Nehrus’ enduring love for Mussoorie

Ajay Ramola

Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, November 13

The Nehru clan, right from Motilal Nehru to Priyanka Gandhi now, had a special relation with Mussoorie hill town. Local historian Gopal Bhardwaj says the relationship between the Nehru family and Mussoorie began with Motilal Nehru’s visits to the hill station in 1906. Motilal used to visit Mussoorie to recuperate from illness.

Motilal’s wife Swaroop Rani and their daughter Vijay Lakshmi Pandit had attachment to Mussoorie and they frequently came here throughout their lives. Vijay Lakshmi Pandit stayed at Landour and was a frequent visitor to Sister’s Bazaar. She later settled down in Dehradun. She was also a frequent visitor to Kasmanda House, now a heritage hotel situated above Padmini Niwas, as Rajmata Kasmanda Vidyawati Devi and she were good friends. Rajmata Kasmanda was also the local guardian of Vijay Lakshmi’s daughters when they were studying at Woodstock School in Mussoorie. Nehru along with his ailing father came to Mussoorie during the summer and stayed at the historical property called Craig Top. Nehru in a letter to his mother Swaroop Rani dated June 1, 1914, stated that his father Motlilal’s health was improving as they had engaged a new doctor. The effects of asthma had receded considerably due to the efforts of the new doctor, who seems to be an able physician. This letter is still in possession of NP Singh, a direct descendant of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who bought the house in 1958.

Ruskin Bond, an eminent author from Mussoorie, in one of his articles titled “Tales of Mussoorie” that appeared in the souvenir of Autumn festival 1988, states that Motilal Nehru and his family were frequent visitors to Mussoorie. Gopal Bhardwaj possesses a copy of this article.

In May 1920, Jawaharlal, who had just returned from Cambridge, along with his wife Kamla and little daughter Indira stayed at Savoy Hotel in Mussoorie. Kamla was ailing and she felt that the salubrious climate of Mussoorie would be beneficial to her health. Also, staying at Savoy Hotel was a delegation from Afghanistan which had come for political talks with the British government. Nehru was not aware of the Afghan delegation also staying in the same hotel. The British fearing that Nehru might contact and influence the Afghans asked him to sign an undertaking that he would not contact the latter. Nehru refused to do so. Nehru had not entered politics by then and was not interested in meeting the Afghans. Subsequently, he insisted that no one had the right to prevent him from doing so. The owner of the hotel, then an English gentleman called Lincoln, on the directions of the British rulers, forced Nehru to vacate the hotel within 24 hours. Nehru kept his family at Savoy Hotel and returned to Allahabad.

Motilal, while in Mussoorie, loved walking down the Mall Road and the Camels Back Road. He was known for refusing to obey the diktats of the British that they had imposed only on Indians. In the early 20th century, Indians were not allowed to ride a horse on the Mall Road and at all those places that were considered exclusive for the British. Later, the Indians were given more rights and many restrictions were abolished over the years.

Nehru again came to Mussoorie in 1928 and stayed at Savoy Hotel. He mentions in a letter written to his mother Swaroop Rani on September 16, 1928, that Kamla has returned from the Nursing home, presumably Sanatorium situated on the Mall Road, near the present day revolving restaurant, thus indicating that the family frequently visited Mussoorie to recuperate from illness. He again had altercations with the Savoy Hotel management and subsequently shifted to some other hotel.

Nehru along with his wife Kamla and ailing father Motilal again visited the town on October 13, 1930. Nehru spent three days with his father and was pleased to see the latter recover from ill health. These three days were the last days the father and the son spent together as Nehru, who was on his way to take part in the peasants’ movement in Allahabad, was arrested on October 19 and sent to the Naini prison.

Thereafter, Nehru came to Mussoorie several times from 1946 to 1964. He was in Mussoorie even two days before he breathed his last. In 1954, he met the then members of the Municipal Council, namely Bhola Singh Rawat and Chaudhry Rajey Lal, who requested him to open a degree college in Mussoorie. Nehru, who himself was the chairman of the Allahabad Municipal Council and could relate to the problems of the people of Mussoorie, assured them that he would try to do the needful. It can be said Nehru had a hand in the establishment of present day MPG College in Mussoorie.

This event in Mussoorie marked a shift in the India-China relationship, resulting in the dreaded war of 1962 in which India took a severe beating. At present, around 5,000 Tibetans are living in Mussoorie, courtesy the talks held between the Dalai Lama and Nehru. The Nehru family spent many a summer in Mussoorie and stayed at various places such as Kamla Castle, Radha Bhavan estate and at the house of Mrs Wanchoo, Indira’s maternal aunt, located on Gandhi Chowk (Library).

Nehru last visited Mussoorie on May 24, 1964, three days before his death. On May 24, he stayed on the premises of the National Academy of Administration that was later renamed Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), says Gopal Bhardwaj. Nehru gave a lecture to the IAS probationers on May 24 and left for Dehradun around 9.30 am on May 25. He stayed at the Circuit House in Dehradun, fell ill on May 26, and was airlifted to Delhi. He died around 2 pm on May 27.

As part of Nehru’s 125th birth anniversary celebrations, the Uttarakhand Congress is organising several programmes across the state from November 13 to 15. However, it is sad that Mussoorie town that Nehru loved the most has no programme planned to give a befitting tribute to the great leader on his 125th birth anniversary year. Congress spokesperson Dr RP Raturi says a special programme has been planned at Bhawali in Nainital district where Nehru’s wife Kamla Nehru had stayed for medical treatment in the Bhawali sanatorium for quite some time. That place has since been closely associated with the Nehru family. A special programme is also planned at the Congress office in Dehradun.

Permanent asylum to Tibetans decided at Birla House meeting

In fact Jawaharlal Nehru's most famous visit is associated with the 14th Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet and reached Mussoorie from Tejpur (Assam) in 1959 to live in exile. The then president of the Municipal Council of Mussoorie, Jagannath Sharma, informed the then Dehradun District Magistrate, Maqbool Butt, about the Dalai Lama’s arrival who contacted the Union Home Ministry immediately. The Dalai Lama was first kept in Charleville Hotel, which is now the IAS academy, and later on the insistence of Nehru was kept at Birla House. It was at Birla House that the two leaders met and discussed the future of the Tibetans. It was here that it was decided that the Tibetans would be given permanent asylum in India.