Prime Minister for 26 days: Remembering Gulzarilal Nanda who served as India's interim PM twice

Gulzarilal Nanda is best known as an Indian politician who served briefly as the Prime Minister twice. He was first appointed as the interim Prime Minister in 1964, after the death of Jawaharlal Nehru and the second time when Lal Bahadur Shastri died in 1966. Nanda was part of the cabinet of both the former Prime Ministers, whom he succeeded and was best known for his work on labour issues. On the occasion of his birth anniversary today, 4 July, let’s have a look at some of the interesting facts related to his life. - Gulzarilal Nanda worked as a research scholar from 1920 to 1921 on labour issues at the Allahabad University, and then, served as a Professor of Economics at the National College in Bombay in 1921. In the same year, he participated in the Indian Non-Cooperation Movement against the British Raj. He was imprisoned for Satyagraha multiple times. He then went on to become the Secretary of the Ahmedabad Textile Labour Association in 1922 and worked there until 1946. - In 1937, he was elected to the Bombay Legislative Assembly and from 1937 to 1939 he served as the Parliamentary Secretary (for Labour and Excise) to the Government of Bombay. Nanda was successful in piloting the Labour Disputes Bill in the state assembly while he worked as a Labour Minister of the Bombay Government between 1946–50. He was the Trustee of the Kasturba Memorial Trust, Chairman of the Bombay Housing Board and Secretary of the Hindustan Mazdoor Sevak Sangh. - Gulzarilal Nanda became the Vice-chairman of the Indian Planning Commission in March 1950, and became the Planning Minister in the Indian Government in September 1951. He was also the incharge of Irrigation and Power. - Nanda became the acting Prime Minister of India for a total of 26 days. At first, in 1964, he became the PM after Jawaharlal Nehru’s demise and again when Lal Bahadur Shastri had passed away in 1966. He remained the Prime Minister for 13 days during each of his term. - On 7 November 1966, thousands of people tried to enter the Indian Parliament in order to force the lawmakers to criminalise cow slaughter. Around eight people died, while hundreds were injured. Following this, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi removed Nanda as the Home Minister. - He is a recipient of the highest and the second-highest civilian honours, Bharat Ratna and Padma Vibhushan in the year 1997. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.