Jawaharlal Nehru was independent India's first Prime Minister, serving from 1947 until his death in 1964 and shaping the nation's democratic, secular, and socialist character. Educated at Harrow and Cambridge, Nehru joined Gandhi's independence movement, spending years in British prisons while emerging as Congress Party leader.
Nehru's vision for India combined Western parliamentary democracy with socialist economic planning and Hindu-Muslim secularism. His five-year plans emphasized heavy industry and state enterprise. The Non-Aligned Movement, which he co-founded, kept India independent of both Cold War blocs.
Nehru's legacy is contested. Admirers credit him with establishing democratic institutions, promoting education and science, and maintaining national unity despite enormous diversity. Critics blame his socialist economics for India's slow growth (the 'Hindu rate of growth') and his foreign policy naivety—the 1962 war with China was a humiliating defeat. The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty dominated Indian politics for decades. Nehru remains India's defining modern statesman, his choices still shaping Indian democracy.