Father of the most powerful political leader i.e. Jawaharlal Nehru, Motilal Nehru was born on May 6, in the year 1861 in Delhi in a Kashmiri Brahmin family and was son of Gangadhar and Jeevarani. He couldn’t even see his father as he died before his birth. It was Nehru’s elder brother Nandlal in Allahabad who brought him up.
Motilal has earned the identity of being a prominent member of freedom struggle of India. He got the position among the most influential lawyers of the pre-independence and also headed the post of Congress President two times in his lifetime. Being the father of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and was also at times called with his name having the suffix ‘Pandit’ affectionately.
Motilal Nehru belonged to that generation of Indian youth who had received ‘Western-Style’. He did his higher studies in Muir College located at Agra.
However, he left the studies before he could take the exams of B.A. final year. Thereafter, he sat in law examination and took the law profession. He cleared the exam by securing first place and initiated his law practice in the year 1883 in Kanpur.
After getting into law profession, Motilal made huge living and had a luxurious living. He would have frequent visit to Europe and adored western lifestyle. His career was at peak in the year 1909 after he got the consent to be present at the Privy Council of great Britain. He won the election of the Legislative Assembly of the United Provinces.
However, there was a big twist in the life of Motilal Nehru when Mahatma Gandhi appeared on Indian Political scenario. His all faith into the reign of British broke into pieces after the Jalianwala Bagh slaughter in the year 1919 in Amritsar. This incident made him to step into the ongoing freedom struggle.
A Commission was established to probe the case of Jalianwala Bagh and it was boycotted by Congress. On the contrary, it preferred to appoint its individual Inquiry Commission. Motilal Nehru was the part of this committee along with Mahatma Gandhi and Chittranjan Das. Following the path of Gandhiji, he left his practice in law and shunned the western lifestyle and made the freedom his mission.
Motilal held the post of Congress president for two consecutive years i.e. 1919 and the year 1920. He planted the foundation of Swaraj party in the company of Deshbandhu Chittranjan Das in 1923. The purpose of the party was to enable its members to get seat in Legislative Assembly since voted members to stand against the wrong decisions of the Government. He also got the seat of opposition leader in the Central Legislative Assembly and enthusiastically stood against judgments of the government.
In 1927, after the appointment of the Simon Commission, Motilal was given the responsibility of drawing the constitution for independent India. He drew the constitution and it anticipated Dominion status for the nation. Nevertheless, the part of the Congress Subhash Chandra Bose along with headed by Jawaharlal Nehru opposed it and asked for complete freedom. He got arrested in the year 1930 under the rear of Civil Disobedience Movement and got free in 1931 due to his weakening health condition. He died on 6th February, 1931 in Luknow.
