Motilal Nehru

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About Motilal Nehru

Personal Life

Motilal Nehru was born in Agra to Gangadhar Nehru, a Kotwal of Delhi and his wife Jeorani.
Gangadhar Nehru died three months before Motilal was born.
Raised by an elder brother who moved the whole family to Allahabad in order to practice law there.
Motilal studied in Allahabad and in 1883, passed his High Court exam. He then went to Cambridge University and studied to become a barrister.
Returning to India, he started his legal practice in Kanpur and later shifted to Allahabad.
He westernised completely in his attire and lifestyle. Later, In 1920, under Gandhi’s influence, he renounced his western ways.
He died in 1931 aged 69.

His Contribution toward National Movement

After joining the INC, he became involved in the freedom movement.
He served as the organisation’s president twice, for the first time in 1919 (Amritsar) and then in 1928 (Calcutta).
He was even the president of the Allahabad branch of the Home Rule League started by Annie Besant.
In 1918, he broke away from the moderate faction of the INC and began advocating more radical reforms from the government. He still favoured only constitutional means to achieve this purpose.
Motilal later joined the He was arrested for his involvement in the non-cooperation movement along with Jawaharlal Nehru. Although initially close to Gandhi, he openly criticised Gandhi’s suspension of civil resistance in 1922 due to the murder of policemen by a riotous mob in Chauri Chaura in Uttar Pradesh.
When Gandhi cancelled the movement because of the Chauri Chaura incident, he parted ways with the INC and formed the Swarajya Party along with CR Das.
Swaraj Party, which sought to enter the British-sponsored councils. Motilal had been elected to the United Provinces Legislative Council where he staged the first walk-out in protest of the rejection of a resolution he had moved.
He became a member of the Central Legislative Assembly in 1923 serving as the Leader of the Opposition.
Nehru Report: In the aftermath of the Indian leaders’ opposition to the Simon Commission, the Secretary of State for India, Lord Birkenhead dared Indians to draw up a constitution, indirectly insinuating that Indians were not up to the challenge as they could not find a common path. The Indian leadership took up the challenge and formed a committee for this purpose cutting across party lines. Motilal was the chairman of this committee. This report was submitted at the all-party Lucknow session in 1928 becoming one of the earliest attempts by Indians to frame a constitution.
In 1929, he resigned from active politics due to ill-health.