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First Post
27-05-2025
- Politics
- First Post
History Today: When Jawaharlal Nehru passed away after a heart attack
On May 27, 1964, Jawaharlal Nehru, the prime minister of India, passed away after suffering a heart attack at age 74. Nehru is widely known as the architect of modern India and one of the most important leaders of the Indian freedom movement. He had been at the helm for 17 years – guiding the country in the backdrop of monumental events including the US-Soviet Cold War and the 1962 War with China read more Jawaharlal Nehru, also known as 'Pandit Nehru', was the architect of modern India. One of the most monumental moments in India's history took place on May 27, 1964. Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India, passed away after suffering a heart attack at age 74. Nehru, also known as 'Pandit Nehru', was the architect of modern India. In in the pantheons of India's greatest politicians, he remains a titan. If you are a history geek who loves to learn about important events from the past, Firstpost Explainers' ongoing series, History Today will be your one-stop destination to explore key events. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Nehru passes away On the day he died, Jawaharlal Nehru was prime minister of India and a towering national figure. It was the position he had held for 17 straight years – since the country's Independence in 1947. Nehru was born into a Kashmiri Brahmin family in in Allahabad on November 14, 1889 . His father, Motilal Nehru, was a well-known lawyer and leader of the Independence Movement. He also knew Mahatma Gandhi. Nehru was first educated at home. He was then sent abroad – first to Harrow and then to Trinity College in Cambridge. He was not a top student. 'I have become a queer mixture of East and West, out of place everywhere, at home nowhere,' Nehru wrote of his time abroad. On returning to India, Nehru got married to Kamala Kaul. Their only child, Indira, would go on to serve as prime minister. But that came later. Nehru over the next couple of decades became one of the most important leaders of the Indian political movement. He also became close to Mahatma Gandhi – and was widely seen as the heir apparent to the movement. On August 15, 1947, Nehru became Independent India's first prime minister. Lord Louis Mountbatten, viceroy of India, discusses Britain's partition plan with Jawaharlal Nehru and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. File image/AP For the next 17 years, Nehru would guide India through monumental events – including the Cold War between US and the Soviet Union and the 1962 War with China – pursuing a path of non-alignment and policies known as 'Nehruvian socialism.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD He died with his daughter Indira at his side. Nehru's death was greeted by massive shock from by his fellow politicians. The prime minister is no more. The light is out,' an emotional C Subramaniam, a Cabinet minister, told Parliament. Incidentally, Nehru had used the very same phrase – the light is out – while announcing Gandhiji's death. His demise plunged India – its writers, intellectuals, thinkers and the public at large – into a profound sorrow. Nehru, to this day, remains one of the most important and influential politics India has ever seen. Golden Gate bridge opens Also, on May 27, 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge opened for the first time to the public. The bridge, which had been under construction for five years, was a massive undertaking. Over 200,000 people came to gape at the 4,200 square foot suspension bridge connecting San Francisco and Marin County. Work on the bridge began on January 5, 1933 – during the Great Depression. A decade had passed after bridge engineer Joseph Strauss had first proposed building a suspension bridge for around $27 million. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Five years after work began, the Golden Gate Bridge was opened on May 27, 1937, becoming the longest bridge span in the world at the time. File image/Reuters Strauss, who was later elected chief engineer of the project, would be ably assisted by consulting engineer Leon S. Moisseiff, architect Irving F Morrow, and others. Moisseiff and Morrow's contributions cannot be understated. After all, it was Moisseiff who convinced Strauss to build a simple suspension bridge. Morrow and his wife Gertrude, meanwhile, developed the look of the bridge. Morrow also aided in choosing the Golden Gate Bridge's famed colour – 'international orange.' But the work came at a cost. In all, 11 men died during the work on the bridge. At the time of its opening, it was the world's longest bridge. It would hold that record till 1964. The Golden Gate Bridge stands to this day as an engineering marvel. Every year, thousands of people from around the world still come to San Francisco to admire it. This Day, That Year 1660: Denmark and Sweden signed the Treaty of Copenhagen, bringing an end to the major conflict between the two powers. The treaty, alongside the Treaty of Roskilde, determined the modern boundaries of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. 1679: England passed the Habeas Corpus law – putting a dent in the right of kings. The law, which translates to 'you shall have the body,' arguably remains the cornerstone of legal jurisprudence for democracies around the world. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 1897: Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' went on sale in London. The Irish writer is said to have based the character on Prince Vlad III of Wallachia – also known as Vlad The Impaler. From Buffy The Vampire Slayer to Blade and Twilight, the hold of vampires on Pop culture has never since waned. 1933: Disney releases its animated movie Three Little Pigs. The whimsical musical, which preceded Walt Disney's masterpiece Snow White by four years, was a major hit and influenced the direction of the entire animation industry for years to come.
Mint
24-04-2025
- Business
- Mint
Democracy could be the greatest casualty of Trump's war
For all his grandstanding, barely three months since taking office, US President Donald Trump has virtually reversed his headline-grabbing tariffs, barring the de minimis 10% on all countries and 20-25% on steel, aluminium and automobiles. Item-specific tariffs on computers, smartphones and electronic peripherals from China have also been reversed for the moment, with a promise of 'more to come!" It was not too difficult to predict some of these reversals . It is now well known that financial markets were spooked by a fall in US Treasury bond prices, with their rise in yields indicating a lack of faith in the US economy as buyers of this paper turned sellers. This was huge, as US trade deficits are financed by inflows of foreign capital and exports of services. If capital inflows reverse, Trump's budgetary plans would come under threat, as also the global primacy of the dollar. At the same time, China has been pushing its yuan as an alternative to the dollar. The prospect of a tariff-led rise in US inflation while interest rates rose made even his own supporters in the field of business vote with their feet against his tariff policy. Yet, he has persisted with one aspect of his agenda, by raising tariffs on China to ridiculous three-digit levels. So, in the end, it boils down to a US versus China game. The question, however, is: Was it only about tariffs or does he (and his trade team led by Peter Navarro) have a long-term plan? Is there any method to this madness? And what is the role of geopolitics in all this? To understand this, we must go back to the early 1990s, when Mikhail Gorbachev's ' perestroika ' policy led to a break-up of the Soviet Union. One consequence was an end to the US-Soviet Cold War, reflected in the political and economic standoff between North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) countries (which formed the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development or OECD) and Warsaw Pact countries (which morphed into the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance or what came to be known as the Comecon group). The Cold War was a confrontation of ideologies: democracy versus communism. But a world split into two blocs was excellent for most countries, including developing ones, as they could use the face-off to resist economic pressures from the developed world. To take an example, developing countries were exempt from tariff reciprocity under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947. The US actually extended to all countries more tariff concessions than it got just to bring them into the democratic fold. To take another example, despite the close economic and political relations between India and the Soviet Union in the 1960s, it was the US that lent a helping hand during the India-China war of the early 60s and the food crisis later that decade. US President John F. Kennedy spoke of India as a 'strategic ally' vis-a-vis China, although what Richard Nixon thought about India (as we now know) probably captured Washington's political position more accurately. Many other such examples can be found. This came to an end in the early 1990s with the end of the Cold War. In the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO), it was clear that non-reciprocity for developing countries had come to an end. Economic relations have been frosty at WTO ministerial meetings. There was some hope that the relatively socialist EU might form the basis of a new 'cold war'. European prosperity in the 1980s had led to an economically strong group of 15 EU countries that could potentially challenge the US. However, the end of the Cold War forced the EU's economic plan to turn into a 'security' arrangement as well. The Maastricht Treaty of 1993 had expanded its membership to 27 nations by 2003, with East European countries joining that had broken away from the former Soviet bloc. The subsequent EU economic crisis shook its unity. Finally, the possibility of China emerging as a new 'countervailing force' always existed. However, after China joined the WTO in 2001, it was far more interested in pursuing economic development (based on US trade) than participating in international politics. To Beijing, economic prosperity via trade was important for internal politics. In his declared unilateralism, Trump has made it clear that the old Cold War dynamic is gone and what's at stake now is economic hegemony. So, as far as he is concerned, it is the US versus China in economic terms (the rest is a diversion) and countries must pick sides in this new stand-off. Unfortunately, an anti-immigrant stance and the suspension of many civil liberties within the US seem to be the price he considers worth making his country pay to make it 'great again.' If Trump's civic agenda persists, the casualty in this war for economic hegemony would be democracy. That is what economic domination at any cost could come to mean. Most developing countries will likely choose to side with the US. On the other hand, EU countries (with significant economic giants like Germany) have again been asked to stand up and be counted. Will the EU emerge as a countervailing force, given the strong democratic ethos in most of its constituents? Will the 'lazy European' awaken from slumber to challenge Trump? Today's geopolitical war could end in various ways. The great casualty across the world will be democracy. The author is visiting professor, Shiv Nadar University
