Memories of our country’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru come to mind on this day. Nehruji was also a great writer and a keen nature lover. All his life, he remained in love with the mighty Himalayas. Today (May 27) is his death anniversary. He died 51 years ago but even today, his memories linger on in the Doon valley and Mussoorie where he spent a lot of time.
On May 26, 1964, Nehru left the Doon valley for New Delhi after a brief vacation. The next afternoon, he passed away. Nehru liked to describe himself as “a child of the Himalayas” and never missed an opportunity to be in close contact with the hills. He had a great love for this valley and spent many holidays here in the fifties and the sixties.
The Circuit House in Dehradun cantonment(now the Raj Bhavan) was where he stayed, usually accompanied by his daughter, Indira. The last four days of his life were spent with his daughter, Indira, visiting old friends and taking leisurely walks in the tranquil gardens of the picturesque “Circuit House’.
Nehru had suffered a minor stroke in January 1964 but soon got back to work. In April 1964, Sheikh Abdullah was released from jail. On May 22, Nehru addressed a press conference and announced that the Sheikh would proceed to Pakistan to talk with President Ayub Khan. Reporters at the press conference noted that Nehru looked tired and weak.
On May 24, Abdullah took an airplane to Rawalpindi on a political mission. The same morning, Nehru flew to Dehradun for a short holiday. On May 25, Nehru visited his old friend, Sri Prakasa, former minister and governor, at Kothalgaon, eight miles uphill on the Doon-Mussoorie route, and returned to Circuit House. It was on the same day that Nehru and Indira visited Sahastradhara late in the afternoon and enjoyed the views of the mountains from the newly constructed PWD guest house.
It was on May 26 that Nehru and Indira were seen off at the cantonment helipad near the Circuit House by a farewell group of 30 people. Commissioner B D Semwal, district magistrate A P Dikshit, police chief R S Sharma and civil surgeon G P Srivastava and Doon’s veteran journalist Raj Kanwar were among those who came to see him off.
The Nehru family, right from the early years, had a very close connection with the Doon valley and Mussoorie and anyone who has read Nehruji’s autobiography will be familiar with this fact. Mussoorie reminded the family of Kashmir, their home State.
Nehruji recalls, in his autobiography, his visit to Mussoorie in October 1930 when his father, Motilal Nehru, was recouping in this hill station. “On October 13th,Kamala and I went off to Mussoorie to spend three days with father. He was looking just a little better, and I was happy to think that he had turned the corner and was getting well; it was good to be back in the family. I remember those quiet and delightful three days well. Indira, my daughter, was there; and my three little nieces, my sister’s daughters …And these three days were the last I was to have with my father before his fatal illness came to snatch him away from me,” he writes.
He was expecting his re-arrest soon.”Kamala and I were going down from Mussoorie on 17th October to be in time for the Peasant Conference at Allahabad on the 19th. At Dehra Dun an order under Section 144 Criminal Procedure Code was served on me almost as I was leaving.” By the evening of 19th October, Nehruji was arrested again and carried off from Allahabad to Naini Prison. The last days he spent with his father were left behind in Mussoorie.
The relationship between the Nehru family and Mussoorie began with Motilal Nehru’s visits to the hill station, mainly for recuperating from illness.His wife, Swaroop Rani and their daughter Vijay lakshmi Pandit , all had a great attachment to this hill station and visited it all throughout their lives.