Gulzarilal Nanda Birth Anniversary: Lesser-Known Facts About Former Prime Minister of India

GULZARILAL NANDA BIRTH ANNIVERSARY: Born on July 4, 1898, in undivided Punjab’s Sialkot, Gulzarilal Nanda was an economist and politician who served as the country’s acting Prime Minister twice for 13 days each. Nanda completed his initial education in Lahore, Agra and Allahabad before working as a research scholar at the University of Allahabad in 1920. He then joined as a professor of Economics at Bombay’s (present-day Mumbai) National College.

Nanda was involved in causes of labour welfare and was part of India’s freedom struggle against the British Raj. He joined the Non-Cooperation movement in 1921 and was imprisoned on multiple occasions.

On his 124th birth anniversary today, we take a look at some interesting facts about India’s former acting Prime Minister:

1. While Nanda never became India’s Prime Minister he served as the country’s acting PM twice. The first time, after the demise of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964 and again, two years later, after Lal Bahadur Shastri’s death.
2. An advocate of labour rights, Gulzarilal Nanda was involved in causes of labour welfare since his early days. He played a crucial role in the setting up of the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) in May 1947.
3. Nanda was appointed the Minister of Labour in the government formed after the general election of 1957. He was also appointed Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission
4. Gulzarilal Nanda was sacked from the post of Home Minister of India on November 7, 1966, following an incident where a mob tried entering Parliament to force lawmakers to criminalize cow slaughter. Prime Minister Indra Gandhi removed Nanda from the post after the incident that left eight killed and hundreds injured.
5. Despite being a member of the ruling Congress, Nanda opposed the imposition of the Emergency in 1975. He said that the step made the sacrifice of bringing democracy to India meaningless.
6. Nanda lived a simple lifestyle and had no personal property
7. He was conferred with the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, posthumously in 1997.