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dated May 8, 1956: Nehru on Motilal

Prime Minister Nehru has said that the three men who influenced him most in his life had been his father, Pandit Motilal Nehru, Gandhiji and Rabindranath Tagore. Replying to an interviewer in a programme of interviews, broadcast on May 6 by All India Radio on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Motilal Nehru, he said that of these three the first two had influenced him more than the last one, "because I came into contact with Tagore rather in the later years when I had been conditioned more or less by my father and Gandhiji. Nevertheless, Rabindranath had a very considerable influence over me. It is interesting to remember that my father and Rabindranath Tagore were born on the same day, month and year." Asked about Motilal Nehru's participation in the national movement, Mr. Nehru said, "He was something like, what is often said, a kind of renaissance prince. As it was, he came into contact with an overpowering personality like Gandhi and the new movement, the new historic sweep that came to India with Gandhi. It was a tremendous struggle for him to uproot himself and to fit himself into this new environment. He faced the struggle and ultimately came to the decision that he must participate in it fully." Mr. Nehru said that while new India was essentially made by Gandhiji's movement, Motilal Nehru had brought into that movement "a new type which was that strong dominant type which might have succeeded in any department of life and at the same time with full control. He preserved his individuality, was a part of the movement, affected the movement, in some directions considerably and I have no doubt had some influence on Gandhiji himself."

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