Speaker

The speaker of “Tryst with Destiny” is the Indian politician Jawaharlal Nehru.

At the time of the speech, Jawaharlal Nehru officially became the first Prime Minister of independent India, a position he would hold until his death in 1964. 

Educated in Law at Cambridge University, Nehru had vast political experience behind him, as he had been a dominant figure in the Indian National Congress Party since the 1920s.

The Indian National Congress Party was at the time a nationalist party and the strongest political force in the fight for Indian independence. Under Gandhi’s leadership, the party developed a social-liberal orientation, its main policy being to improve the lives of the poor and the marginalised. This ideology is also conveyed through Nehru’s speech: “The service of India means the service of the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity.” (p. 27, ll. 11-13).

The speaker announces his government platform, which mirrors the Indian National Congress’ orientation towards democracy and promoting social justice: “…to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of life ...