Gulzarilal Nanda

Nanda tied the knot with Lakshmi. The couple was blessed with three children, two sons and a daughter.

Despite being a well-known politician and leader of the Indian freedom movement, Nanda lived a life with meagre means.

Nanda breathed his last on January 15, 1998 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

Gulzarilal Nanda was born on July 4, 1898 in Sialkotin a Punjabi, Hindu family. Sialkot was then a part of the Punjab province of British India. After the partition of India in 1947 it became a part of Pakistan.

Young Nanda received his early education in Lahore, Amritsar, Agra an Allahabad.

Nanda started his career as a research scholar on Labour problems at Allahabad University. He worked there from 1920 to 1921. Besides his academic career, Nanda kept himself updated with the freedom struggle movement. He was an ardent follower of Gandhi.

In 1921, Nanda took up the post of Professor of Economics at the National College in Bombay. Unable to refrain himself from actively participating in the freedom struggle, Nanda joined the Non Cooperation Movement against the British.

From 1922 until 1946, Nanda served as the secretary of the Ahmedabad Textile Labour Association. In between, Nanda was twice jailed, once in 1932 for his active participation in Satyagraha and later in 1942 for two years. He was freed after two years in 1944.

Meanwhile, in 1937, Nanda was elected to the Bombay Legislative Assembly, wherein he served as the Parliamentary Secretary for Labor and Excise to the Government of Bombay for two years until 1939. In this profile, Nanda actively worked for advancement and progress of the city and its governance.

Nanda worked as the Labour Minister of the Bombay Government from 1946 to 1950. During his tenure as Labour Minister, Nanda successfully carried out several important tasks. He directed the Labour Disputes Bill in the state assembly, served as the Trustee of the Kasturba Memorial Trust, took up the post of the secretary of the Hindustan MazdoorSevakSangh (Indian Labor Welfare Organization), and was the Chairman of the Bombay Housing Board.

Nanda worked as an eminent Indian politician specializing on labour issues. He, in his lifetime, served the Government of India as the Labour Minister and later as the Minister of Home Affairs. A multi-talented personality, he even took up the profile of Irrigation and Power. Though Nanda dedicatedly worked all through, the high point in his career came when he twice took up the post of interim Prime Minister for thirteen days each in 1962 and 1966.