In the great smithy of the Indian freedom struggle, Mahatma Gandhi fashioned a historic gong. Into its making went many metals – the gold of his struggle in South Africa, the steel of his campaign in Champaran, the alloys of the Rowlatt Protest and the Khilafat movement.
And in his efforts, he drew upon the talents of his cherished colleagues – Dr Rajendra Prasad from the East, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel from the West, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad from the North, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari from the South …and then there was Jawaharlal – who belonged to nowhere. Not to India alone, not to Britain, not to America… And yet…who belonged to everywhere.
Yes. Jawaharlal belonged to entire humanity. He was every man and every woman. India took a small fragment of his mind, but a large fragment of his time.
And yet Gandhi knew, as he said himself: “He is pure as a crystal. He is truthful beyond suspicion. He is a knight sans peur, sans reproche. The Nation is safe in his hands.”
So once the gong was ready, Gandhi placed in the hands of Jawaharlal the hammer to strike it with!
And the way Jawaharlal struck the gong in the Lahore Session of Indian National Congress, the world woke up and listened! The resonance of Poorna Swaraj vibrated across the Nation!
With a linguistic flare that put the British to shame and catapulted Jawaharlal to the list of the English élite, the Indian Declaration of Independence drafted by him, stated: “We believe that it is the inalienable right of the Indian people, as of any other people, to have freedom and enjoy the fruits of their toil and have the necessities of life, so that they may have full opportunities of growth. We believe also that if any government deprives the people of these rights and oppresses them, the people have a further right to alter it or to abolish it …”
Descended from the proud line of Kashmiri Brahmans, Jawaharlal Nehru was born on 14th November, 1889 in Allahabad – the city where Ganga and Yamuna converge. He was the son of Motilal Nehru from his second wife Swaroop Rani Thussu. Motilal’s first wife Bhonashuri Devi died during the birth of a still born. Jawaharlal had two younger sisters – Saroop (later Vijayalakshmi Pandit) and Krishna (later Krishna Hatheesing) – who were born in 1900 and 1907 respectively.
Loathed by the reactionary creed and loved by those seeking peace, knowledge and humanism, Jawaharlal evokes a strange blend of emotions from Indians all over the world.
In contrast to the theory of Vivekananda and others to whom India was important in the world for her “spirituality”, Nehru saw India as an emerging giant of world affairs, and able to stand on an equal footing with any other Nation.
Such was Nehru.
Consultant Pediatrician and Neonatologist, Margao
