LUCKNOW: In early 1959, when then Lucknow University vice-chancellor KAS Iyer was informed by a smug student that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru would visit the campus to inaugurate their union, he had scoffed in disbelief. "Impossible!" Iyer had exclaimed.
But, on March 3 that year, Nehru indeed came to the city and launched the Lucknow University Students' Union (LUSU)
The 21-year-old BA student who had shown the temerity to invite the country's first PM to a campus event was none other than Jagdish Gandhi, the founding manager of City Montessori School. He had just become the president of LUSU and was determined to have Nehru at the launch. "I was kind of confident that the PM would not turn down the request of a student from a university with which he shared a strong bond. So, I just landed up at
Teen Murti Bhavan
(Nehru's residence in Delhi) to invite him," Jagdish Gandhi recalled.
Since Nehru's daughter and private secretary
Indira Gandhi was meeting members of the Youth Congress that day, his friends and he took a chance. "I told her I was the president of Lucknow University Students' Union and that we, students, wanted Panditji (Nehru) to be present on our big day (union inauguration)," Gandhi said.
The next day, Gandhi met Nehru. He was asked why he wanted the PM to inaugurate LUSU. He told Nehru how inspired the student community in Lucknow and across the country would be to hear the PM's address. The request was thus graciously accepted.
Gandhi fondly reminisces how the arts quadrangle was jam-packed with students and teachers eager to catch a glimpse of the PM. Addressing students, Nehru said, "Don't be proud of coming to power by winning elections. Use that power to promote healthy academic activities, like organising lectures, debates and seminars."
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