ABSTRACT
In 1927 Nehru had declared, in a Congress Party statement, that India sought independence from Britain. The pattern of protest and imprisonment continued through the end of World War II, when Nehru was released to negotiate the withdrawal of the British from India. Nehru reluctantly concluded that British India had to be partitioned into Muslim Pakistan and mostly Hindu India, even though he, like Gandhi, supported a pluralistic society. In 1947, Nehru, who became India's first prime minister, had to declare martial law to contain the violence that had resulted in over a million deaths. In 1951, Nehru unveiled India's first Five Year Plan, stressing increased agricultural productivity. Nehru was a democratic socialist who helped to establish and legitimize a multiparty parliamentary system in India. Nehru sought a mixed economy, where established industries, farms, and commerce remained in private hands, but where the state played a role in economic development.
