1962, with Vikram Sarabhai), which became ISRO. Department of Atomic Energy · Wikipedia (Planning Commission) · IIT Kharagpur · Wikipedia (AIIMS New Delhi) · ISRO, Genesis
  5. 1951–1966 · Five-Year Plans (both). The First Plan beat its 2.1% growth target with 3.6%. The Third Plan reached 2.4% against 5.6%, hit by two wars. Industry grew about 7% a year from 1950 to 1965. Drishti, Five-Year Plans · Wikipedia (Jawaharlal Nehru)
  6. Apr 1954 · Panchsheel (anubhav). The trade agreement with China on Tibet set out five principles of coexistence and called Tibet a region of China. It lapsed in 1962. Wikipedia (1954 Sino-Indian Agreement)
  7. 1955–1956 · Hindu Code Bills (vijay). Four laws on marriage, succession, guardianship and adoption gave Hindu women new rights. B. R. Ambedkar drafted the earlier bill. Wikipedia (Jawaharlal Nehru)
  8. 1953–1956 · States by language (both). Nehru resisted at first. After Potti Sreeramulu died fasting, Andhra was formed in 1953 and the States Reorganisation Act followed in 1956. Wikipedia (Andhra State) · Scroll
  9. Dec 1961 · Goa liberated (vijay). Operation Vijay ended 451 years of Portuguese rule in two days. IANS, Dec 2024
  10. Oct–Nov 1962 · War with China (anubhav). India lost the war and China kept Aksai Chin. Official losses: 1,383 killed, 1,696 missing and 3,968 captured. The Henderson Brooks–Bhagat report on it is still officially classified. Policy on a border must match the force behind it. Wikipedia (Sino-Indian War) · Business Insider, 18 Mar 2014

What each side says.

Three lines he is known for.