“Mr. Modi personally has invested so heavily in his unrelenting campaign to demean, erase, and destroy the legacy of Jawaharlal Nehru from the pages of history…………….. Undoubtedly, behind that incessant obsession and diabolic mindset is the hatred towards the Nehruvian vision, the very idea of India as a heterogenous society where people of different religions, languages, ethnicities, and castes live together in relative harmony.”

Reacting to renaming the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library to Prime Minister’s Memorial and Museum, the All-India Congress Committee said the following: ‘Mr. Modi possesses a huge bundle of fears, complexes, and insecurities, especially regarding our first and longest-serving Prime Minister. He has had a single-point agenda of denying, distorting, defaming, and destroying Nehru and the Nehruvian legacy… But he can never take away Nehru’s gigantic contributions to the freedom movement and his towering achievements in building the democratic, secular, scientific, and liberal foundations of the Indian nation-state, all of which are now under assault by Mr. Modi and his drumbeaters.”

Mr. Modi personally has invested so heavily in his unrelenting campaign to demean, erase, and destroy the legacy of Jawaharlal Nehru from the pages of history. It is quite astonishing that sixty years after his death, the architect of modern India still remains a target of the current Prime Minister, who would like to see a great legacy banished. Will that effort succeed, or will the people of India ever forget the visionary who brought the country from oppression into freedom, modernity, and self-reliance? Undoubtedly, behind that incessant obsession and diabolic mindset is the hatred towards the Nehruvian vision, the very idea of India as a heterogenous society where people of different religions, languages, ethnicities, and castes live together in relative harmony.

Nevertheless, as we celebrate the 135th birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru on November 14th, 2024, we are in awe as we recollect his contribution to gaining India’s Independence and laying a strong foundation for a pluralistic and forward-looking India. When India gained Independence, there were monumental challenges resulting from the partition and the ongoing violence between Hindus and Muslims. The urgent task facing the leadership at the time was the resettlement of 6 million refugees and arresting the spread of further violence. Nehru put together a team of dedicated patriots such as Sardar Tarlok Singh, Sarojini Naidu, and S.K. Ghosh to limit the violence, as well as rescue and recover abandoned and abducted women and children.

When the British left, the Government, headed by Nehru, faced another critical task: the national integration of 562 princely states. A newly created state department under the decisive leadership of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, along with Nehru, ensured the country’s integration in a remarkably short period. Let’s look back at history for a moment. We will admire how Nehru brought together exceptional people of different ideologies, such as Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, S.P. Mookerjee, John Mathai, C.H. Bhabha, and Shanmukham Chetty to be reflective of India’s secular and multi-faceted character in the Constituent Assembly. The Congress party delivered on the promise that the constitution they were about to create would reflect the aspirations of the Indian people.

The Indian constitution was amongst the largest in the world, with 395 Articles and 9 Schedules. The preamble spells out the basic philosophy and the solemn resolve of the people of India to secure justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity for all its citizens. What Nehru accomplished through this document, with significant help and support from Ambedkar, is also part of his vision to empower marginalized sections of society.
Nehru was committed to ensuring social justice and the welfare of the masses as far back as 1938 by setting up the National Planning Committee under the Congress Party’s banner to improve ordinary citizens’ quality of life. These efforts culminated in creating a permanent planning commission to establish a just social order to ensure the equitable distribution of income and wealth. Nehru’s actions in these matters paint him as a socialist. However, he firmly believed that planning was essential to the development needs of a poor country with scarce resources, which needed to be managed optimally.

He was also concerned about unequal access to land, which was a big problem in rural India. After Independence, the issue was prioritized, and by 1949, different states had passed land reform legislations to abolish the ‘Zamindari’ system and empower the rural peasantry while eliminating the institutionalized exploitation by the feudal lords.

Nehru was a strong proponent of self-reliance, clearly recognizing that underdevelopment resulted from a lack of technological progress. Consequently, a new Industrial policy was enacted to develop key industries. While Independent India was in its infancy, he identified power and steel production for self-sufficiency and planning. In collaboration with other countries, India built steel plants in Rourkela (Orissa), Bhilai (M.P.) and Durgapur (W. Bengal). Dam projects were undertaken in various places to produce hydroelectric power, including the flagship Dam at Bhakra Nangal, Punjab. The first oil refinery was inaugurated in Noonmati, Assam, in 1962 as another leap forward towards industrialization. Nehru called them ‘the temples of modern India.’

Nehru was determined to foster a ‘scientific temper’ as he provided leadership in establishing many new Engineering Institutes, the most important being the premier Indian Institute of Technology, 5 of which started between 1957 and 1964. His farsightedness is also evident in his granting deemed university status to the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, setting up the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Defense Research and Development Organization, and laying the foundation stone for the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Nehru’s own words stated that these would become ‘visible symbols of building up the new India and of providing life and sustenance to our people.’
Soon after Independence, India embarked upon a nuclear program aimed at developing its nuclear capacity for peaceful purposes. As we know by now, Dr. Homi Bhabha’s pioneering work in this regard is widely acclaimed for enhancing India’s capabilities in this area. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, the father of the Indian Space Program, helped establish the Indian Space Research Organization.

Nehru recognized the importance of education as a tool for empowerment. The establishment of the University Education Commission under the Chairmanship of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan and the Secondary Education Commission under the chairmanship of Dr. A. L. Mudaliar laid the foundation of education and higher education. The Indian Council of Cultural Relations was also established under Maulana Azad to promote policies pertaining to India’s external cultural relations.
Nehru also played a crucial role as a leader of the non-aligned world, shaping India’s foreign policy for the post-independence period. His charismatic personality and a deep understanding of the country and the world enabled him to be an effective spokesman for the developing world and an advocate for liberation movements across the globe.

Undoubtedly, Nehru helped to build institutions that stood the test of time. The emerging nations during that period, such as Yugoslavia, Egypt, and Ghana, failed in this regard, and the results are quite evident for all of us to see. Nehru’s vision and leadership were critical in shaping India as we know it today. According to ‘Journey of a Nation,’ edited by Anand Sharma, a senior Congress leader, Nehru laid the foundation of a self-reliant, productive, and confident India, creating many of its Institutions and leaving an indelible stamp on every aspect of the country.

However, there are regressive forces at work now to undo the Nehruvian legacy and to take us back to the age when the soul of the nation was suppressed. Regretfully, there are some in the Diaspora who are beneficiaries of Nehru’s vision of education and climbed ladders of success abroad appear to be siding with the nexus of retrogressive elements defaming his legacy and downplaying his contributions. However, among reflective Indians, especially NRIs, it is time to realize that the ongoing Nehru bashing has been counterproductive. Nehru’s respect for democratic procedures and inclusive vision will remain relevant, without which a modern India might cease to exist! As Shashi Tharoor, author of ‘Nehru, the Invention of India’ put it, “Let us be conscious that his legacy is ours, whether we agree or not. What India is today, both for good and for ill, we owe in great measure to one man” – Jawaharlal Nehru.
(The writer is a former Chief Technology Officer at the United Nations and vice-chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, USA. He can be reached at gta777@gmail.com)