At the time of partition, Nehru was not the first choice for the post of Prime Minister of Independent India rather he was voted down for it. Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel was being considered as the best candidate. It is believed that Nehru jeopardized Patel's candidature for the PM as he wanted to run for office. The members were also asked by Mahatma Gandhi to change their decision so that Nehru could become the first PM of India.   Nehru was awarded Bharat Ratna (highest civilian award given by Government of India) which constitutionally is recommended by the Prime Minister to the President, Nehru recommended his name for the Bharat Ratna which is looked down by many critics in our society. [1]   Various sections of the society widely criticised Nehru's decision of acquiring Kashmir through the Instrument of Accession which is considered as the birth of the issue of Kashmir in the present. [2]   During his graduation, he started studying politics, history, economics, and literature and became an avid reader of writers like H. G. Wells, Bernard Shaw, J.M. Keynes, Lowes Dickinson, Bertrand Russell, and Meredith Townsend, which brought changes in his economic and political perception. In 1912, he was called to the Bar (It is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions when a person is eligible to argue in a court on behalf of another party).  In 1927, due to Nehru's efforts of internationalizing the Indian independence struggle, India was invited to attend the Congress of oppressed nationalities in Brussels in Belgium where Nehru represented the country.  On 15 August 1947, India won its independence, and Jawaharlal Nehru became India's first Prime Minister. He delivered a speech 'Tryst with Destiny' which reads,  Did Jawaharlal Nehru drink alcohol?: Yes  Nehru was not satisfied with the working of the moderates of the Congress and hence got involved with extremist nationalist leaders who proposed Home Rule for the Indians. In 1916, extremists, Annie Besant, and Bal Gangadhar Tilak formed 'Indian Home Rule League' and 'Home Rule League,' respectively. Nehru joined both the movements but worked predominantly for his family friend, Annie Besant.  Shortly after joining the Theosophical Society, his tutor Ferdinand T. Brooks departed as his tutor. Nehru's interest in Theosophy soon too vanished and he left society. He wrote for his tutor that 'for nearly three years (Brooks) was with me and in many ways, he influenced me greatly.'  In 1929, during the Lahore session, under Nehru's Presidentship of Congress, he called for the complete independence from the British Raj and decided that 26 January 1930 will be celebrated as India's Independence Day. He hoisted the tricolour flag of India in Lahore at the midnight of New Year's Eve 1929.  'Decidedly the atmosphere was not intellectually stimulating, and a sense of the utter insipidity of life grew upon me,' He wrote. His inclination towards politics eventually replaced his legal practice.  '[The] Japanese victories [had] stirred up my enthusiasm … Nationalistic ideas filled my mind … I mused of Indian freedom and Asiatic freedom from the thraldom of Europe.'  In 1912, he returned to India and got himself enrolled as an advocate in the Allahabad High Court. He wanted to carry forward his father's legacy as a barrister, but he did not enjoy the practice of law.  During World War I, many including Frank Moraes believed that Nehru's sympathy was with France, as he admired the culture of that country.  Did Jawaharlal Nehru smoke?: Yes  In 1912, Nehru attended his first ever annual session of the Indian National Congress (at that time, Congress was a party of moderates who believed in the justice of British Government and took the path of non-violence) in Patna. Nehru actively supported the Indian civil rights movement in South Africa led by Mahatma Gandhi. Later, Nehru campaigned for many other such discriminations including the campaign against the indentured labour, faced by Indians in the British colonies.  On 31 October 1940, he was again arrested for offering individual Satyagraha against India's enforced involvement in World War 2.  His father, Motilal Nehru, parted Jawaharlal's education at home by tutors and private governesses. He was pretty much influenced by the subject 'science and theosophy' under his tutor Ferdinand T. Brooks, which led him to join the Theosophical Society at age thirteen with a family friend, Annie Besant.  Upon his release from jail, Nehru found that Muhammad Ali Jinnah's 'Muslim league' had become much stronger. Though initially, he opposed the partition of India and Pakistan but could not change the fate under Lord Mountbatten's pressure.  Subhash Chandra Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru worked together to develop India's strong relations with governments of free countries, but they split in the late 1930s when Nehru decided to support the Republicans against Francisco Franco's forces amidst the Spanish Civil War. A dictator of Italy, Benito Mussolini, expressed his wish to meet Nehru, he refused to meet him. Whereas, Subhash Chandra Bose shook hands with fascists to oust British out of India.  Nehru's longest and also the last detention was for moving the 'Quit India' resolution at the A.I.C.C. session (Bombay) on 8 August 1942, and he was taken to Ahmednagar Fort along with other leaders. In all, Nehru was arrested nine times till India got independence.  The Lucknow Pact (1916), which holds its importance for uniting Hindu-Muslims, was held at the Nehru residence at Anand Bhawan. The same year Nehru got married to Kamala Nehru.  In 1930, he was arrested for six months for promoting the Civil Disobedience movement with a satyagraha against the salt tax put up by the British. He wanted Gandhi Ji to become the President of Congress in his absence, but when Gandhi Ji refused to take his post, he nominated his father to become his successor.  'first introduction to the religious and cultural heritage of [India]…[they] provided Nehru the initial impulse for [his] long intellectual quest which culminated…in The Discovery of India.'  His autobiography 'Toward Freedom,' also know as 'An Autobiography' was released on 14 February 1935 in Almora jail.  '[Besant] had a very powerful influence on me in my childhood… even later when I entered political life her influence continued,' he remarked. Later, he went on to become the secretary of Besant's Home Rule League.  During his schooling from Harrow, England, he admired G. M. Trevelyan's Garibaldi books which he received as a reward for his academic excellence. He considered Garibaldi as a revolutionary hero and wrote: 'Visions of similar deeds in India came before, of (my) gallant fight for (Indian) freedom and in my mind, India and Italy got strangely mixed together.'  During World War I, Nehru was emerging as an eminent political leader, though Gopal Krishna Gokhale (known as the political guru of Mahatma Gandhi) held the domination of political discourse. Whereas Nehru had already urged the nationalists the need of, 'politics of non-cooperation, the need of resigning from honorary positions under the government and of not continuing the futile politics of representation.'  Nehru was born in a wealthy family, having grown up in a privileged atmosphere including the Anand Bhavan (situated in Allahabad, built by Motilal Nehru), describing his childhood as 'sheltered and uneventful one.' 

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