Editing Jawaharlal Nehru (section)

== Key cabinet members and associates ==
Nehru served as the prime minister for eighteen years, first as interim prime minister during 1946–1947 during the last year of the [[British Raj]] and then as prime minister of independent India from 15 August 1947 to 27 May 1964.

[[V. K. Krishna Menon]] (1896–1974) was a close associate of Nehru, and was described as the second most powerful man in India during Nehru's tenure as prime minister. From the inception of Nehru's prime ministry, Menon carefully selected [[Lord Mountbatten]] as the only suitable candidate and presented him as such to [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] through [[Sir Stafford Cripps]] and [[Clement Attlee]], who promptly appointed him the last Viceroy. the early governance and partition ultimately reduced to Mountbatten, Nehru, Menon, V.P. Menon, Sardar Patel, and an adamant Jinnah. Under Nehru, he served as India's high commissioner to the UK, ambassador to Ireland, ambassador-at-large and plenipotentiary, UN ambassador, minister without portfolio, ''de facto'' Foreign minister, and Union minister of defence. He was significantly involved in the [[annexation of Goa]]. He resigned after the debacle of the 1962 China War but remain a close friend of Nehru.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Palmer |first=Norman D. |date=12 January 2007 |title=The 1962 Election in North Bombay |url=http://www.cs.nyu.edu/~kandathi/vkkm1962.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318032815/http://www.cs.nyu.edu/~kandathi/vkkm1962.pdf |archive-date=18 March 2012 |access-date=14 August 2021 |work=[[New York University|cs.nyu.edu]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fuller |first=C.J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yQM4AAAAIAAJ&q=vengalil+landowner&pg=PR6 |title=The Nayars today&nbsp;– Christopher John Fuller |date=30 December 1976 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-29091-3 |access-date=11 July 2012 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>Michael Brecher, and Janice Gross Stein, eds., ''India and world politics: Krishna Menon's view of the world'' ([[Praeger Publishing]], 1968).</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Chaudhuri | first=R. | title=Forged in Crisis: India and the United States Since 1947 | publisher=Oxford University Press, Incorporated | year=2014 | isbn=978-0-19-935486-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hBBVBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA108 | page=108}}</ref>

[[B. R. Ambedkar]], the law minister in the interim cabinet, also chaired the Constitution Drafting Committee.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/we-ensured-b-r-ambedkar-was-chairman-of-drafting-committee-of-constitution-congress/articleshow/49987634.cms?from=mdr|title=We ensured B R Ambedkar was chairman of drafting committee of Constitution: Congress|work=[[The Economic Times]]|date=30 November 2015|access-date=14 August 2021|archive-date=18 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210718020757/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/we-ensured-b-r-ambedkar-was-chairman-of-drafting-committee-of-constitution-congress/articleshow/49987634.cms?from=mdr|url-status=live}}</ref>

Vallabhbhai Patel served as home minister in the interim government. He was instrumental in getting the Congress party working committee to vote for partition. He is also credited with integrating many princely states of India. Patel was a long-time comrade to Nehru but died in 1950, leaving Nehru as the unchallenged leader of India until his own death in 1964.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=376oAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA88 |title=Vision and Strategy in Indian Politics: Jawaharlal Nehru's Policy Choices and the Designing of Political Institutions |last=Jivanta Schoettli |publisher=Routledge |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-136-62787-3 |page=88}}</ref>

[[Syama Prasad Mukherjee]] served as the first [[Ministry of Commerce and Industry (India)|Minister for Industry and Supply]] in the first ministry of Nehru. After resigning from the cabinet, he founded the [[Bharatiya Jana Sangh]] in 1951, the forefunner of the [[Bharatiya Janata Party]].<ref>{{cite journal | last=Lahiry | first=Sutapa | title=Jana Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party : A Comparative Assessment of Their Philosophy and Strategy and Their Proximity with the Other Members of the Sangh Parivar | journal=The Indian Journal of Political Science | date=26 April 2024 | publisher=Indian Political Science Association | volume=66 | issue=4 | issn=0019-5510 | jstor=41856171 | pages=831–850 }}</ref>

[[Maulana Azad]] was the First Minister of Education in the Indian government [[Minister of Human Resource Development]] (until 25&nbsp;September 1958, Ministry of Education). His contribution to establishing the education foundation in India is recognised by celebrating his birthday as National Education Day across India.<ref>{{cite news|title=International Urdu conference from Nov. 10|url=http://www.hindu.com/2010/11/07/stories/2010110754680500.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101111204425/http://www.hindu.com/2010/11/07/stories/2010110754680500.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 November 2010|date=7 November 2010|work=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=13 April 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Chawla, Muhammad|title=Maulana Azad and the Demand for Pakistan: A Reappraisal|journal=Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society|year=2016|volume=64|issue=3|pages=7–24|url=https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-4269551701/maulana-azad-and-the-demand-for-pakistan-a-reappraisal|access-date=11 August 2020|archive-date=17 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117092116/https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-4269551701/maulana-azad-and-the-demand-for-pakistan-a-reappraisal|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Jagjivan Ram]] became the youngest minister in Nehru's Interim Government of India, a [[Ministry of Labour and Employment (India)|labour minister]] and also a member of the Constituent Assembly of India, where, as a member of the [[Dalit]] caste, he ensured that [[social justice]] was enshrined in the [[Constitution of India|Constitution]]. He went on to serve as a minister with various portfolios during Nehru's tenure and in Shastri and Indira Gandhi governments.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=399UDwAAQBAJ&q=Jagjivan+Ram+became+the+youngest+minister+in+Nehru%27s+Interim+government+of+India+a+Labour+Minister+and+also+a+member+of+the+Constituent+Assembly+of+India,+where,+as+a+member+from+the+dalit+caste,+he+ensured+that+social+justice+was+enshrined+in+the+Constitution.&pg=PT591|title = Bihar General Knowledge Digest|isbn = 978-93-5266-769-7|last1 = Singh|first1 = Pradyuman|date = 2021|publisher=Prabhat Prakashan}}</ref>

[[Morarji Desai]] was a nationalist with anti-corruption leanings but was socially conservative, pro-business, and in favour of free enterprise reforms, as opposed to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's socialistic policies. After serving as chief minister of [[Bombay State]], he joined Nehru's cabinet in 1956 as the finance minister of India. he held that position until 1963 when he along with other senior ministers in the Nehru cabinet resigned under the [[K. Kamaraj|Kamaraj plan]].The plan, as proposed by Madras Chief Minister K.Kamaraj, was to revert government ministers to party positions after a certain tenure and vice versa. With Nehru's age and health failing in the early 1960s, Desai was considered a possible contender for the position of Prime Minister.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Anwarul Haque Haqqi|author2=Indian Political Science Association|title=Indian Democracy at the Crossroads|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk7c6O2XlGwC&pg=PA150|year=1986|publisher=Mittal Publications|page=123|id=GGKEY:X2U27GYQ2L1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Mahendra Prasad Singh|title=Split in a Predominant Party: The Indian National Congress in 1969|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UOQRWuMXyRMC&pg=PAPR5|year=1981|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-81-7017-140-9|page=50}}</ref> Later  Desai alleged that Nehru used the Kamaraj Plan to remove all possible contenders 'from the path of his daughter, Indira Gandhi.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Da |first1=S |title=The Nehru years in Indian politics |journal=Edinburgh Papers in South Asian Studies |date=2001 |volume=16 |page=24 |url=http://www.issti.ed.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/38480/WP16_Suranjan_Das.pdf |access-date=10 September 2021 |archive-date=10 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210910183407/http://www.issti.ed.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/38480/WP16_Suranjan_Das.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> Desai succeeded Indira Gandhi as the prime minister in [[1977 Indian general election|1977]] when he was selected by the victorious [[Janata alliance]] as their parliamentary leader.<ref>{{cite book|author=G.G. Mirchandani|title=320 Million Judges|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5xj0g8euumQC&pg=PA11|date=2003|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-81-7017-061-7|pages=177–178}}</ref>

[[Govind Ballabh Pant]] (1887–1961) was a key figure in the [[Indian independence movement]] and later a pivotal figure in the politics of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and in the Indian Government. Pant served in Nehru's cabinet as Union home minister from 1955 until his death in 1961.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Nation-pays-homage-to-Govind-Ballabh-Pant/articleshow/1975535.cms |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120701135017/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2006-09-10/india/27791764_1_floral-tributes-homage-vice-president-bhairon-singh-shekhawat |url-status=live |archive-date=1 July 2012 |work=[[The Times of India]] |title=Nation pays homage to Govind Ballabh Pant |date=10 September 2006}}</ref> As home minister, his chief achievement was the [[States Reorganisation Act, 1956|re-organisation of states along linguistic lines]]. He was also responsible for the establishment of [[Hindi]] as the official language of the [[Government of India|central government]] and a few states.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gbpec.net/gbpant.html |title=Govind Ballabh Pant Engineering College, Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand |publisher=Gbpec.net |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121225073145/http://www.gbpec.net/gbpant.html |archive-date=25 December 2012 |access-date=1 January 2013}}</ref> During his tenure as the home minister, Pant was awarded the [[Bharat Ratna]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/PadmaAwards1954-2007.pdf |title=Padma Awards Directory (1954–2007) |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410024701/http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/PadmaAwards1954-2007.pdf |archive-date=10 April 2009 |access-date=26 November 2010}}</ref>

[[C. D. Deshmukh]] was one of five members of the Planning Commission when it was constituted in 1950 by a cabinet resolution.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=376oAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA106 |title=Vision and Strategy in Indian Politics: Jawaharlal Nehru's Policy Choices and the Designing of Political Institutions |last=Jivanta Schoettli |publisher=Routledge |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-136-62787-3 |location=Oxon |page=106}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F_2KeZsYcjQC&pg=PT84 |title=Development Administration |last=S. A. Palekar |publisher=PHI Learning |year=2012 |isbn=978-81-203-4582-9 |location=New Delhi |page=74}}</ref> Deshmukh succeeded [[John Mathai]] as the [[Finance minister of India|Union Finance Minister]] in 1950 after Mathai resigned in protest over the transfer of certain powers to the Planning Commission.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/once-upon-a-plan/ |title=Once upon a plan |first=Inder |last=Malhotra |date=26 September 2014 |work=[[The Indian Express]] |access-date=11 July 2016 |archive-date=13 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813095203/http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/once-upon-a-plan/ |url-status=live }}</ref> As finance minister, Deshmukh remained a member of the Planning Commission.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://planningcommission.nic.in/aboutus/history/ref_man03032011.pdf |title=Reference Material 2010 Notes of the Functioning of Various DiviionsI |date=2010 |publisher=Planning Commission of India |access-date=11 July 2016 |archive-date=8 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161208211549/http://planningcommission.nic.in/aboutus/history/ref_man03032011.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> Deshmukh's tenure—during which he delivered six budgets and an interim budget<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.newcenturypublications.com/servlet/ncpGetBiblio?bno=000106 |title=India: Central Government Budgets – 1947–48 to 2003–04 |last=M M Sury |date=2003 |publisher=New Century Publications |access-date=20 July 2016 |archive-date=16 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916210547/http://www.newcenturypublications.com/servlet/ncpGetBiblio?bno=000106 |url-status=live }}</ref>—is noted for the effective management of the Indian economy and its steady growth which saw it recover from the impacts of the events of the 1940s.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/specials/north-block-mavericks-197030101130_1.html |title=North Block Mavericks |date=1 March 1997 |work=[[Business Standard]] |access-date=11 July 2016 |archive-date=16 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816190409/http://www.business-standard.com/article/specials/north-block-mavericks-197030101130_1.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rDmPKwQQdokC&pg=PA134 |title=The Politics of Poverty: Planning India's Development |last=D K Rangnekar |publisher=Sage Publications |year=2012 |isbn=978-81-321-0902-0 |location=New Delhi |page=134}}</ref> During Deshmukh's tenure, the [[State Bank of India]] was formed in 1955 through the nationalisation and amalgamation of the [[Imperial Bank of India|Imperial Bank]] with several smaller banks.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/2004/12/21/stories/2004122100050902.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221085824/http://www.thehindu.com/2004/12/21/stories/2004122100050902.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 December 2016 |title=dated December 21, 1954: State Bank of India |date=21 December 2004 |work=[[The Hindu]] |access-date=12 July 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030420/spectrum/book11.htm |title=Tracing history of the SBI |first=B.S. |last=Thaur |date=20 April 2003 |work=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]] |access-date=12 July 2016 |archive-date=22 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222003206/http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030420/spectrum/book11.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> He accomplished the nationalisation of insurance companies and the formation of the [[Life Insurance Corporation of India]] through the Life Insurance Corporation of India Act, 1956.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QDqppvb19TsC&pg=PT180 |title=India: The Emerging Giant |last=Arvind Panagariya |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-19-989014-9 |location=New York}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KlN819nQS-wC&pg=PT41 |title=Insurance in India: Changing Policies and Emerging Opportunities |last1=P.S. Palande |last2=R.S. Shah |publisher=Response Books |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7619-9747-4 |location=New Delhi |page=31}}</ref> Deshmukh resigned over the Government's proposal to move a bill in Parliament bifurcating [[Bombay State]] into [[Gujarat]] and Maharashtra while designating the city of [[Bombay]] a Union territory.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uzNnwUasQ3wC&pg=PA280 |title=Dr. Zakir Hussain, Quest for Truth |last=Ziaul Hasan Faruqi |publisher=APH Publishing |year=1999 |isbn=978-81-7648-056-7 |location=Delhi |page=280}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/vSENKsR3LEwbCgaG4zMw8K/The-anxiety-that-lingers.html |title=The anxiety that lingers |last=Niranjan Rajadhyaksha |date=7 December 2012 |work=[[Mint (newspaper)|Mint]] |access-date=11 July 2016 |archive-date=17 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817001151/http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/vSENKsR3LEwbCgaG4zMw8K/The-anxiety-that-lingers.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the years following independence, Nehru frequently turned to his daughter Indira Gandhi for managing his personal affairs.<ref>{{Cite book |url={{Google books|EZIBxpeRXxsC|page=PR7|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |title=Women in power : the personalities and leadership styles of Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, and Margaret Thatcher |last=Steinberg |first=Blema S. |date=2008 |publisher=[[McGill-Queen's University Press]] |isbn=978-0-7735-3356-1 |location=Montreal |page=20 |access-date=2 December 2015}}</ref>  Indira moved into Nehru's official residence to attend to him and became his constant companion in his travels across India and the world. She would virtually become Nehru's chief of staff.<ref>{{Cite book |url={{Google books|EZIBxpeRXxsC|page=PR7|keywords=indira%20nehru%20hostess|text=|plainurl=yes}} |title=Women in power : the personalities and leadership styles of Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, and Margaret Thatcher |last=Steinberg |first=Blema S. |date=2008 |publisher=[[McGill-Queen's University Press]] |isbn=978-0-7735-3356-1 |location=Montreal |page=20 |access-date=2 December 2015}}</ref> Towards the end of the 1950s, Indira Gandhi served as the president of the Congress. In that capacity, she was instrumental in getting the Communist-led [[Government of Kerala|Kerala]] State Government dismissed in 1959.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Upadhyaya |first=Prakash Chandra |date=1989 |title=Review of Marxist State Governments in India, Politics, Economics and Society by T.J. Nossiter |journal=Social Scientist |volume=17 |issue=1/2 January – February 1989 |pages=84–91 |doi=10.2307/3520112 |jstor=3520112}}</ref> Indira was elected as Congress party president in 1959, which aroused criticism for alleged [[nepotism]], although Nehru had actually disapproved of her election, partly because he considered that it smacked of "dynasticism"; he said, indeed it was "wholly undemocratic and an undesirable thing", and refused her a position in his cabinet.<ref name="Frank">{{Cite book| publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin]] Books| page = 250| url = {{Google books|0eolM37FUWYC|page=PA250|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}| isbn = 978-0-395-73097-3| last = Frank| first = Katherine| title = Indira: The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi| year = 2002}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> Indira herself was at loggerheads with her father over policy; most notably, she used his oft-stated personal deference to the [[Congress Working Committee]] to push through the dismissal of the [[Communist Party of India]] government in the state of [[Kerala]], over his own objections.<ref name="Frank" /> Nehru began to be embarrassed by her ruthlessness and disregard for parliamentary tradition and was "hurt" by what he saw as an assertiveness with no purpose other than to stake out an identity independent of her father.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = [[Rowman & Littlefield]]| page = 368| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7i0jGxysUUcC&pg=PAPA368| isbn = 978-0-8476-8442-7| last = Marlay| first = Ross| author2 = Clark D. Neher| title = Patriots and Tyrants: Ten Asian Leaders| year = 1999| access-date = 19 August 2021| archive-date = 5 February 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210205064008/https://books.google.com/books?id=7i0jGxysUUcC&pg=PAPA368| url-status = dead}}</ref>