Jawaharlal Nehru's Speech on the Assassination of Mahatma M. K. Gandhi

Introduction

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) was one of Mahatma Gandhi's most devoted followers and this speech he gave on Air India Radio on the day that Gandhi was assassinated is one of his most sensitive and one of his finest. Along with his "Tryst with Destiny" speech, given to mark India's independence in August 1947, this talk must rank as one of his most memorable and one of the elevated speeches of history. At this time of tragedy, when Nehru was visibly brokenhearted, he called for the continuation of Gandhi's teachings of love for others, for nonviolence, and for living up to the great principles by which he lived his life. Nehru and Gandhi were so different in many ways, not least of which was their attitude toward modernization. Nehru was a Utopian Marxist who believed in socialistic planning and industrialization while Gandhi had little faith in either. Yet Nehru, like so many people, was devoted to Gandhi from the time that he first followed Gandhi in "National Week" in 1919 to protest the Black Acts. For Nehru as well as for many others, Gandhi was an enigma and his ways and methods were sometimes hard to comprehend. But time and again, as during the Salt March of 1930, Nehru recognized the brilliance of Gandhi's tactics in Indian eyes and followed him devotedly. For some thirty years Nehru would seek Gandhi out or, as he put in his broadcast, he would "run to him and seek solace from him." This devotion of Nehru (himself one of the great figures of history) to Gandhi, and his depiction of the role that Gandhi played for him and for India and the world is sensitively portrayed in this broadcast.