Motilal Nehru

Motilal Nehru (1861-1931) was an Indian lawyer and statesman who influenced the fate of the Indian nation not only by direct political action but also through his offspring, whom he educated.

Motilal Nehru was born in Allahabad on May 6, 1861, into the Kashmiri Brahmin community, most aristocratic of Hindu subcastes. His father, serving as a police officer in Delhi, had lost his job and property in the mutiny of 1857. A posthumous son, Nehru got his early education at home in Persian and Arabic and spoke Urdu as his mother tongue, reflecting the fusion of Hindu and Moslem cultures in the United Provinces. He attended the government high school in Cawnpore and matriculated at Muir Central College in Allahabad. Though he did not complete his degree, he passed the examinations as a lawyer. Following an apprenticeship in Cawnpore, he began practice at the High Court in Allahabad in 1886.

Nehru was twice married but while still in his teens lost his first wife and a child. Jawaharlal Nehru, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, and Krishna Hutheesing were children of his second marriage. Nehru was a strong-willed, imperious man who lived the life of an English gentleman, traveled in Europe, and imported to India one of the first automobiles.

Motilal Nehru was too independent to acquiesce in orthodox caste strictures. Returning to India from a trip to London, he explained: "My mind is made up. I will not indulge in the tomfoolery of the prayshchit [purification ceremony]." He developed advanced social ideas and wielded a powerful influence in forging the secular outlook of the Congress party organization. When Mohandas Gandhi appeared on the political scene, he attracted a large following of young nationalists, including Jawaharlal.

The relationship between Motilal Nehru and his son was very close and significant in the leadership of the nationalist movement. Motilal Nehru and Gandhi by 1920 were also close allies as leaders in the Congress Working Committee, Nehru representing the Congress party Old Guard and Gandhi the new power of the masses. Through Gandhi's influence Nehru gave up his practice and devoted himself wholly to the nationalist cause. Gandhi hesitated to make important decisions without consulting both Nehrus.

Known as a moderate realist early in his career, Motilal Nehru became increasingly revolutionary with age. To a group of several thousand people he proclaimed in 1917: "The Government has openly declared a crusade against our national aims … Are we going to succumb to these official frowns?" He was imprisoned together with his son in 1921. With Chitta Ranjan Das, Nehru formed the Swaraj (Freedom) party in 1922, which generaly followed Congress party policies. He served several times as president and secretary of the Congress party. One of his chief concerns was the problem of Hindu-Moslem unity, reflecting the blend of influences in his background. His son, Jawaharlal, and granddaughter, Indira Gandhi, both prime ministers of India, gained experience and a taste and aptitude for politics through his guidance. He died on Feb. 6, 1931.

Further Reading

Books on Nehru include S.P. Chablani, ed., Motilal Nehru: Essays and Reflections on His Life and Times (1961); Bal Ram Nanda, The Nehrus: Motilal and Jawaharlal Motilal Nehru (1962); and Beatrice Lamb, The Nehrus of India: Three Generations of Leadership (1967).

Additional Sources

Bhattacharyya, Upendra Chandra, Pandit Motilal Nehru: his life and work, Delhi: B.R. Pub. Corp.; New Delhi: Distributed by D.K. Publishers' Distributors, 1985. □

Nehru, Motilal (b. 6 May 1861, d. 6 Feb. 1931). Indian nationalist Born in Agra, he studied law and built up an enormously successful legal practice in Allahabad. Politically active since the imprisonment of Annie Besant in 1917, he joined his son, Jawaharlal Nehru, in Gandhi's non- cooperation movement (1920–2). When the Indian National Congress (INC) declined into inactivity during the 1920s, together with C. R. Das (b. 1870, d. 1925) he organized the Swaraj Party in early 1923, which was recognized by the INC as its political wing in 1925. It gained a majority in the Central Legislative Assembly, as well as in some provincial assemblies, though despite his very able leadership, he found it difficult to exercise much influence upon the colonial administration. He devised the Nehru Report of 1928 and presided over the important INC Calcutta Congress of 1938, where Gandhi achieved a compromise in demanding Dominion status within one year, and independence if this was not granted. He took part in Gandhi's Salt March in 1930, when he was arrested. He was released shortly before his death.

Motilal Nehru , 1861–1931, Indian political leader, father of Jawaharlal Nehru. A successful attorney, he joined the Indian National Congress and served as its president in 1919. In 1923, however, he entered the national legislature as leader of the Swaraj [independence] party, formed to wreck the constitution by obstruction from within. After returning (1926) to the Congress party, he was chairman of an all-party commission to draft a constitution for India; its report (1928), which proposed dominion status for India and ruled out separate Hindu and Muslim electorates, was rejected by the Indian Muslim leaders.

Bibliography: See his selected speeches, ed. by K. M. Panikkar and A. Pershad (1961); biographies by B. R. Nanda (1964) and B. Lamb (1967).

Nehru, Motilal (1861–1931) Indian political leader. Together with C. R. Das (1870–1925), he organized the Swaraj (Independence) Party in 1922. This set out to participate in the Indian legislative councils but aimed to oppose the British by wrecking the councils from within, as an alternative to Gandhi's NON-COOPERATION movement. In 1928 Nehru chaired the All Parties' Committee which produced the Nehru Report, setting out a proposed new Indian constitution with dominion status for India.