Jawāharlāl Nehrū (English spelling)

Indian politician and thinker. First Prime Minister of the Republic of India (in office 1947-1964). Popularly known as Panditji. Born as the eldest son of Motilal Nehru, a prominent and wealthy lawyer in Allahabad, North India. His younger sister, Vijayelakshmi Pandit, served as an ambassador to the United Nations, among other positions. In 1905, he moved to England, where he studied at Harrow College and then at Trinity College, Cambridge. He qualified as a barrister at the Inner Temple Court and returned to India in 1912. In 1916, he married Kamala, and the following year, in 1917, Indira (later to become Prime Minister of India) was born.

Not satisfied with court life, he participated in the first Satyagraha (non-violent resistance) struggle that began in 1919 under the leadership of M. Gandhi, and embarked on a full-fledged political movement. There was a big gap between Gandhi, who was conservative in a sense and stuck to metaphysical ideals, and Nehru, who had little interest in religion and was characterized by rationalistic thinking, and the two men often clashed, but Gandhi was always concerned with the balance of power within the Congress Party and worked to establish Nehru's position within it. With Gandhi's support, he became the Congress Party's general secretary in 1928, and then took on the important role of chairman four times, starting in 1929, 1936 (twice a year), and 1946. During this time, he spent a total of nine years in prison as a political prisoner nine times. After attending the Congress of the Oppressed Nationalities in Brussels in 1927, he visited the then Soviet Union in November of the same year, and showed a strong interest in building socialism there. In his speech as the chairman of the Congress Party in 1929, he set out socialism as the direction of India's future. In the same year, he became chairman of the All India Trade Union Congress. As Gandhi's voice weakened after the Second Satyagraha struggle of 1930-1934, he represented the radical group within the Congress Party together with Subhash C. Bose and others. He also assisted in the formation of the Congress Party Socialist Party in 1934, but did not participate himself due to the existence of right-wing forces within the Congress Party. In 1938, he visited China.

With India's independence in 1947, he became the country's first Prime Minister and also held the post of Foreign Minister, and together with Sardar Patel, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, he embarked on an ambitious nation-building effort. In the economic sphere, he adopted policies such as a planned economy and an emphasis on the state-run sector, but under the Congress Party government, where the landlord and capitalist classes had a strong voice, the construction of a socialist society as envisioned could not be advanced. In politics, he placed emphasis on establishing parliamentary democracy and strengthening the Congress Party's influence within it. In diplomacy, he concluded the Five Principles of Peace with China in 1954, and played a leading role in the Asian-African Conference in Bandung the following year in 1955, which was based on these principles. He continued to play an active role internationally as a major player in solidarity with the Third World and in the development of non-aligned diplomacy. Meanwhile, from the late 1950s onwards, a political crisis intensified domestically due to incomplete land reform and failure to achieve the goals of the Five-Year Plan. Huge military expenditures and an excessive reliance on increasingly bloated foreign capital cast a dark shadow over the economic policies of the Nehru administration. In particular, after India's defeat in the Sino-Indian border conflict in 1962, Nehru's leadership position declined significantly. Then, as the issue of his successor came to the fore, he died of old age on May 27, 1964. He wrote many books, including Soviet Russia (1929), but his most well-known works in Japan were his Autobiography (1936), A Father's Guide to World History to His Son (original title A Glimpse of World History, 1939), and The Discovery of India (1946), all of which were written while in prison. He visited Japan in 1957 (Showa 32).

[Masao Naito]

"Nehru" by Nakamura Heiji (1966, Shimizu Shoin) " ▽ "Gandhi and Nehru" by Yamaori Tetsuo (1974, Hyoronsha)" ▽ "World History Told by Father to Son" translated by Oyama Satoshi, 6 volumes (1965-1966, Misuzu Shobo)" ▽ "The Discovery of India" translated by Tsuji Naoshirou, Iizuka Koji and Royama Yoshiro, 2 volumes (1953, 1956, Iwanami Shoten)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

インドの政治家、思想家。インド共和国初代首相（在職1947～1964）。パンディットジーの名で親しまれた。北インド、アラハバードの著名で富裕な弁護士モーティーラール・ネルーの長男として生まれる。すぐ下の妹が国連大使などを務めたビジャエラクシュミー・パンディット。1905年にイギリスに渡り、ハロー校を経てケンブリッジ大学トリニティ・カレッジで学ぶ。インナー・テンプル法院からバリスター（法廷弁護士）の資格を得て、1912年帰国。1916年カマラーと結婚、翌1917年インディラ（のちにインド首相）誕生。

　法廷生活に飽き足らず、M・ガンディーの指導下で1919年に始まった第一次サティヤーグラハ（非暴力抵抗）闘争に参加し、完全に政治運動に踏み切る。ある意味で保守的で形而上(けいじじょう)学的理念に固執するガンディーと、宗教への関心も薄く合理主義的思考が顕著なネルーの間には大きな隔たりがあり、しばしば両者は衝突したが、ガンディーはつねに国民会議派内の勢力のバランスに心を砕き、そのなかでのネルーの地位の確立に努めた。ガンディーの支持によって、1928年の会議派書記長を経て、1929年を皮切りに1936年（年2回）および1946年と4度も会議派議長の重責を担う。この間、9回、通算9年間を政治犯として獄中で過ごす。1927年にブリュッセルでの被抑圧諸民族会議に出席したあと、同年11月、当時のソ連を訪問し、そこでの社会主義建設に強い関心を示す。1929年の会議派大会議長演説では将来のインドの方向として社会主義を掲げた。同年全インド労働組合会議議長。1930～1934年の第二次サティヤーグラハ闘争のあとガンディーの発言力が後退するなかで、スバーシュ・C・ボースらとともに会議派内急進グループを代表した。1934年の会議派社会党結成にも助力するが、会議派内右派勢力の存在を考慮して自らは不参加。1938年には中国を訪れる。

　1947年のインド独立とともに外相を兼ねる初代首相となり、副首相兼内務相のサルダール・パテールとともに意欲的な国家建設に着手。経済面では計画経済や国営部門重視などの政策をとるが、地主・資本家階級の発言力が強い会議派政権の下では、かつて構想した社会主義社会の建設は進められなかった。政治面では議会制民主主義の定着とそのなかでの会議派勢力の強化に重点が置かれた。外交面では1954年に中国との間で平和五原則を結び、翌1955年この原則に基づいたバンドンでのアジア・アフリカ会議で指導的役割を果たした。その後も第三世界の連帯、非同盟外交展開の主要な担い手として国際的に活躍した。一方、1950年代後半以降、土地改革の不徹底、5か年計画の目標の不達成などによって、国内的には政治的危機が高まった。軍事費の莫大(ばくだい)な支出、しだいに肥大化する外国資本への過度の依存などがネルー政権の経済政策に暗い影を投げかけた。とくに1962年の中印国境紛争でインドが敗北したあとは、ネルーの指導的地位が著しく低下した。そして後継者問題が表面化するなかで、1964年5月27日に老衰のため死去した。『ソビエト・ロシア』（1929）はじめ著書も多いが、ことに日本でもよく知られている『自伝』（1936）、『父が子に語る世界歴史』（原題『世界史瞥見(べっけん)』1939）、『インドの発見』（1946）はいずれも獄中で執筆されたものである。1957年（昭和32）来日している。

［内藤雅雄］

『中村平治著『ネルー』（1966・清水書院）』▽『山折哲雄著『ガンディーとネルー』（1974・評論社）』▽『大山聡訳『父が子に語る世界歴史』全6巻（1965～1966・みすず書房）』▽『辻直四郎・飯塚浩二・蝋山芳郎訳『インドの発見』全2巻（1953、1956・岩波書店）』

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