Jawahar Lal Nehru

Today is 14th November, birth anniversary of Jawahar Lal Nehru.

In India it is celebrated as 'Children's Day', to honour Nehru Ji's love for children. When he was alive everyone called him ‘Nehru Chacha’ and that is what he is still know as.

When I was young it was celebrated with far more fervor, however, I am not sure how it is done today in schools.

I have always claimed that I am more of a 'Nehruvian' by thought rather than ‘Gandhian’. It might sound a little odd to people because Nehru was probably the most ardent follower of Gandhi Ji and he was the son that Gandhi Ji would have love to have as his own. However, there were certain differences between them which become obvious if you ever read the letters that they had written to each other.

I grew up learning a lot from people around me. I was socialist from one uncle, learnt encompassing and frugal nature from my Nana, ever accommodating and free thoughts from my Dad & Worldliness and a bit of right wing philosophy from Krishnamurthy Uncle.

However, I am not sure how I became a Nehru fan. In an era where it is a fashion to criticize Gandhi and Nehru, I turned into a ‘Nehruvian’.

The major difference between Gandhi and Nehru philosophy is their views on religion. In my eyes among the leaders of that era,

Gandhi Ji was Inclusive: He thought all religions can co exist and each human can embrace all religions. He was extraordinary in that way. I really believe that the only true Christian to live after Christ was this non Christian. He actually took Jesus’ philosophy and turned them into mass movement.

Jinnah was Divisive: He kept his own religion away from his political life and still preached that Hindus and Muslims are too different to be together and wanted separate States for each.

Nehru was Exclusive: He thought that his own religion or his religious philosophy has no place in public life. He always kept his own religion at bay because he was a leader of masses. He never preached that all religions can co exist because for him religion was not a matter of any consequence in public life.

Hence, I am for Nehru, I can't bring my own religious philosophy into my organization or relationships. similarly i believe that religion has no role in public life and schools. I am all for banning all kinds of religious schools, be it Christian convents, Arya Samaj schools or Madarssas.

Another major difference between Gandhi Ji and Nehru Ji was that Gandhi Ji wanted India to improve and looked at its faults. One of the instances which Shashi Tharoor quotes in his book, 'Nehru, The invension of India' is, in the first congress meeting that Gandhi Ji attended, he was appalled to see that different communities were cooking for their own community and demanded that there should be one kitchen.

Nehru was a romantic. He loved India, its past, present and future. Given the same situation Nehru Ji would have gone to each stall and ate all kinds of food and then maybe written a book on cooking styles of Indians.

So in that sense he was more of an Indian, an Indian who loved the country un-ashamedly, without any biases to any other cast, creed, community and country.

On the night of 14th August at 00:00 hrs., he gave the speech which is one of my favourite pieces of text ever written. It has 'charm of leader', 'Tolstoyian in its prose', 'Poetic touch to it of Stevenson' and yet deep down they were thoughts of a proud and a hopeful Indian.

'Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially.
At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.
A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.
It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.'

He had impeccable oratory skills, fluency in many language, here is a glimpse of his speech in English.


He was by far the most erudite politician that has ever lived. If you ever read his 'Discovery of India' and 'The Glimpses of the World' you would realise his in depth knowledge of Indian and World History. Albert Einstein had once claimed that his books are a great window to look into the marvel called India.

When India became independent and as Gandhi Ji and Sardar Patel passed away in very quick succession, he became the biggest leader. As the Spiderman says 'With big power comes big responsibility'. He took his responsibility more seriously than his power. The India that we see today is his creation. His undying dedication to Secularism and Democracy made us what we are today.
If we look around us most country where are racial sibling live are in dire straits. Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, SriLanka and even Myanmaar are either ruled by despots or military rulers. Or they are struggling democracies.
If you were standing in 1947 and looked at the countries which became independent who you would say would be most successful in South Asia. I am sure you wouldn't pick India with its 30 odd languages, 1200 dialects, innumerable differences, 400 million ideas and religious identities. However, it is the most stable nation around, Why?
It is because of Nehru's leadership in its nascent stages.

He is the one who said looking at the 'Bhakra-Nangal Dam', these are the new temple of modern India. He envisioned a new industrial and scientific India. Under his leadership India started the Indian nuclear and space program.

Today, Chandrayan dropped a probe on the moon which would land and unfurl Indian Flag on the surface of the moon. What a fitting tribute Nehru Ji, I am sure where ever he is, he would still be the proudest and happiest Indian to see India as only the 3rd nation (or 4th entity) to put its flag on moon.

Shashi Tharoor's book's title is 'Nehru: The invention of India' and this modern India is 'the Invention of Nehru'.

As he said in 1947, it is up to us to carry his thoughts and actions forward.

We have hard work ahead. There is no resting for any one of us till we redeem our pledge in full, till we make all the people of India what destiny intended them to be. We are citizens of a great country on the verge of bold advance, and we have to live up to that high standard. All of us, are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action.......

To India, our much-loved motherland, the ancient, the eternal and the ever-new, we pay our reverent homage and we bind ourselves afresh to her service. Jai Hind.