Nehru-Nehru-Nehru
It must be Jawahar Lal’s voracious reading habits
and keen interest in world politics which had molded him into a Statesman with
a cosmopolitan outlook. He was a die-hard rationalist all through his life and had never, never compromised on this
aspect till his death. Yes, that is conviction. Here is a conversation between
Nehru and Kastur Ba.
“God preserve
you”- told Ba affectionately when she
came to know that Nehru’s arrest was in the offing. “Where is he Ba? He seems to be permanently asleep,”
was his answer.
-He remained a firm atheist to the end, regarding
religious communalism as a cancer that needed to be erased from India.
How many people had to stake their fortunes and lives
during the independence struggle? When India gained independence, Nehru was 57. He had to spend long, long years of his life and youth in
British prison.
-He constantly thought of what prison life was doing to friendships and family life and wondered how they would all see each other when he was finally released.
In an epilogue to his autobiography, he wrote about his years in prison thus-
“The years I have spent in prison! Sitting alone,
wrapped in my thoughts, how many seasons I have seen go by, following one
another into oblivion!...How many yesterdays of my youth lie buried here; and
sometimes I see the ghosts of these dead yesterdays rise up, bringing poignant
memories, and whispering to me, ’was it worthwhile?’
It seems Nehru was very much
indecisive in many cases as Subhash Bose had once remarked.
-“When a crisis comes, you often do not succeed in
making up your mind one way or the other-with the result that to the public you
appear as if you are riding two horses.“
Nehru himself refused to nominate a successor as he
felt it was none of his business.
-He pointed to the example Britain of the 1950’s when
Churchill had appointed Eden as the ‘crown prince’ long before he retired. Eden,
said Nehru, was one of the worst PM’s Britain had ever had in its long history.
Was Nehru keen on a dynastical rule? Just like the author, I believe ‘No’, from what I have
read.
In 1957 Indira was elected to the Central Election
Committee, getting more votes than Nehru himself and after two years she was
elected President of the Congress party. “I’m sure my father didn’t like it”
was Indira’s response. But Nehru’s opposite faction headed by Morarji Desai
assumed Nehru had pulled strings for Indira.
-Whatever the truth, one thing is clear. Neither side
was happy at the notion that a dynasty was being formed.
-“Not while I am Prime Minsiter“-Nehru’s response when
certain ministers and numerous sycophants wanted Indira to be a member of
Government.
Kamaraj and four others- Syndicate- started discussing
about a successor to Nehru. He was well aware of it and was contemptuous
towards this powerful combination of regional power-brokers. As the author doubts,”
would a man hell-bent on obtaining succession for his daughter, as his enemies
alleged, have treated the kingmakers of the future in such a cavalier fashion
?” No, never.
If he really wished Indira to be his successor, “the
evidence would not have been lacking,” as correctly opined by the author.
Nehru
and Congress Party: He had observed that the congress sessions were
nothing more than a social gathering of like-minded friends- “A fashionable
society! Spare-time amusement for armchair politicians!” - was what he remarked
to his father after attending the 1912 session of congress.
-In reality, Nehru was deeply concerned at the
faction-fighting and corruption that began to characterize the Congress Party
during the last few years of his life. Many leaders were totally obsessed with
positions and power.
Nehru the
historian: It was during 1925 that the
archaeologists discovered the remnants of a very old pre-Vedic civilization at
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro (Mound of the Dead) while the British were
constructing the Lahore to Multan railway line.
-Nehru stood silently on a mound near Mohenjo-Daro ad
studied the ruins.
-The long and complex evolution of India had started during Millennium BC. It had been colored by repeated conquests and displacements
which had formed the variegated landscape of the country. Was this history of
strife last coming to an end? Nehru did not stop about thinking about these
matters. Later, in prison for the last time, he gave all these, a shape in his Discovery of India.
Nehru and
Communalism:
-and he
said unequivocally that communalism, be it Hindu or Muslim, was vice exploited
by perverted minds:
-The British, of course made use of communal
polarisations, and even helped to provoke them, but these divisions, alias had
deeper roots.
-Hindus of various castes, denominations and classes
represented an overwhelming majority in India(1936). Their religious leaders
clearly stated that majority rule meant Hindu rule, something that had not
existed in the subcontinent for several centuries.
According to the author, Nehru was shocked by the
communalist moves (More details under head Jinnah) by Jinnah and his Muslim
league and he became increasingly hostile to the league. He had to finally
accept the fact the league’s influence could not be defeated as long as
Congress was controlled by men like Vallabhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad and
G.D.Birla.
However in the 1937 elections, 90% of the Muslim Pathans
of the North West frontier province chose to vote for Gandhi and not the
league! “In the aftermath of these victories, Nehru sat back, for a while, and
rejoiced.” Me too rejoiced while going through this!
-“I will not tolerate Muslims being slaughtered as if
they were animals”-Nehru to his Home Minister Vallabhai Patel, “who was a
traditional Hindu, susceptible to communalism, hostile to Nehru, and a protégé
of Gandhi.” Gandhiji also reprimanded Patel against this in strong language.
Nehru on Bhagat
Singh after visiting him in prison-
“Bhagat Singh had an attractive, intellectual face, remarkably calm and peaceful.
There seemed to be no anger in it.” Any mention about the patriot still fills
my eyes with tears. For those who know Malayalam just go through this link, a
poem on him which will make you weep!
Nehru and Subhash
Chandra Bose: -
-What interested Nehru was
that Bose had succeeded in uniting the Indians: the INA had included Muslims,
Sikhs ad the Hindus who had forgotten their religious differences..... when the
British authorities decide to try the INA men for high treason, Nehru became a
lawyer again and defended them in open court.....
-Bose was killed in a plane crash in 1945....Jawarlal
had not ageed with Bose, but he never doubted his patriotism. He had regarded
Bose as childish, very impressionable, but also deeply sensitive and burning
with a nationalist fervour.he opposed all attempts to blacken his name and , in
this, was supported by Gandhi and Abul
Kalam Azad.
Nehru and Patel:-There were a number of quarrels between him and
Vallabhai Patel, the veteran power broker, leader of the Congress right and not
averse to using communalism when it suited to his interests.”
