November 14 is the birth anniversary of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Prime Minister and one of the main architects of Independent India.  Lots of books and articles have written about Panditji, as he was fondly called, and hence I thought of writing about what I heard about him from some of his close associates.

Too often people do not write anecdotes about these great people and the interesting tidbits are lost forever when a person dies. The people I am going to describe never wrote about their association with Nehru and hence I thought of putting them on record. I have been lucky to have known them and felt that those interesting stories they told me about Nehru need to be told.

A book lover

My father Jagdish Prasad Rajvanshi went to jail with Mahatma Gandhi during the 1942 Quit India movement. He told me many stories about Nehru since he knew him well.

During the 1940s, my father was studying for his Ph.D. at Allahabad University and came to know Nehru. So anytime Nehru needed a book from the university library a chit was sent to my father giving the book’s details.  My father would check it out from the library and take it to Anand Bhavan where it would be given to one of Nehru’s assistants or servants.

My father told me that once nobody came to the door to take the book so he was ushered in by Vijaylakshmi Pandit (Nehru’s sister who later become India's Permanent Representative to the UN) to Nehru’s study and told to put the book on his table.

For youngsters like my father (he was about 23-24 years of age at the time of this episode) Nehru and Gandhi were like gods.  So when he went to his study table and saw an ashtray full of cigarette butts he was shocked. Nehru was very particular about his image; so he never smoked or drank in public.

Later on my father told me of another incident.  After his release from the Lucknow jail in 1946, my father wrote the book Havalaat about his experiences of being interned in a solitary confinement cell.

He wanted to gift the book to Nehru, then Prime Minister of India. So he went to Teen Murti House, the Prime Minister’s residence in Delhi at that time. It was August 15 and Nehru was getting ready to go to the Red Fort.  I think this was either in 1948 or 49.  Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, who was then the agriculture minister in the central government, was standing in the portico and was waiting to accompany Nehru to Red Fort. He knew him well since he was his protégé. So he requested Kidwai to give the book to Pandit Nehru.  Rafi saheb said that he should give the book to Nehru himself.  By this time Pandit Nehru came out of the house and though he was in a hurry to go, still he greeted my father, read the jacket of the book, and as per his custom, wrote his name and date on the first page of the book. He then told his peon to put the book in his bedroom for his bedtime reading. That was the quality of Nehru as a literary person and a great book lover.

A similar story was told to me by my father’s friend Ratan Lal Joshi.  Joshi was the editor of Hindi newspaper Hindustan in the 60s and 70s and at one time a very close confidant of Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter and former prime minister. Joshi told me that Nehru used to invite intellectuals to Teen Murti House in the evening for tea and the intellectually stimulating conversation was his way of relaxing. 

Nehru was a very broadminded and secular person. Yet he was greatly influenced by the spiritual traditions of India. In his book, Discovery of India one gets a glimpse of his great admiration for thinker and philosopher Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna Paramhansa. 

My father’s friend Sunder Lal, a dynamic young Congress MP  told me many anecdotes about Nehru. Sunder Lal was an important member of the Congress party and was the youngest MP elected in India’s first election in 1951. He remained an MP till 1986 – the year he died and only lost an election in 1977 when Indira Gandhi was also defeated. 

Lal Bahadur Shastri

It was generally said that Nehru chose Lal Bahadur Shastri as his successor. But according to Sunder Lal, he was almost like a personal servant of Nehru rather than his successor.

Quite a few times when Nehru was in Kashmir for holiday and wanted some book or items of clothing, he would call Indira Gandhi in Delhi and tell her to send them. Almost invariably Shastri brought them in a small suitcase to Srinagar.

Similarly, once somebody suggested to Nehru that they should discuss certain issues regarding party matters with Shastri.   Nehru shot back saying that Shastri does not know anything about them.  Nehru had a very low opinion of Shastri.

Sunder Lal also told me that people considered Indira Gandhi as a mute doll ("goongi gudiya") but she was sharp and managed Nehru’s household both in Teen Murti House and in Srinagar quite well.

Company of intellectuals

It was general practice that Nehru invited intellectuals for lunch.  Indira Gandhi would call the lunch guests beforehand and briefed them that under no circumstances any controversial topic should be discussed because Nehru would lose his temper and this would increase his blood pressure. With his heart problems, his temper was a major cause of concern to Indira Gandhi.

He also told me of an occasion during the lunch when Nehru started becoming angry with a guest. So Indira Gandhi immediately rose and offered the guest a plate of the choicest dish and changed the subject.

According to Sunder Lal, it was Govind Ballabh Pant, the home minister who persuaded Nehru to bring Indira Gandhi into active politics so she could help Nehru. He would constantly remind Nehru that she has learned so many political lessons by observing her father and also being with Gandhi and so would be a natural choice to become a Congress Working Committee member.  Though Nehru outwardly showed that it was unethical but was never forceful enough to oppose it, and so he was the one who really started the dynastic process. 

Naturally, Indira Gandhi took it to its logical conclusion and till today we are still suffering the Nehru-Gandhi family!

Nehru never liked to give speeches about local issues.  His mind would always be involved in world affairs.  My father told me of an incident in Etah (Uttar Pradesh) where Nehru came to give a speech during the first general election in 1951. Etah was one of the poorest and most backward areas of UP and yet Nehru never talked about what his government will do to help this poor district but talked only about the UN and India’s role in the non-aligned movement (NAM). People trusted him because he was the chosen heir of Gandhi and though his talk on UN or NAM did not change anything for them, yet they voted overwhelmingly for the Congress party.

Similarly, Sunder Lal also told me that he requested Nehru to give a speech at one of the rural venues in his constituency.  Nehru shot back saying that he does not like being involved in mohalla (small colonies) and bylane politics. Yet it was these same poor, humble people who provided a large number of MPs to the Congress party in elections.

Nehru was never a stickler for details. He always was a thinker and left the details to his subordinates.  In fact, he left too much to his subordinates so that his ideas were not implemented as he would have wished.

My uncle, Dr. Atma Ram, who was the Director General of CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), during the late 1960s narrated to me an incident about Nehru’s distaste for details.

Dr. Meghnad Saha, the famous Indian astrophysicist was entrusted the task by Nehru to make the first Science and Technology (S&T) plan of India.  He was given a residence in a magnificent bungalow in Shimla and a few months to prepare the plan.  Dr. Saha took with him Dr. Atma Ram as his assistant. Dr. Atma Ram was his one-time student at Allahabad University and at that time was a scientific officer in a national lab in Kolkata.  Dr. Atma Ram told me that Nehru came for just 15 minutes and gave the plan clearance without even looking at it properly. Either he trusted Meghnad Saha completely or S&T was not very much in his vision field at that time. Dr. Atma Ram told me that both he and Saha felt that their two-three months were wasted. 

Chacha Nehru 

Nehru really liked children.  He was rightly called “Chacha Nehru” (Uncle Nehru).   Sunder Lal told me about one incident regarding his love for children. Nehru had invited all the newly elected MPs of his party for a dinner at his house. The dinner was held on the lawns of Teen Murti House. During dinner Nehru saw that some street urchins had climbed the boundary wall and were sitting on it looking at the guests who were having dinner. 

So he took his plate and went to the wall and gave it to a boy. Immediately all the MPs also gave their dinner plates to the children.

Nehru nevertheless was a vain person and very susceptible to flattery. My father told me that one very mediocre writer from Allahabad decided to translate Nehru’s Discovery of India into Sanskrit and wanted to have discussions with Nehru regarding it.  Nehru gave him unlimited access to his house so he could go in and out of Teen Murti House wherever he wanted.  Besides, he gave him lots of personal time.

Nehru’s uncle Dr. Atal was a close friend of my father.  They were both in Lucknow jail together during the freedom movement.  Dr. Atal was a good friend of Chairman Mao and Chou-en-Lai and hence was sent by Nehru as his emissary to China before the China war of 1962. Any time Dr. Atal introduced my father to Nehru he would say “Jawahar meet my friend Jagdish.” Nehru never liked being addressed as Jawahar and would flinch at this introduction. 

Another instance of Nehru’s vanity and temper was shown in a film titled “A Day in the Life of Prime Minister”. It was shot by BBC in early 1960.  I saw this movie when I was a student in the US in the 1970s. The documentary showed Prime Minister Nehru’s day from morning (breakfast) to late night.  The BBC team had picked January 26, India’s Republic Day, for shooting.

In one of the scenes, Nehru was shown sitting in the front row watching the Republic Day parade with some foreign dignitary and Krishna Menon, the then defense minister of India.  It was quite a sunny morning so Nehru was holding a folded newspaper to shade his eyes. The scene showed Krishna Menon as per his nature continuously chatting with the guest.  Nehru got quite irritated and said, “Menon can’t you stop talking for a bit.”  After this rebuke, Krishna Menon kept quiet for a few minutes but again started chatting animatedly.  By this time Nehru lost his cool and he whacked Krishna Menon on his shoulder with the folded newspaper and told him to shut up.  I could not believe that the most democratic Prime Minister of India would behave like a schoolmaster with the defense minister of India.  I believe this movie was never shown in India.

Similarly, Sunder Lal told me of an incident that Nehru had this habit of threatening MPs that he would resign if they did not agree with him. I guess sometimes after 1962 China war, he again threatened that he will resign. The young MPs said please do so. Nehru was really taken aback as he never expected such an answer from his MPs. I guess he was living in his own world. 

Sunder Lal also thought that Gandhi’s act of making Vinoba Bhave as the first individual 'satyagrahi' instead of Nehru was meant to bring Nehru down in size and reduce his vanity and ego.  

A visionary

Even with all these shortcomings, he was a great prime minister who had a certain vision for India. His vision of India was shaped by his detailed understanding of the history of India which he vividly described in his seminal book The Discovery of India. This is a remarkable book that should be an essential reading for the younger generation to get a sweeping panorama about India.

Nehru gave us Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), laid the foundation of big scientific organizations like CSIR , DAE (Department of Atomic Energy,), etc. and most of all did not temper with the constitutional institutions that later prime ministers did. For a nascent nation that was a remarkable achievement since it allowed these institutions to develop roots and grow. 

Nehru was a prisoner of his time; so his vision was colored by those times and events. Now in hindsight, some consider it flawed. Nevertheless, he had a vision for the country, was a great patriot, and was honest. Such qualities unfortunately have not been seen in prime ministers of the recent past.  

(The writer is Director, Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI),  Phaltan, Maharashtra. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at anilrajvanshi@gmail.com. https://www.nariphaltan.org/writings.htm)