This is a response to an article I read on the site AkkarBakkar  10 Ways In Which Jawaharlal Nehru Destroyed Our Country Forever  where the Author whom we will call ‘Nehru Basher’ had taken some images of Jawaharlal Nehru and posted them with his comments. He listed the 10 things how Nehru destroyed India. This Nehru bashing is a favorite pastime of the so called ‘I am the only patriot’ dimwits for a long time and I often get so irritated by it.

Before I get to the items I want to say that Nehru like any other person had his problems and his daughter Indira also had her issues…. Congress does have its issues… When you accept the reality that there are no saints in this world now or before, you kind of start seeing things as it is. And I have no idea why the author made such a collage of trash. I am responding because the post above is not information but just propaganda.. And FYI I am not a congress guy, but I respect Nehru as a leader and an Author and knowledgable person who had all the good intentions for India. But he was also a human being like anyone.

AkkarBakkar is a site I like a lot because of the stories it brings through its platform. But this particular blogger I felt uses it more as a propaganda place especially with this Nehru bashing article. Again I am not a well read historian but here are some of my thoughts on each of the points mentioned in that article. And tomorrow being the Independence Day this is a right time to write this 🙂

1. You split the country into pieces

The Nehru Basher says that the ego tussle between Nehru and Jinnah for the Prime Ministership was the main cause behind the partitioned India…

Vinod: Now if Nehru had allowed Jinnah to be PM then I guess the same people would have said why did you make a minority the first PM… Though I feel Nehru wanted the position so bad and that issue did boil that time… But for a country like India at that time, Nehru would always have been a better PM than Jinnah… Jinnah also got a country… it is called Pakistan and then what happened…. May be the writer is saying he wished he was born in Pakistan instead of India? No idea what the point is..

2. How I wish you had loved your country more than you’d loved Edwina

The Nehru Basher says ‘Maybe Mountbatten just took out his frustrations with you on the country.’

Vinod: I have no idea what he is smoking. First thing is that the personal relationship of a person should not be an issue for the country and the whole speculation that Lord Mountbatten took revenge on country because of Nehru is dumb and a proof that the guy who wrote thus has some real good imagination in the wrong direction.

3. You crossed all your limits by spying on Netaji’s family for no less than 20 years

The Nehru Basher says that Nehru put spies on Netaji’s family because of insecurity

Vinod: Spying on Netaji is a point people bring up to get some sentimental brownie points because we all consider Netaji as a hero. But post Netaji (that is after he went missing) we should not discount the fact that the people Netaji associated with during WWII were Hitler in germany and Hirohito in Japan. As the leader of the nation it is important for Nehru to ensure that the crap from hitler’s Germany and hirohito’s Japan do not infiltrate into India even if it is the route of one of the most respected Indians. The Author should read more about the camps in Auschwitz and human experiments committed in Unit 731 to know more on what threat in the form of fascist thoughts could come from these places. Netaji was fighting for liberating India but Japan and Germany were on the wrong side of the world and one needs to accept it. Not belittling Netaji’s intention, but looking back one should think more of the issues because a free India in a hitler-hirohito world would have been more damaging if you do not understand that.

4. You were so modest that you decided for yourself that you deserved a Nobel prize

The Nehru Basher’s point is that Nehru presented himself the Bharat Ratna

Vinod: The Bharat ratna argument is an assumption and I am not sure if he suggested himself… 🙂 so I cannot comment on it… but read the Discovery of India and you will know that the Nehru dude had enough knowledge and he was no fool… But I would not say yes or no to it… But if playing Cricket can get you a Bharat Ratna then why not Nehru. And Nehru got it in 1955 after CV Raman, S Radhakrishnan and C. Rajagopalachari Got it in 1954… 🙂 I would question the same for Indira and Rajeev and even question MGR who got in 1990, even before Sardar patel 🙂 Atal Ji got it for being former PM and poet. Is First PM better than former PM 🙂 and as an author is Atalji ahead of Nehru?

5. Sired “THE DYNASTY”

Well you get what the guy is hinting at….

Vinod: The Dynasty Argument I kind of agree… But is that just Nehru to blame… He was PM so his daughter and her son all became PM and now they want Rahul also as PM… It is a problem with followers and not the people always… The same Dynasty exists in politics for many people in different parties…. Not just in India but across the world. Blaming Nehru for people supporting Rahul Gandhi is kind of lame… There might be a few who did not build a dynasty and there you blame the guy because he did not take care of his family 🙂 Yes I am talking about a guy called Mohandas (Not Mohan Lal) Karamchand Gandhi whom many also blame for not taking care of his family like others did….

6. You trusted China

The Nehru Basher starts by saying ‘I mean who trusts the Chinese…..” what can you say to someone like that….

Vinod: The reasons for sino-india war is complex unless you want to just look at the Blame Nehru theory… I am not saying nehru might have failed but trivializing the complexity by saying ‘you trusted chinese’ and your mentality that chinese cannot be trusted is in poor taste. As a leader, as a human being you will make mistakes and even blunders but does not discount your entire life. The effects of some mistakes are big as well.. But you cannot say that any mistake Nehru made was with bad intentions in mind.

7. Non institution of a uniform civil code

The guy blames Nehru for this also saying he promoted the Hindu code

Vinod: Did he? or did he and many others demand the uniform civil code but after the push from the hindu belt could not proceed? What is the right thing? Either way I think any secular person should support the uniform civil code even if that is now being pushed by the right winged BJP. I don’t get why you pull Nehru into the picture.

8. And your ineffective dealing of the Kashmir Issue

The Nehru Basher says “Instead of sorting the matter out with Pakistan either by force or through talks, you decided to drag the issue into the International theatre and ensured that the issue kept burning to this date.”

Vinod: Again I will go by ‘mistake a man makes’ argument because you make judgements based on something you know and it is not something that happens right all time. Is Nehru the only person to blame on this. The Sardar belt always says if it was sardar we would have had it resolved, look at what happened in the case of Nizam. Now the point you make that “Nehru took it to the International theatre to keep the issue burning” then you must be smoking something… whether his decisions was right or wrong can be argued fairly. But if you are bend on typing something to show a person down then nothing matters really…

9. And the linguistic state division. What were you thinking — Divide and rule?

The Nehru Basher writes “Well since the states were divided using language as a base, we see the states divided even more today as India still simmers”

Vinod: What is the alternative ‘something’ that you can guarantee and will not have any of the problem it has now? Or are you saying there should never be a division of state? Since you said this is a problem I am thinking you should have a solution.

10. Finally, your operation Polo

The Nehru Basher says ‘Well sir you pretty much presided over the first massacre in Independent India as you ignored what happened in the Hyderabad State”

Vinod: I am not as knowledgable as you but at one point you say Nehru did not use force in Kashmir and so we have issues and other time you say he used force in Hyderabad and then the communal riots happened and so people died while conveniently concealing the fact that while Nehru wanted to settle things in Hyderabad through talks, Sardar Patel was the person who wanted to use force 🙂

Again I might not be as well read as you, but from what I have heard the Nizam’s forces were defeated in a few days of sending the army without any significant loss of civilian lives, but Delhi got the report that there had been significant looting and mass murder and rape of muslims that happened. The Sunder lal commission was an inter faith committee set by Nehru to get to the bottom of this and the report that was made public sometime in 2013 said that men belonging to the Indian Army and also to the local police took part in looting and even other crimes and cases where the Hindu mob was instigated to loot Muslim shops and houses. The team also reported that while Muslim villagers were disarmed by the Indian Army, Hindus were often left with their weapons.

Also is your issue with Nehru that he was not a hindu nationalist like Sardar? If I say Sardar Patel had more hand in the massacre than Nehru would you agree. But the fact is I will not say that and that is the difference I wish to make in the filth that you shower in the name of an article.

Dear Nehru Basher; If you do not like a man, it is your choice but it is so cheap and disgraceful to say anything and everything to bring him down. Again I am not a Nehru Fan. But he was any day greater than our other Bharat Ratna recipient Atal Vajpai. The comparison between Sardar and Nehru is a favorite pastime of the hindu nationalist brigade because they see a soulmate in patel. Their highlighted point being that Sardar was the likely candidate for the first PM role and Nehru cried and got it. I don’t know if it is true or not, but for me I think we should be happy that we had a secular guy like Jawaharlal Nehru as our first Prime Minister rather than a guy who goes with a proposal to build a temple from people’s money.

Jai Hind

Categories: Articles, Articles & Opinions

Tags: Jawaharlal Nehru, Nerhru Bashing, Sardar Patel