MEMOIR
HIS-STORY:
FACT AND NOT FAKE
REMEMBERING INDIA’S FIRST PRIME MINISTER
“Facts are facts and will not disappear on account of your likes.”
- Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru
BY JEETHU ELZA CHERIAN*
I
t’s that time of the year again.14th November - the
birth anniversary of India’s fi rst prime minister, Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru. While children get a day off from
school since it’s “Children’s Day” for them, the national,
international and foreign policy academia ponder and
reminisce over the legacy Nehru left for his country in the
sphere of Indian and global politics.
This year, the clamour within the national political circles
is slightly higher as India is gearing up for the next general
election. It is not only a face-off between the secular majority
and non-secular minority, but seemingly, many of the ideals
that the fi rst PM stood for, are in danger. While it is true that
India’s independence was not gained through the eff orts of
just one man - be it Nehru, or Mahatma Gandhi, or Sardar
Vallabhai Patel - the contribution of the globally revered
statesman and India’s fi rst Prime Minister, to this country
cannot and should not be forgotten. As Nehru himself said,
“you don't change the course of history by turning the faces
of portraits to the wall”.
How Apt is Nehruvism in Today’s Global Sphere?
No man is perfect, so I grant you that even Nehru made
mistakes. The examples are out there, for all to see. For
example, going to the UN with the Kashmir dispute instead
of trying to sort it out with Pakistan on a bilateral plane etc.
Nehru’s adoption of socialism has also come under barbs
nowadays. But even he had admitted that “Democracy and
socialism are means to an end, not the end itself”; it is always
easier to criticize in hindsight.
However, the world is a witness to the positive foundations
that he and other fi rst generation policy makers laid for
India. Take for instance, India’s role in the non-alignment
movement. The lead that New Delhi established then, has
ensured that India still continues to be a neutral voice pushing
for multi-polarity and multi-alignment today.
Hence, the values that make up the core of what India and
her foreign policy is, were consolidated by Jawaharlal Nehru
-- values such as democratic institutional building, staunch
pan-Indian secularism, socialist economics and foreign
policy of non-alignment. To understand this better, just take
a glance around India’s neighbors, or some of the ex-colonial
states. Quite a few of them which commenced their journey
on Independence with popular heroes became authoritarian
later down the road.
Today, there seem to be major wars going on against
terrorism. Threats to humanity no longer emanate from mere
traditional sources; from environment, it extends to cyber
space. We live in a world that seems to be fi lled with non-state
threats to both tangible and intangible assets.
Yet, all is not bleak. The actors and the scenes may have
undergone a change from Nehru’s time till now. However,
the principles for which the world still aspires to, the
values for which even the West seem to be fi ghting (read
democracy and its institutions) are relevant even today. As
we come to the close of the 21st century, Nehru’s methods
seem apt to be adopted (and adapted) without actually
resorting to arms.
As India once again celebrates the great statesman’s birth
anniversary, perhaps, we as citizens must refl ect that for us
as people and for our country, “time is not measured by the
passing of years but by what one does, what one feels, and
what one achieves”.
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist • Vol 6 • Issue 10 • Oct-Nov 2018, Noida • 61