The official biography of Nehru or history books promoted by the then government does not cover the dark areas during Nehru’s reign adequately.
Jawahar Lal Nehru has been mostly eulogized over the last 70 years, as a true democrat and uncompromising fighter against injustice. The Government of India, while he was reigning as Prime Minister, awarded him Bharat Ratna. Innumerable roads, parks, infrastructural buildings, and educational/technical institutions have been named with his name as pre-fix. He was given pride of place in history books. His birthday is commemorated/celebrated as the Children’s Day.
Even with his overwhelming leadership hold, he made no real effort to prevent the biggest tragedy of the twentieth century, the Partition.
He emerged as an eminent leader of the Indian independence movement promoted by Mahatma Gandhi and served India as Prime Minister from its establishment as an independent nation in 1947 until his death in 1964. Nehru and the Congress dominated Indian politics during the 1930s as the country moved towards independence. His leadership was seemingly validated when the Congress, under his leadership, swept the 1937 provincial elections and formed the government in several provinces; on the other hand, the separatist Muslim League fared much poorer. But these achievements were severely compromised in the aftermath of the Quit India Movement in 1942, which saw the British effectively crush the Congress as a political organization. Nehru, who had reluctantly heeded Gandhi’s call for immediate independence, for he had desired to support the Allied war effort during World War II, came out of a lengthy prison term to a much altered political landscape. The Muslim League under his old Congress colleague and subsequently opponent, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had come to dominate Muslim politics in India. Negotiations between Congress and Muslim League for power sharing failed and gave way to the independence and bloody partition of India in 1947. Nehru was elected by the Congress to assume office as independent India’s first Prime Minister, although the question of leadership had been settled as far back as 1941 when Gandhi acknowledged Nehru as his political heir and successor.
But was his sacrifice during the freedom movement as big as made out to be? Nehru served long prison terms during the freedom movement, but as established leader of Congress party, his prison life was not very harsh unlike when ordinary workers of the party or the revolutionaries were imprisoned. In that sense, he did not suffer much or have to make many sacrifices during the freedom movement. With ever-flowing support and patronage of Gandhi, he also had rather easy time dealing with his opponents in the party like Bose.
Nehru did not seriously oppose partition of India. Even with his overwhelming leadership hold, he made no real effort to prevent the biggest tragedy of the twentieth century, the Partition. Perhaps his burning ambition for the position of Prime Minister-ship of India stood in the way. He also failed to provide adequate relief to the Hindu immigrants/refugees from East and West Pakistan. In this connection, mention must be made of his mismanagement of Kashmir problem, ignoring and even humiliating Patel and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. India is still paying for the mess he made of the Kashmir issue in the early years of independence.
One can even question his role in introducing and facilitating the Freight Equalization Scheme for neutralizing the natural claims of Bengal, Bihar, and Odisha on their own mineral resources and utilizing these more efficiently. Even the anti-Bengali agitation in Assam started in his time. He instead of solving the problem, offered only platitude and that is why the problem has now aggravated so much.
Also questionable is his alleged spying on Netaji family and support to UK, Russia, and the USA in their maltreatment of Netaji.
With some idealistic ideas of socialist economy, Nehru could only encourage license-permit raj with rampant corruption
Nehru’s India was always seen as a ‘soft state’ incapable of enforcing policy choices big or small. In 3 decades since 1947, 600000 Tamils were expatriated from Sri-Lanka to India. In 1962, 400000 Indians were repatriated from Burma now called Myanmar. Then, Tibet was occupied by China. Finally came the Chinese aggression and India’s total capitulation, Henderson Brooks report on the debacle also got suppressed. Where was Nehru, the great leader, and statesman during all these happenings?
Then there were many scams during his time, namely, Jeep scandal, Haridas Mundhra- TTK scandal and Dharma Teja scandal. Dynasty role and nepotism made their maiden entry during his time and Indira Gandhi could come into the forefront only because of the personal efforts of Nehru. As his dealings with Bose and Patel bear out, he was also an authoritarian and brooked no opposition.
With some idealistic ideas of socialist economy, Nehru could only encourage license-permit raj with rampant corruption. New laws in the name of land reform, imposed limits on the amount of land one could own. The resulting fragmentation of land contributed to the destruction of the agriculture. He was also a complete failure in international economics. As pointed out by Murali KV in PGURUS dated 14/09/18, he made himself ‘the father of petrodollar economic imperialism’. During the 1960s, INR was the de-facto currency in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula and was considered usable in the oil trade. But subsequent Indian economic mismanagement had strained INR so badly that it failed to maintain its status and value especially for international trade and thereby putting the value of holdings of these oil producing nations in Re, at stake. Thus, Saudi controlled OPEC had no choice but to adopt USD as the sole currency for oil trade.
The official biography or history books promoted by the then government do not cover these dark areas adequately. There is, therefore, a crying need for re-evaluation of the history of Nehru’s contribution to India.
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
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WHAT COULD INDIA HAVE BEEN WITHOUT NEHRU? A PAKISTANI WRITES:
This campaign of personal vilification against Nehru is, in fact, a proxy war against the concept of India as a secular entity. Of course, here in Pakistan we never for a moment believed Nehru when he declared India’s intent to become a pluralistic, liberal, syncretic state whose strength would lie in diversity. For us, all these were just fine words justifying Hindu majoritarianism under the cloak of democracy. Only now that the BJP controls India with a viciously communal agenda have some Pakistanis realised what loss of secularism — even imperfect secularism — actually means.
Instead of being noted for its exceptional space programme (Mangalyaan!) and brilliant string theorists (Ashoke Sen!), India would have become a garbage dump for every kind of crackpot science. Medical research would have concentrated on medicines made from cow urine and cow dung, the celibacy of peacocks would be under intense scrutiny, astrology would be taught in place of astronomy, and instead of teaching actual mathematics there would be Vedic mathematics. As in Pakistan, Darwinian evolution would be considered heretical and destructive of religious faith.
Lets face it. Medeval India got independence in 1947. Its core values if any were a mix of British civil service admin and ancient ideas of Ram Rajya. At least thats how most Indians understood free India to operate by. Emotional sentimentalism, worshipful obescience to the Rajas etc. Modern day nation state ideologies were simply too alien to the common man. In such a scenario, Nehru inherits the mantle, lacking the blood lust of Islam or Communism or Colonial savagery. Nehru did the best he could and clearly had the adoring support of the masses, whatever his shortcoming.
Well he left us with legacies of hope and enduring issues of ineptitude (in hind sight). Lets get the fawning historical views of Congress toned down. The real issues are yet to settled and there are many competent activists who work through the Social Media. Give the the necessary voice and exposure, to settle matters, away from the leftist, commie, islamic and casteist entrenched vote banks.
India will recover speedily.
As a first, the Bharat Ratna Awards to the Nehru dynasty members should be withdrawn
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The mess & middle created by Nehru, Indira & Rajiv should be intensively investigated by a large team of experts from various fields
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Special focus should be on:
(1) Various scams & possible locations where the looted booty are hidden
(2) Facilitating the escape of Union Carbide chairman Anderson & the role of Rajiv Gandhi
(3) The ‘stage managed’ Sikh Riots of 1984 & the specific role of Rajiv Gandhi in it
(4) Suspicious circumstances leading to the death of Shastriji & the role of Indira Gandhi if any foul play is established
If sufficient evidences are unearthed / surface during investigation, the family/dynasty should be declared traitors
You are a great Bhakt and earn your pay…write a lot nonsense over and over again hoping people will believe it as truth. 2019 …year feku and Bhakts get kicked out like the trash they are….jai Hind
Interesting reading modern historians and politicians(BJP/RSS) with new stories to tell. The themselves and their predecessors did nothing for Indian independence yet enjoy the freedoms of others laid for us to enjttoday. Nehru was not perfect but his overwhelming contributions far out weigh the negatives especially in laying the foundation of modern India. If the hate mongers in power today were in power in the formative years after independence- India would be just like Pakistan- a failed state!
Rajji, Which of these contributions of Nehru laid the foundations of a Modern India???!!!
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(1) Nehru had amassed property worth 10 cr in 1950s (more than 5000 Cr in today’s CPI. A question was raised in the LS questioning the DA held by Nehru
(2) At the height of drought periods, Nehru used to dine at 5 star hotels in Delhi spending 1500 per plate which included BEEF. Lohia used to reprobate Nehru for being so insensitive to the sufferings of the poor & draining the Exchequer
(3) Creating the biggest mess – Kashmir – a perennial headache for the Indians for centuries to come. INDIA WILL NEVER CONDONE NEHRU FOR THIS TREACHEROUS CHICANERY
The list is too long to be reproduced fully here. In short, Nehru fradulently clinched the Prime Ministership from Sardar Patel in connivance with the British on the understanding he will continue to be the agent of the nefarious British & continue with their LOOT INDIA AGENDA
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I am not a great fan of nehru.
But i believe we have inherited empty coffers post 2nd world war, the world was going through high inflation and all resources and raw materials of india were used to support british war effort. Post second world war india was seen as a liability and hence the rush to get india off the list of colonies.
The strength of leader largely depends on resources you have. India did have army because we were supporting british in world war and they used our sepoys to fight for them and these returned post world war II.
But what about the resources like roads, trains, clothes, food stock etc. These were certainly poorly maintained since colonies were squeezed out of their resources to fund the war.
Under the circumstances i think there was limited control some one could exercise over everything. Even today we find india to be very vast what about those days.
A man who works makes decisions and some of them are bad. Since we cannot change them now, let us not belittle their contributions.
What about countries which have got independence around same time India got. Some of decisions like building PSU & Educational institutions as temples of modern India are good.
Also, the fact that after having adopted socialism in our Preamble, keeping agriculture in private hands has been one of best decisions ever.
We have to wait for a few years then “they” will start blaming nehru for demonetization toooo.
Blaming someone for DEMONETIZATION??!!
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Anuj Bhai, either U are ill-informed about DEMONETIZATION or U have lost tons of HARAM KI KAMAAI on the night of NOV 8th 2016.
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On the contrary, we blame the Nehru Dynasty for FAILING TO IMPLEMENT DEMONETIZATION even though experts advised them to do so
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The corrupt-to-the-core Indira placed her PERSONAL INTERESTS above NATIONAL INTERESTS by failing to implement DEMONETIZATION
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Never, Never ever be under the impression DEMONETIZATION was a failure or an unwanted decision.
Observe how the Netajis, Behenjis, Didis, Paapus, Chidus shouted from the rooftop against DEMONETIZATION. No other proof is required to demonstrate the success of Demonetization
If u really think demonetization was a success in any aspects after all those facts and figures presented by RBI and other financial institutions , then sir u really r an over optimistic person and I respect u for that.
N the reason I speak against demonetization is just that I belong to one of the middle class families that have to stand in those long lines just to get a 2000₹ note. And those few ministers who were involved in the planning of demonetization litrally own the banks.
And coming to nehru there was a reason why father of the nation choses pt. Nehru as his political hier. There is a reason why he is the longest serving prime minister ever.investing in dams and irrigation facilities was a brilliant move.Investing in scientific and financial institution in an era when we were at the bottom of the table was a very bold decisions to make…quality of IITs that came in existence in his period are unmatched till now.and that is the reason why we call ourself the IT hub.
Soo inspite of sitting and commenting on hi mistakes we should look what he did to make the country what it is.
Anujji, You do not seem to analyze each & every issue thoroughly but keep jumping tracks.
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Regarding your claims on DEMONETIZATION, can you please elaborate what RBI said & how did you infer DEMONETIZATION was failure
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Your claim that you had to stand in a long queue is ridiculous, to say the least. If you had a few 1000/500 notes, all you had to do was to deposit the same in your Account.
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DEMONETIZATION gave a death blow only to (1) corrupt politicians (2) drug peddlers (3) women traffickers. (4) Fake Currency dealers etc.
For others with legal & legitimate businesses, except some minor inconveniences, DEMONETIZATION had no deleterious effects at all
Regarding Nehru, again, like our eminent Historians of the Dynasty Darbar, you are totally silent on the evil side of Nehru
Nehru had a fatal flaw of caring for personalities and his image rather than issues and policies concerning the nation. He felt that police was enough to rule the nation and went on to bite dust in 1962. Congress had been an immature party since its inception. Gandhi openly said Congress was corrupt and indiscipline to lead a aggressive movement against British. Frequent pop-ups of Nehru stories have become insipid and they no longer surprise any one, after all knowing what he was.
apolitical may be you are impotant
kindly chk the DNA of your kids if u have any ….. crooks like u really thing 70 years of mis management be staraightened in 4 years ….from judges till peons were on so called congress payroll ….un repairable damages done by antonio so called sonia gandhi ….. and the joker off spring Raul Vinci ……first learn your history than come out and comment
imbecile
Great job debunking the Nehru. Let me add to it. The Bharat ratna was not given to Nehru. He awarded himself that award also the Bal diwas was awarded to India by Nehru himself.Subhas Chandra Bose Shyama prasad Mukherjee’s murder was all by Nehru.
True true true. Indians believed all the false propaganda by Gandhi and nehru
How is this relevant today? An excuse for the BJP to blame for its impotence?
It is more relevant today because we are facing the harsh reality of its result.
Super! This introduction above is a great start to the reevaluation of Nehru. I am also doing some study on how he practically converted the Congress into the UIndian state, and he and his friends first got into positions of power in Parliament before introducing the Representation of Peoples Act. Am basing my study on the daily reports and despatches of British diplomats in India in 1947/mid-1948.
History was fabricated in favour of the Nehrufamily distorting the real history by the historians having special favours from the corrupt family. Family can buy anything on the earth to safeguard their interests. We,poor Indians, are being made still to read the distorted one. It is high time to rewrite the history based on the facts
Please read basic Indian History before amalgamating this report. As a student of Politics and History, I implore you to do so.
Mr. Nayar, What do you mean by ‘Basic Indian History’?
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That ‘Basic Indian History’ you refer to was penned by whom? The same Nehru Dynasty & the so called eminent Historians patronised by the dynasty???!!!
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As a student of Politics & History, you should have done more treatise on this article & discussed the ‘pros & cons’ of the ‘apprehensions’ raised by this author on the conduct of Nehru
M/s Nehru n Jinnah were of same capacity to lead the nation. Hence Mr. NEHRU was not keen against partiton at that time n both were power mongers. Corruption was n is universal life line of any nation to go forward.