Gulzarilal Nanda Birth Anniversary: All You Need To Know About Former Prime Minister

GULZARILAL NANDA BIRTH ANNIVERSARY: Gulzarilal Nanda served as India’s acting Prime Minister twice for 13 days each. He was first selected as the interim Prime Minister in 1964, after the death of Jawaharlal Nehru. The second time Gulzarilal Nanda took charge was when Lal Bahadur Shastri, the second Prime Minister of India, died in 1966.

Nanda served in the cabinet of both Nehru and Shastri. He was most recognised for his work on labour issues and was part of India’s freedom struggle against British rule. In 1921, he joined the Non-Cooperation movement and was imprisoned on multiple occasions.

Gulzarilal Nanda was born on July 4, 1898, in undivided Punjab’s Sialkot, to a Punjabi Hindu family. His education was completed at the universities of Lahore, Amritsar, Allahabad and Agra. He married Lakshmi and they had two sons and a daughter. He died on January 15, 1998.

On his birth anniversary today, July 4, here are some of the interesting facts related to his life:

1. Gulzarilal Nanda was a research scholar on labour issues at Allahabad University before becoming a Professor of Economics at the National College in Bombay. He took part in the Indian Non-Cooperation Movement against British rule the same year.
2. Nanda was imprisoned multiple times for Satyagraha. In 1922, he was appointed Secretary of the Ahmedabad Textile Labour Association, where he remained until 1946.
3. Gulzarilal Nanda was elected to the Bombay Legislative Assembly in 1937, and he served as the Government of Bombay’s Parliamentary Secretary (for Labour and Excise) from 1937 to 1939. He was a Labour Minister in the Bombay Government from 1946 to 1950, and he was successful in piloting the Labour Disputes Bill in the state legislature.
4. Nanda was a Trustee of the Kasturba Memorial Trust, the Chairman of the Bombay Housing Board, and the Secretary of the Hindustan Mazdoor Sevak Sangh.
5. In March 1950, Gulzarilal Nanda was appointed vice-chairman of the Indian Planning Commission, and in September 1951, he was appointed Planning Minister in the government.
6. Thousands of people attempted to infiltrate the Parliament on November 7, 1966, in order to force lawmakers to criminalise cow slaughter. Approximately, eight people were killed, while hundreds were injured. As a result, then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi removed Gulzarilal Nanda as Home Minister.
7. In 1997, he received India’s highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna.