AHMEDABAD, Jan 15: Gulzarilal Nanda, who was passed away today was twice India's interim prime minister and the architect of India's First Five Year plan. He was a man who always said ``simple living is the automatic way to prevent corruption.He lived up to his self- imposed code of conduct of simplicity and austerity. When he died today, a simple lamp was all that was near him.
And with Gulzarilal Nanda, the country has perhaps lost its last well-known Gandhian whose bank balance never exceeded a few thousand rupees. In fact he ensured that his expenditure did not cross a thousand every month.
Obviously, he would set an exemplary example amongst the modern day khadi clad lot. The modest man who was once considered a key member of Jawaharlal Nehru's inner circle died away from the limelight.
Born on July 4, 1898 at Badhoki village near Gujranwala in Sialkot, now Pakistan, Nanda went to Allahbad University where he did his double Master of Arts. Later he taught Economics at a college in Mumbai
before joining the non co-operation movement in 1921. Nanda came in contact with Mahatma Gandhi in Bombay, who instructed him to join the national movement and to organise the labour force in Ahmedabad.
In 1921, Nanda arrived in Ahmedabad, which was teeming with a large number of textile mills and was known as the ``Manchester of India'', with a mission and built up Mazdoor Mahajan Sangh.
However his first actual foray in politics was in 1937, when he became the parliamentary secretaries minister in the then Mumbai Vidhansabha.There was no looking back thereafter. After Indeopendence,he went on to become the head of the first planning commission and authored the First Five Year Plan.He contested the first general elections of the country in 1952 and became the Union minister for planning. In 1964, when Jawaharlal Nehru died,he became an interim prime minister. Sixteen days later he stepped down in favour of Lal Bahadur Shastri.However two years thereafter when Shastri died,he was once again made the
acting prime ministe.This time he ruled for 14 days before passing the reins to Indira Gandhi.He earned the epithet of stephney prime minister.The same year he resigned as the Home Minister.He came back for a brief time in `72 as the Raliway Minister and then quit politics.
Nanda moved to Ahmedabad in 1986, with his wife Lakshmi, who died a year later. He moved with his daughter Dr Pushpa Naik with whom he lived till the end. The principles that Nanda lived for would be encarved in the minds of the people forever. That the man has died without a single biographer penning his life is unfortunate but then Nanda would have never allowed any one interfere in his personal life.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
