On Jawaharlal Nehru’s birth anniversary on 14th November, an archive video of the celebrations of his birthday back in 1954 as Prime Minister of India has gone viral on social media.
As per British Pathé, a UK-based producer of documentaries and newsreels from 1910 to 1970, the above video was part of celebration of Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday in 1954. In an almost personality cult-like celebrations, Nehru had arrived to a huge, cheering crowd accepting garlands from all. He then moved to New Delhi stadium where a huge crowd of about 50,000 had gathered to celebrate his birthday.
Nehru, like one sees in movies where Mughal emperors threw their necklaces and jewellery towards the servants out of sheer happiness, was seen throwing away the garlands from around his neck for the crowd to collect. The crowd was chanting ‘Chacha Nehru’, a moniker that was bestowed on him.
About 2,000 youths had gathered to show off their calisthenics to celebrate Nehru’s birthday.
Over the years, our history textbooks and media and so-called historians have made us believe that 14th November, Nehru’s birthday, is celebrated as ‘Children’s Day’ after his demise and that too ‘because he loved children’. However, that is not true.
One VM Kulkarni, who was a United Nations Social Welfare Fellow, was carrying out a study on the rehabilitation of children who had been victims of crimes in the UK. He realised that India has no such mechanism to take of underprivileged children. He got inspired by the fact that in England, June 19, Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday, is observed as Flag Day to raise money for Save the Child Fund and suggested that Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday too, be observed as Flag Day to raise money.
Kulkarni’s proposal to the UN was accepted It is reported that while Nehru was ’embarrassed’ at first, he accepted it too when his permission was sought. An international fair was organised by the Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) in 1951 and it was in 1951 that the day started being observed as Children’s Day.
So in 1954, when above video was shot, it was already the third year Nehru’s birthday was celebrated as ‘Children’s Day’.
Further, ICCW was not an independent body as one might believe, either. It was inextricably linked to the political dispensation and the Nehru-Gandhi family.
The first President of ICCW, from 1952 to 1958 was Rajkumari Amrit Kaur. Amrit Kaur became part of Jawaharlal Nehru’s first Cabinet and was the first woman to hold Cabinet rank. The next President of ICCW, from 1958 to 1964 was former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi herself.
Not just historical accounts, there are stamps commemorating ‘Children’s Day’ that were issued as early as 1957, which go on to prove beyond doubt that Children’s Day was celebrated while Pandit Nehru was alive.
Above stamps were issued by India post before 1964, the year in which Jawaharlal Nehru died. The celebration of Children’s Day as a means to glorify Pandit Nehru is nothing but a persona created by Nehru courtiers and the Dynasty.
