HT Archives: PM Nehru dies, grief and shock shroud country

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru has died following a heart attack. His passing has plunged the nation into deep mourning reminiscent of Gandhi's assassination.

New Delhi Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru is dead. His life ebbed away a little before 2pm. He had been unconscious since early in the morning.

HT Archives: PM Nehru dies, grief and shock shroud country

At about 6.30am Mr Nehru suffered a heart attack combined with what the doctors described as a “shock”.

The news of his death plunged the country into deep gloom the likes of which it had not experienced since Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination 16 years before. In Parliament. members looked dazed as they heard the sad news.

Besides his grief-stricken daughter Mrs Indira Gandhi, those present by his bedside at the time of his death were Mr Gulzarilal Nanda, Mr TT Krishnamachari and Mr Lal Bahadur Shastri, President Radhakrishnan and Vice-President Zakir Hussain joined them as soon as they heard the news. Most of them stood sadly round his room since early morning when it became known that he was gravely ill.

The shock caused by his death was all the greater because those who had seen him only yesterday on his return from Dehradun had found him cheerful and in apparent good health.

This morning, Mr Nehru woke up looking and feeling perfectly normal. At 6.20am, however, he complained of a pain in the back and a feeling of uneasiness. The doctors were immediately summoned. They diagnosed a heart attack.

Nearly 10 leading doctors of Delhi were in attendance. But from almost the very start, it was feared that they were fighting a losing battle.

At 11.30am, the Prime Minister was reported to be sinking. By 1.30pm, his condition was declared as “grave and desperate.”

Mr Nehru lost consciousness soon after the attack in the morning. He never regained it.

Parliament. which began its special session this morning, was first given the news of his illness when it assembled at 11am. Mr Nanda made the brief announcement in the Lok Sabha and Mr Krishnamachari in the Rajya Sabha.

It was left to Mr C Subramaniam to announce to the Lok Sabha the sad news that the Prime Minister was dead. Using an expression which was a variation of what Mr Nehru had himself employed to describe the passing away of Mahatma Gandhi, Mr Subramaniam said: “The light is out.”

Many members wept as they heard the news. MPs rushed to the Prime Minister’s House to pay their homage to the departed leader Dr Syed Mahmud, a close associate of Mr Nehru, and many others were sobbing as they walked into the Prime Minister’s House.

Formally attired diplomats wearing black bands around their arms arrived at the Prime Minister’s house to place wreaths on behalf of their respective governments. A group of saffron-robed Buddhist monks brought incense. They stood silently near the main porch of the house and prayed.

Mr Nehru’s sisters, MrS Vijayalakshmi Pandit and Mrs Krishna Hutheesing, rushed to Delhi by a special plane but they arrived only after the Prime Minister had expired.

A distraught Sheikh Abdullah telephoned from Pakistan and announced his intention to rush to Delhi immediately. Congress president K Kamaraj, who was on a tour of south India, reached the Capital a couple of hours after Mr Nehru’s death. Most state chief ministers and several governors had arrived in the Capital by the evening to attend the funeral tomorrow.

A remark that Mr Nehru had made only five days ago at his last press conference lends a touch of irony to today’s tragic happening. Asked if he would consider grooming a successor during his lifetime. Mr Nehru had remarked lightly. “My lifetime is not ending soon.”

Mr Nehru had suffered a paralytic stroke on January 7. He recovered from it, but not fully. However, thanks to his enormous zest for life. Mr Nehru always hated to think of himself as ill. He often chafed under the restraints that his doctors had imposed on him. He was always eager to live and act normally. This month alone he undertook three trips outside Delhi, at least two of which were physically fairly arduous.

On May 4, he flew for a day to Bhaisalotan on the Indo-Nepal border to be present at the opening of the Gandak Barrage. The following week, he went to Bombay to attend the AICC meeting and took an active part in its deliberations. Last weekend he flew to Dehradun for a brief rest. To reach Dehradun, he flew first in an Ilyushin aircraft and later by helicopter.