'NEHRU ' --

TESTING TIMES

When I was young at the University of Allahabad being critical of Nehru

was perhaps fashionable among us , maybe we were idealistic, influenced
by Gurudutt's 'Pyaasa ' and the immortal song 'Jinhe naaz hai Hind
par vo kahan hain?' ( where are those who are proud of India? ),
maybe the left leanings were at work, maybe it was 'done' to be critical of
the ruling regime and its 'ideologues '. Later the prejudices were discarded
and a more balanced approach was taken to assess Nehru. Reading habit,
discussions, comparisons, age, experience multiple reasons, realism!
This year on the 14th of November falls the 125th Birth Anniversary of
Jawaharlal Nehru the first Prime Minister of India. What struck me was the
news item stating that in the newly constituted committee for celebration of
Nehru's anniversary there is no one representing the Gandhi family !
meaning Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are not in the committee. I felt
good that that the Government is remembering its first Prime Minister
though it was odd for Mr Modi to not mention his name in his
Independence day speech even though he named other makers of modern
India. He mentioned him among the many Prime Ministers without
naming him, he also announced the burial of the Planning Commission
which was initiated by Nehru . I had found that strange and politically
incorrect . Whatever the difference in ideology, Nehru after all was the
builder of modern India and cannot be wished away . Many others felt so

and commented that there is an attempt to erase Nehru's name from the
public memory. However with the celebrations in place there seems to be
some consideration toward his contributions and memory ;to what extent
and in what form is yet to be seen.
The Congress party in general and the Gandhi family in particular have
not done justice to many Great leaders of the party who fought for freedom
and contributed toward Nation building and so the anger of the people is
directed toward Nehru who has been the beneficiary of all the attention.
Innumerable institutions are in his name , but leaders such as Patel,
Rajaji, Azad , Ambedkar , Shastri, Netaji and many others have not been
given proportionate attention and regard. The Party and the Family could
not ignore Mahatma but others they have. The actions have adversely
affected all the good work of Nehru, who is treated in the same category as
Indira, Rajiv, Sonia and now Rahul! Whereas Nehru belonged to the Nation
and should continue to do so. This was being stated recently by
Ramchandra Guha the eminent historian in a NDTV programme.
The Statue of Sardar Patel bigger than the statue of 'Liberty' being
planned in Gujrat, the contract of which has been bagged by the L&T
Limited is in my opinion a reaction , a compensation to all those freedom
fighters who have been ignored at the cost of the Nehru-Gandhi family.
The excesses of the Congress have made people skeptical and suspicious
of the achievements of Nehru as the youth and his other critics see it as
mere propaganda and a fair analysis is not done. Nehru was a multifarious
personality and as many have observed he would have been famous as a
writer had he not achieved what he did in politics . He was the star
campaigner of the party in 1937 and 1942 elections in which the Congress
participated. People loved him, therefore he could not be curtailed by his
competitors in the party. He was a Democrat and of modern ideas and
therefore during the freedom struggle leaders and people of the various
sections of the society could confer to him which includes, so called
extremists such as Chandrashekhar Azad, the minorities, the English ,
leaders of other Nations . His organizational skills were known to the older
leaders and therefore he was General Secretary of the party to many
Presidents who were elected annually. He gave a balanced economy to the
Nation a mixed economy which was also accepted by the capitalists at that
time as they needed big industries under the Government control to
supplement them. He contributed in the drafting of the constitution and
steered it in the Constituent Assembly. He did not compromise on the
question of 'Secular' principles and did not allow to impose Hindi hurriedly

otherwise this Nation would have been torn apart by sectarian violence. He
established the IITs, he initiated the 'Asian Games'. He gave thrust to
foreign affairs and made an impact in the world stage with his personality
and ideas. He started the 'Non Aligned' movement with Nasser and Tito. He
was a man of Science as well as Arts and gave impetus to atomic research.
The list is long.
His failures are many too. Failure of J&K issue, the Chinese debacle, lack
of emphasis to primary education, being blind to the flaws of some of his
close aids such as his Defence Minister Krishna Menon.
Therefore I am happy that he is out of the safety of the Congress regime and
out in the open and so his actions , success and failure would be discussed
without any fear or favour, which would perhaps be his 'litmus test'. I am
confident that the new generation and all those who have not read him and
are fed on the popular perception would give him a fair hearing and a
balanced verdict