Nehru and the British

Abstract

Winston Churchill described Jawaharlal Nehru in 1937 as a ‘Communist, revolutionary, most capable and most implacable of the enemies of the British connection with India’. Ironically, what the British Raj considered an enemy belonged to one of the most anglicized families in India at the turn of the century. His father, Motilal Nehru, had built up a profitable practice at the bar of the Allahabad High Court, disputed with Hindu orthodoxy, and defied the caste taboo on foreign travel. He dressed, lived, and even looked an Englishman. His son Jawaharlal was attracted by Fabian socialism and other radical ideas of pre-1914 England. Mahatma Gandhi’s emergence on the Indian scene early in 1919 radically altered the course of Jawaharlal’s life. Jawaharlal’s visit to Europe in 1926–7 imparted a sharp political and economic edge to his policies which he used on his return to India to organize students and industrial workers. Jawaharlal Nehru became the champion of a passionate and defiant nationalism and an influential figure in Indian politics.