Jawaharlal Nehru: Encyclopedia II - Jawaharlal Nehru - Gandhi and the 1920s

Jawaharlal Nehru - Gandhi and the 1920s

His father Motilal Nehru was already a prominent figure in the Indian National Congress and had served as its president. Thus when young and glamorous Jawaharlal entered the Congress, it excited young Indians all over, who felt Nehru would rejuvenate India's political leadership and come at the same level with the British rulers of the land.

Nehru did not share Motilal's moderate-liberal line. He began to draw closer to the rising leadership of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, a former barrister who had won battles for equality and political rights for Indians in South Africa, and had emerged a national hero with the successful struggles in Champaran, Bihar and Kheda in Gujarat.

Nehru was instantly attracted to Gandhi's commitment for active but peaceful, civil disobedience. Gandhi himself saw promise and India's future in the young Jawaharlnehru.

The Nehru family transformed their lifestyle according to Gandhi's teachings. Jawaharlal and Motilal Nehru abandoned western clothes and tastes for expensive possessions and pastimes, and adopted Hindi, or Hindustani as their common language of use. Young Jawaharlal now wore a khadi kurta and a Gandhi cap, all white - the new uniform of the Indian nationalist. Nehru was first arrested by the British during the Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-1922), but released after a few months.

After Gandhi suspended civil resistance in 1922 as a result of the killing of policemen in Chauri Chaura, thousands of Congressmen were disillusioned. When Gandhi opposed participation in the newly created legislative councils, many followed leaders like Chittaranjan Das and Motilal Nehru to form the Swaraj Party, which advocated entry but only to sabotage government from within, as a tool to extracting concessions from the British to ensure stability. But Nehru did not join his father and stayed with Gandhi and the Congress.

Jawaharlal was elected President of the Allahabad Municipal Corporation in 1924, and served for two years as the city's chief executive. This would be valuable but the only administrative experience Nehru would have before taking on India's whole government in 1947. He used his tenure to expand public education, health care and sanitation. He resigned citing lack of cooperation from civil servants and obstruction from British authorities.

From 1926 to 1928, Jawaharlal served as the General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee, an important step in his rise to Congress national leadership.

Jawaharlal Nehru - Political Attitudes

Jawaharlal was the leader of a new generation of Congressmen who were radical in political beliefs. He had been exposed to socialism in England and Europe, and following freedom struggles in Ireland and the revolution in Russia, Nehru became one of the first major Indian political figures to embrace the idea of full political independence from the British Empire. Even Gandhi and Motilal Nehru had not committed to this, but Nehru's vision was shared by Subhas Chandra Bose too, and a growing number of Indians.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Gandhi and the 1920s", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki