Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 - 1964)

Jawaharlal Nehru also called Pandit (Scholar or Teacher) Nehru, was one of the most important leaders of the Indian Independence Movement.  He is the founder of modern-day India and confidant of Mahatma Gandhi.

Jawaharlal Nehru on November 14, 1889 in Allahabad.  The Nehru family is of Kashmiri lineage and of the Saraswat Brahmin caste.  Nehru was educated in the finest schools in India and abroad, Nehru returned from education in England at Trinity College (Harrow), Cambridge and the Inner Temple to practice law before following his father into politics.

Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minister of India when India won its independence on August 15, 1947.   As India's first prime minister he took the country along a socialist path, although he refused to align the country to either the Soviet Union or the United States in the Cold War.  Nehru's administration created the doctrines that formed the backbone of India's social and economic development, national defense and foreign policy for decades - though they remain controversial to this day.  This forms the foundations of Indian Defence and Space Programmes along with educational institutions like IIT and IIM and innumerable dams that helped in Green Revolution are directly attributed to Nehru. Nehru served as India's Prime Minister till May 27, 1964 - the day he died from a heart attack, leaving the nation in shock.

Nehru Dynasty - His daughter Indira Gandhi would become Prime Minister within two years of his death in 1966, and would serve for 15 years and 3 terms. His grandson Rajiv Gandhi would hold that office from 1984 to 1989.