Nehru - an embodiment of ‘Service above Self’

Death anniversary on May 27:

Chelvatamby MANICCAVASAGAR

Jawaharlal Nehru was an Indian nationalist leader and statesman who became the first Prime Minister of Independent India in 1947. He was born in Allahabad on November 14, 1889 and died on May 27, 1964 of a cerebral haemorrhage followed immediately by a heart attack. He was succeeded by Gulzari Lal Nanda, the then Home Minister of the Government of India, as Prime Minister.

Jawaharlal Nehru's father ‘Motilal Nehru’ was a distinguished and a wealthy barrister, modern, urbane, highly cultivated and lavishly generous. As an only son, Jawaharlal was the focus of concentrated affections. He had, the leisure and learning of English aristocrat in the secure atmosphere of the Edwardian age - private tutors, Harrow, Cambridge and the Inner Temple, when he was drawn to the political arena soon after his return to India, his path was eased by the guidance and support of his father Motilal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi.

Further, Jawaharlal Nehru was also favoured with a strikingly handsome appearance both by Indian and Western standards. His smile was captivating, at times disarming. His face was oval-shaped and his profile classic Greek, making Nehru one of the most photogenic statesman of the century. He exuded the magnetic charm which had swiftly won individuals and crowds alike.

Affable and charming man

From his father, Nehru acquired an intense pride, the root of his resentment against British rule - for his initial response to politics was emotional, not intellectual. Like his father Motilal Nehru, he was quick to anger, but his outbursts were usually short lived. They were the reaction of an over-sensitive man to anything which violated his high standards of integrity. Nehru was a perfectionist which compounded the sources of invitation with people and things about him.

In fact, Nehru was a most affable and charming man and was also inclined to aloofness in private affairs. His early life in Allahabad strengthened a natural reticence and so did a British public school education. Further, this career of Jawaharlal Nehru had been an embodiment of ‘Service above Self’. His had been statesmanship of selflessness and self sacrifice. He remained unfaded and unfading in the whirling bursting world in which we live today. He was a live figure when the very notion of the abiding seems a myth. He was a scholar, a patriot, a lover of truth and an unflinching opponent of whatsoever things were debasing. He had given his life to the country. His devotion to internationalism had lent him an added glory. His ideas and ideals like the snows of the Himalayas converted themselves into the melted floods which fertilize the globe.

Freedom struggle

Jawaharlal Nehru had many positions of responsibility in the government and the Congress. Since 1947, he had been the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of India, as well as Head of the Atomic Energy Department. Since 1950, he had also served as chairman of the Planning Commission. From 1951 to 1954, he held the post of Congress President as well and throughout the period he had served on the party's working committee. He also held the Defence portfolio in 1953 and the Finance Minister's post in 1956 to 1958.

As Prime Minister, Nehru was more the ‘Giant among pygmies’ than ‘First among equals’. He was also the last hero of the Freedom struggle, the visible link with Mahatma Gandhi and the National Movement. Indeed, to the masses it was he who offered the promise of a higher standard of living. The cumulative effect had been to place Nehru as a pedestal, to rely on him for guidance, direction and decision. Members of the Congress high command had been in the habit of consulting Nehru for 30 years or more.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Nehru was repeatedly imprisoned by the British for civil disobedience. In 1928, he was elected President of the Congress. By the end of World War II, Nehru was recognized as Gandhi's successor. He played a central role in the negotiations over Indian Independence. He opposed the Muslim League's incidence on the division of India on the basis of religion. Louis Mountbatten, the last British Viceroy advocated the division as the fastest and most workable solutions and Nehru reluctantly agreed.

On August 15, 1947, Nehru became the first Prime Minister of Independent India. He held this post until his death in 1964. He implemented moderate socialist economic reforms and committed India to a policy of industrialization. In October 1947, he faced conflict with Pakistan over the state of Kashmir which was disputed at Independence, Nehru sent troops into the state to support India's claim. A United Nations ceasefire was negotiated, but Kashmir remains deeply fragile to this day.

Against the background of the cold war, Nehru developed a policy of ‘Positive Neutrality’ for India. He became one of the key spokesmen for the non-aligned countries of Africa and Asia, many of which were former colonies that wanted to avoid independence on any major power.

Remarkable relationship

Furthermore, Jawaharlal Nehru had a remarkable relationship with Lord Mountbatten's wife Edwina Mountbatten. In 1950, a Delhi slogan read thus: “Break open Rama's heart, you will find Sita written on it, break open Nehru's heart, you will find Lady Mountbatten written on it.”

Neither, ever bothered refuting the rumour.

In a letter to Lord Mountbatten, Jawaharlal Nehru wrote:- “I have come to the conclusion that it is best to ignore them as any argument about them, feeds them or any rate draws people's attention to them. “And Lord Mountbatten replied:- “Edwina told me about the various rumours and stories.”

'Wonderous Love'.

That was the wonder, the fascination, the inspiration in the very close relationship that happened and was nurtured by Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten, encouraged and facilitated by her husband.

In fact, a popular Indian newspaper described this as ‘Wonderous Love’ and wrote this relationship of this sort had helped immensely each other, not only emotionally, but, even spiritually and of course in each other's day-to-day lives and work. Edwina certainly matured and Nehru mellowed and drew sustenance from the shared strong feelings.

Furthermore, Edwina and Nehru wrote everyday to each other at the beginning, in addition to meeting daily. They spent hours together and in a letter Nehru wrote to her after one of her visits, said he could not remember what they spoke about, though they wasted not a minute in silence. Their letter writing started while both were in Delhi and continued when the Mountbatten returned to England.

Greatest statesmen

May 28, 1964 - the day of Nehru's cremation on the Banks of the River Yamuna was declared a Public and Bank holiday in Sri Lanka, and all schools in the country remained closed as a mark of respect to the departed Indian leader. In her condolence message to the then President of India Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike stated:- “I am deeply shocked and saddened by the sudden death of Prime Minister Nehru. By his death, the world has lost one of the greatest statesmen and the whole of Asia grieves the loss of its foremost leader, dedicated to the cause of peace”.

Dudley Senanayake who was the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament and President of the United National Party at that time issued a statement on Nehru's death. He said “I am greatly grieved at the passing away of the greatest public man the world has ever known.”

Dr N M Perera, leader of the then LSSP told the press that “Premier Nehru's death was a great calamity for the world in general and Asia in particular”.

In fact, his countrymen called him ‘Bharatbhushan’ - Jewel of India, while one of his biographers and one time Editor of the Times of Ceylon, Frank Moraes referred to him as ‘The Lonely Eagle’.

Undoubtedly, Jawaharlal Nehru had the quality of deep sincerity, a human touch which breathed warmth and tenderness. He was a sensitive man who had succeeded in absorbing the shocks of life without coarsening his mind, character and personality.