Modi, Rajnath Singh and Stalin remember Nehru on his 137th birth anniversary, as India marks Children's Day

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to Jawaharlal Nehru on Saturday morning, November 14, on the 137th anniversary of the birth of India’s first Prime Minister, a day the country also observes as Children’s Day. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh did the same, and DMK president M K Stalin used the occasion for a message on children’s welfare. All three posted on X, and the first reports of the messages appeared between about 8:55 am and 9:10 am IST.

Modi’s message was short. He wrote that he was paying tribute to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on his birth anniversary, and added nothing further. Rajnath Singh wrote: “On the birth anniversary of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Ji, I pay my tributes to him.” The Defence Minister also praised Nehru’s part in the freedom struggle and his leadership as the first Prime Minister of independent India.

What the leaders said

Nehru was born in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, on November 14, 1889. Modi is in the middle of a two-day tour of Karnataka and Gujarat, which began on Friday with the Pink Line metro stretch and ₹15,600 crore of projects in Bengaluru; our report on that visit has the full programme.

Stalin’s message was the longest of the three. Writing on Children’s Day, he said that a better future starts with a happy present: “the first step towards creating a better future for children is ensuring that they have a happy present.” He pointed to welfare and education measures from earlier DMK governments, among them vaccination drives, eggs in the nutritious meal scheme and free bus travel for students, and said the later Dravidian Model governments had widened them.

He named the Anbu Karangal scheme, the Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme, Illam Thedi Kalvi, Ennum Ezhuthum and the Vaanavil Mandram, which cover nutrition, schooling, health care and children’s interests, and a cervical cancer vaccination programme for adolescent girls. He ended by asking children to look beyond digital screens, wishing that their world would grow “beyond the glow of screens into the light of knowledge.”

Why the day falls on November 14

Nehru was known as “Chacha Nehru” for his affection for children, and he regarded them as central to the nation’s future, stressing their education and development. Before his death in 1964, Children’s Day in India fell on November 20, the date the United Nations recognises as World Children’s Day. After he died, Parliament passed a resolution to observe the day on his birth anniversary, November 14, instead.

The day is also called Bal Diwas. It is meant as a reminder to protect children’s rights and to ensure that every child has access to education, health care and opportunities to grow. Schools mark it with morning assemblies on Nehru’s vision, cultural programmes, sports and competitions.

How November 14 became Children's Day

1. November 14, 1889Jawaharlal Nehru is born in Prayagraj
2. Before 1964India observes Children's Day on November 20, the UN date
3. 1964After Nehru's death, Parliament moves the day to November 14
4. November 14, 2026The 137th birth anniversary of Nehru
5. November 20, 2026UN World Children's Day

Children’s issues on our pages this month

The anniversary falls after a month in which children’s rights and safety came up repeatedly in the news. On October 17 the Supreme Court ruled that children have a fundamental right to the internet, rejecting blanket bans on access. On October 14, 13 children drowned when a boat capsized in the Ganga at Raghopur in Bihar. Stalin’s reference to screens touches the same debate over how children use the internet that the court addressed.

The schemes Stalin listed are Tamil Nadu’s own, so they concern children in that state. His list of vaccination, meals, free bus travel and the new cervical cancer vaccination drive shows what a state government can offer in health and schooling.

What happens next

Schools across the country hold their Children’s Day assemblies and programmes through the day. The next date on the calendar is November 20, when the United Nations marks World Children’s Day, the day on which India itself observed the occasion until 1964. Further tributes to Nehru, including those of leaders from the Congress, which Nehru led, were still to be reported when this story was written at 9:30 am IST, and we will update this report if the President, the Congress leadership or other parties issue statements.

The Prime Minister’s tour continues in Gujarat today, the second day of the Karnataka-Gujarat visit announced by the Press Information Bureau.