Motilal Nehru


Nehru, Motilal

 

Born May 6, 1861, in Agra; died Feb. 6, 1931, in Lucknow. Prominent figure in the Indian national liberation movement and a leader of the Indian National Congress. A prominent lawyer; father of Jawaharlal Nehru.

In 1919 and 1928, Motilal Nehru was elected president of the Congress. In 1923 he was one of the founders of the Swaraj (Freedom) Party, which he helped lead as an arm of the Congress. Nehru drafted a constitution in 1928 that proposed dominion status for India. He was highly sympathetic to the USSR, which he visited in 1927, and drew attention to the need to apply Soviet experience in developing the economy and culture of India after its liberation.