India through Nehru’s eyes
Reviewed by M Rajiv Lochan

Jawaharlal Nehru, A Biography, Vol 1 1889-1947
by S. Gopal, Oxford University Press, 
New Delhi.

In this monumental biography of Nehru his biographer, Gopal, shows us the story of India through Nehru’s eyes as it were. Gopal begins by telling about the strategies of the British to win allies in India so that there was always someone who was willing to support the unbroken monopoly over power established by the East India Company. In the process, grandees with loud-sounding titles were created. Rulers of Indian riyasats, many of them as small as a handful of villages and all of them tyrannical towards their people, were elevated to the rank of "Counsellors to the Empress". Uneducated young men of high birth were made low-level civil servants to help maintain English control over India. Under these circumstances, self-made men like Motilal Nehru, even when eager to please the English, found English rule reprehensible. When his much-pampered son, Jawaharlal, introduced Motilal to another world – one in which Gandhi was questioning the right of the English to rule—Motilal eagerly joined in and encouraged Jawaharlal to focus on getting rid of the English rather than be bothered about earning a living.

Gopal tells the story of Jawaharlal with great sensitivity. In this, he is considerably helped by Jawaharlal who maintained detailed records for himself and left extensive notes on any and everything. Many of the jottings of Nehru were designed to be published and became bestselling books of their times. At the height of his popularity, Nehru even managed to publish an obituary for himself some three decades before his death warning people of being too warm to a "populist leader like Nehru".

Drawing upon newspapers, government records, the writing and speeches of Jawaharlal and the Nehru Papers, Gopal draws out the dilemmas of the times in which Motilal lived. Motilal, he tells us, would have been one of the few persons who refused to do penance after his return from England. Gandhi, one might add, did. Motilal had even dropped his caste name, Kaul, in favour of Nehru, a non-caste specific word. Jawaharlal was brought up in a household that did not much follow the evil traditions of India. Yet, in public life, both father and sons had to face the ignominy of being addressed as "Pandit" by an adoring public. For those who keep wondering whether Nehru benefited from being the son of his father and being close to Gandhi, Gopal details the administrative experience that young Nehru got contesting municipal elections. Elected Chairman of the Allahabad Municipal Board, he was quick to realise the possibilities and impossibilities that mark the running of an administration in contrast to merely spouting political opposition to the existing administration.

In the field of politics, Nehru already had begun to campaign among peasants, been to jail in Nabha for having supported the Akali agitation. The Congress subsequently gave him the charge of coordinating with the Akalis. Yet, he failed to judge the Sikh fear of the Communal Award that came in 1932.

Gopal, unfortunately, misses out Nehru’s insensitivity to Sikh fears. Even the Sikhs in the Congress, like Caveeshar, walked out of their posts in the Congress when elections were held in 1936 under the Communal Award. Gopal also misses out entirely how the young and energetic Sardar Partap Singh faced up to Nehru during the elections. The Akalis and Congress had had an adjustment on contesting seats in tandem. Partap Singh insisted on contesting against the Congress candidate, the redoubtable and much respected Baba Gurdit Singh of Kamagata Maru fame. A much-incensed Nehru, even visited Sarhali to campaign for Gurdit Singh and defeat the young upstart. The election results surprised the senior politicos. Partap Singh won by a handsome margin. Ten years later it would be Nehru who would invite Partap Singh to be his right hand man in Punjab Congress. It would have been good had Gopal told us of the workings of such equations between a leader of a national stature and an emerging local leader.

Note: Volume II will be reviewed next week

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