Jawaharlal's rational approach to life and his attraction to science made him impatient with other-worldliness. ‘No tears. In this family we keep a stiff upper lip'...

November 13, 2010

The family perspective

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  The Hindu An intimate connection with the country: Nehru with Krishna Hutheesing(sister) on his right, Vijaya Lakshmi(sisiter) on his left, Chandralekha, Raja Hutheesing and children Harsh and Ajit Hutheesing.
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 Civilizing a Savage World', being released by Penguin India in New Delhi this week.

My family belonged to the bourgeoisie spawned by British rule. Wealth and stability don't make for a life at the barricades, so drama must have been their fate. It started with my grandfather, Motilal Nehru, whose early success as a barrister in Allahabad enabled him in 1900 to buy a mansion on spacious grounds that he named Anand Bhawan... 

...The lawyers, professors and entrepreneurs of the Congress, which was a ‘loyal opposition' to Her (and later His) Majesty's government, depended on their dignified petitions to bring out the best in the British. They believed this buried ‘best' would respond and grant India the same self-government and equal status in the empire enjoyed by the white dominions. Trustfully, they rallied to the empire's defence in Europe's Great War. It was after the war, when the Rowlatt Act provided for arbitrary arrest and imprisonment without trial to ensure business as usual and the slaughter at Jallianwala Bagh on 13 April when General Dyer's troops opened fire on a crowd of thousands celebrating the spring festival, that the political agenda abruptly changed. Mahatma Gandhi, fresh out of South Africa, introduced the non-violent technique called satyagraha he had practised there as a strategy for India and took over the leadership of the Congress. Those who found civil disobedience, arrest and imprisonment too daunting, moved away from the action. Others, including my family, plunged into it. Here it was that national and family history met — not quite as they must have done in many families whose father or son joined the struggle, loyally supported by those who stayed outside it. In mine, the entire family — grandparents, parents, uncle and aunts, and also a servant — ended its old life and started a new one in thrall to a country whose destiny it now took to be its own. The connection became rooted, emotional, permanent. It brought about a total and austere transformation in the family's lifestyle and life's goals....

...The pride my elders had in the awesome resilience of Hinduism made them reject the dogmas and orthodoxies that posed as religion... Jawaharlal's rational approach to life and his attraction to science made him impatient with other-worldliness. In a book he gave my mother, The Vision of Asia by L. Cranmer-Byng, he wrote, ‘To Nan with love on her birthday, 18 August 1934. This book contains a good deal of flabby mysticism. But there are some gems from old China.' …Above all, he was powerfully moved by the compassion of the Buddha and the personality of Jesus Christ, and he considered the Bhagvad Gita a supremely moral text: if every action has a result, it follows that every right action will have a right result. It was perfectly natural for this particular atheist to become the bestloved disciple of a deeply religious Hindu, and for his Master to choose him as his heir to lead the party and the country. 

Their creed, if any, apart from freedom, was internationalism. It was almost in their blood. In his Letters from a Father to His Daughter, Jawaharlal wrote in 1929, ‘If we want to know something about the story of this world of ours, we must think of all the countries and all the peoples that have inhabited it, and not merely of one little country where we may have been born.' …That he was the architect of Congress foreign policy and kept the portfolio of External Affairs to himself when he became Prime Minister was a sign of the critical importance he attached to India's voice in international affairs, all the more so since it was the first time this voice would be heard on the world stage.

The family admired the United States and the Soviet Union for throwing off the feudal/imperial yoke and making peerless progress thereafter. They loved American jazz and were thrilled by the Russian Revolution. My father did his spinning during the Moscow broadcast in English ‘so that [I can] hear of the collective farming of the Soviets while [I ply] the charkha of Gandhi Baba'. 

Theirs was a multifarious canvas. Not for them one Path, one Book, one ism…

...Nehru was not ‘the last Englishman' in India as he has been labelled by some.

 He was clear about the debt he owed to England and felt that he owed too much to England in his mental make-up ever to feel wholly alien to that country. He had the emotional discipline we associate with Englishness, though this could have been as much the result of solitary years spent in prison. Small episodes brought it to light. His cousin B.K. Nehru (Bijju) had married a Hungarian in 1935. The bride met ‘Jawahar Bhai' in a brief jail interview in Calcutta, to which she had gone with my mother. He came into the jail superintendent's office and Fory Nehru says she fell in love with him ‘at once'! He welcomed her affectionately into the family and they talked until a warder came in and laid a hand on the prisoner's arm to take him back to his cell. Fory could not bear this and began to cry. ‘ Jawahar Bhai' looked back and said to her, ‘No tears. In this family we keep a stiff upper lip'...

...There can be too much stoicism and there is much to be said for a storm of tears. This was not a luxury the family allowed itself. The first and last time Nehru's iron discipline was breached was the outpouring of grief he could not control when he knelt beside Gandhi's blood-covered body on the evening of 30 January 1948. 

No facile category fits Nehru. He had identified himself with other nationalisms and was better known as an internationalist than any figure of his time. In his own mind there was no unbridgeable divide between the Occident and the Orient. One had had the opportunity to industrialise and prosper, the other had not, and the gap would close in time. Most significantly, his involvement with India — through actual journeys over the length and breadth of the country, and his vividly imagined journeys into her past — had an impassioned ingredient that kept its hold on him. An incident towards the end of his life illustrates the strength of his involvement. The family was at the breakfast table at Teen Murti House. A visiting nephew said the country was in a mess, its problems would never be solved and he, for one, was getting out to settle abroad. Nehru who had remained silent suddenly spoke in a rage, ‘Go where you like, but if I am born a thousand times, a thousand times I will be born an Indian.'

The last paragraph of his Will and Testament requested that ‘the major portion' of his ashes be scattered from a height ‘over the fields where the peasants of India toil so that they might mingle with the dust and soil of India and become an indistinguishable part of India'.
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jawahar lal nehru's family

jawaharlal standing on left;his father on right

 

The family of Motilal Nehru, who is seated in the centre. Standing (L to R) Jawaharlal Nehru (Panditji), Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Krishna Hutheesingh, Indira Gandhi and Ranjit Pandit; Seated: Swaroop Rani, Motilal Nehru and Kamala Nehru (circa 1927)
Date	circa 1927

Family tree

First generation

• Motilal Nehru (1861–1931) was a lawyer, a prominent leader of the Indian independence movement and an important leader of the Indian National Congress, who also served as the Congress President twice, 1919–1920 and 1928–1929. He was the founder patriarch of India's most powerful political family, the Nehru–Gandhi family.
• Swaruprani Nehru (1868–1938) was the wife of Motilal Nehru. She became active in the Indian independence movement when her husband and son were jailed by the British.
  • Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) was the only son of Motilal Nehru. He was the first Prime Minister of India. He was one of the most prominent leaders of the Indian independence movement and had succeeded his father as President of the Congress in 1929.
  • Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (1900–1990) was the eldest daughter of Motilal Nehru. She was an Indian diplomat and politician. She was prominent in Congress itics. She became a diplomat, serving as ambassador to the USSR, High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and later as President of the United Nations General Assembly.
  • Krishna Hutheesing (1907–1967) was the youngest daughter of Motilal Nehru. She was a famous Indian writer and biographer.
• Nandlal Nehru (1845–1887) was an older brother of Motilal Nehru. He was the Diwan (Prime Minister) of the princely state of Khetri in Rajputana.
  • Brijlal Nehru (born 1884) was the son of Nandlal Nehru and a nephew of Motilal Nehru. He was the Finance Minister of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir during the rule of Maharaja Hari Singh.

Second generation

• Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) was the first Prime Minister of India. He was one of the most prominent leaders of the Indian independence movement and had succeeded his father as President of the Congress in 1929.
• Kamala Nehru (1899–1936) was the wife of Jawaharlal Nehru. She was a prominent social reformer and was involved in the national polics of India during her lifetime. She was an active member of the All India Congress Committee.
  • Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi nee Nehru (1917–1984) was the only child of Jawaharlal Nehru. She was the third Prime Minister of India and was also the President of the Congress.
  • Feroze Gandhi (1912–1960) was a prominent Indian politician and journalist, son in law of Jawaharlal Nehru and husband of Indira Gandhi. Note that Feroze Gandhi is not related to Mahatma Gandhi. Feroze and Indira fell in love with each other but the inter caste marriage was not acceptable to Nehru. When he confided to Mahatma Gandhi about this Gandhi adopted him and gave his surname. Thus Feroze Khan became Feroze (Khan) Gandhi. They got married as per Hindu rites and have two sons Rajiv (Khan) Gandhi and Sanjay (Khan) Gandhi.

• Brij Lal Nehru (born 1884) was a cousin of Jawaharlal Nehru. He was the Finance Minister of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir during the rule of Maharaja Hari Singh.
• Rameshwari Nehru (1886–1966) was the wife of Brij Lal Nehru.
  • Braj Kumar Nehru (1909–2001) was the son of Brij Lal Nehru and a nephew of Jawaharlal Nehru. He was notable as the Indian diplomat and ambassador to the United States and as High Commissioner to United Kingdom. He later served as Governor of several Indian states and was a top advisor of his cousin Indira Nehru-gandhi

Third generation

• Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) was the third Prime Minister of India. She was also the President of the Congress.
• Feroze Gandhi (1912–1960) was a prominent Indian politician and journalist, son in law of Jawaharlal Nehru and husband of Indira Gandhi. Feroz Gandhi is not related to Mahatma Gandhi.Feroze and Indira fell in love with each other but the inter caste marriage was not acceptable to Nehru. When he confided to Mahatma Gandhi about this Gandhi adopted him and gave his surname. Thus Feroze Khan became Feroze (Khan) Gandhi. They got married as per Hindu rites and have two sons Rajiv (Khan) Gandhi and Sanjay (Khan) Gandhi.

• Braj Kumar Nehru (1909–2001) was a cousin of Indira Nehru-Gandhi. He was notable as the Indian diplomat and ambassador to the United States and as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. He later served as Governor of several Indian states and was a top advisor of his cousin Indira Nehru-Gandhi.
• Magdolna Nehru (1908) is the widow of Braj Kumar Nehru.

Fourth generation

• Rajiv Gandhi (1944–1991) was the eldest son of Indira and Feroze Gandhi.
• Sonia Gandhi (1946) is the widow of Rajiv Gandhi. She was Italian. She took Indian citizenship after marriage with Rajiv Gandhi. She is the President of the Indian National Congress and has served as the Chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance in the Lok Sabha since 2004. In September 2010, on being re-elected for the fourth time, she became the longest serving president in the 125-year history of the Congress party. Led Congress Party to victory in two successive elections.
  • Rahul Gandhi (1970) is the only son of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. He is the vice president and also General-Secretary of the Congress. He is the Chairman of the Congress coordination panel for 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
  • Priyanka Vadra (1972) is the only daughter of Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi. She holds no active position in the Congress party but has featured prominently in campaigns.
• Sanjay Gandhi (1946–1980) was one of the most powerful politicians in India during the 1970s. During his lifetime he was widely expected to succeed his mother as Prime Minister of India and President of the Congress, but following his early death in a plane crash his older brother Rajiv became their mother's heir, and succeeded her as Prime Minister after her death.
• Maneka Gandhi (1956) is the widow of Sanjay Gandhi. She is a prominent politician in India but is estranged from the rest of her family. She is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
  • Varun Gandhi (1980) is the only son of Sanjay Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party National Executive and the youngest National Secretary in the history of the party.

Fifth generation

• • Rahul Gandhi (1970) is the only son of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. He is the Vice-President of the Congress.^[4] He is the Chairman of the Congress coordination panel for 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
  • Varun Gandhi (1980) is the son of Sanjay Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party National Executive and the youngest National Secretary in the history of the party.