Nehru wanted a position in world history as a giant killer. His greatest problem was that he wanted to be his own foreign minister. The result was that he was trapped in the minute details and had no time for other important issues
Jawahar Lal Nehru’s main preoccupation was foreign affairs. He was so keen to dominate the world stage that he started paying attention to day to day affairs in the foreign ministry. This left him with hardly enough time for economic development and other such issues. Nehru wanted to be super-hero folk tales are made of. He got what he wanted – a place in world history as a leader of Non-aligned movement and Chacha Nehru (in the Comic books) both at the same time…
Good intensions are useless without common sense
One of the first Indian politicians in India to be known by what he wore; Nehru wore a white (Gandhi) Cap, knee length long buttoned up coat (white or black) with a rose flower on the lapel. This has since been accepted as a uniform for politicians even today.
Nehru was personally uncorrupt and not corruptible. He hardly knew much about financial dealings because he never worked as a professional, managed a household or party affairs … He just descended from the top and entered politics.
As a result, often even while his intent was honorable – anything he touched made of Gold, turned into saw dust. For instance, the methods adopted for economic growth became cesspools of corruption. He rejected capitalism because of rampant human exploitation, which he wished to avoid. But at the same time, he didn’t wish to follow the communist path as it curtailed everyone’s fundamental rights.
Personally speaking, he wanted to build the most liberal political institutions, provide opportunity and freedom of choice to everyone in equal measure. He did not want exploitation and dreamt of economic betterment. But whenever he tried something new – it backfired on him because every system has small or big dose of corruption as everyone in authority wants to exploit the system and gain something for himself or his family or seeks personal gains. The result is corruption.
Nehru’s impatience and quest for rapid growth, more employment, and modernizing India in the shortest possible time led to what he intensely hated — low growth, rampant corruption and perennial scarcities. The result was that India was forced go with a begging bowl to the doorsteps of rich nations asking for few grains of food to feed millions of hungry people.
Approach toward business and businessmen
Mahatma Gandhi – a bania did not hate businessmen or money-making. G.D. Birla one of India’s top two businessmen with an asset base of then Rs 25 crore, was a close personal friend of Mahatma Gandhi and his group of companies were one of the largest financiers of the freedom movement. Gandhi and Birla were constant touch and wrote to each other frequently. This in a way, almost landed the Birlas into trouble as Lord Linlithgrow the Viceroy wrote a confidential letter to the provincial Governors in 1942 to keep track of the activities of the Birla companies in support of the Indian freedom movement. Gandhi did not mind accepting donations from Birla-Tata and the likes. He was of the opinion that the wealth in their hand was not just for their personal consumption. They were just its custodians – and held on to it for the benefit of the rest of the society.
Nehru on the other hand had a bias against the money-making class. This prejudice was compounded by his education at Cambridge and Harrow where he picked up the British upper class bias against the traders, and socialists. He disliked businessmen and profits.
In March 1952 Kasturbhai Lalbhai who set up six textile mills in Gujarat and donated the profits to the Congress party during freedom struggle wanted J L Nehru to inaugurate India’s first chemical plant. So, he came to Delhi and waited for to meet the PM but failed. He was categorically told that the Prime Minister of India was not going to inaugurate a capitalist factory. In a separate meeting with Maulana Azad, Lalbhai disclosed the original purpose for the visit and humiliation suffered. He also told Azad not to bother as he had changed him mind and would now get the plant inaugurated by one of his workers. A few weeks later Nehru not only relented but addressing an audience of some two lakh people said, “Sheth Kasturbhai has set up an industrial unit, which will go a long way towards our industrial process.”
Also Read: Who would have been a better Prime Minister – Nehru or Patel?
This incident clearly mirrors the prejudice in the minds of Nehruvian economic advisors who did not trust the private entrepreneurs and instead wanted to develop the public infrastructure on their own without the support of the industrialists. This is why they created many state owned companies, which proved to be hopeless blunders. This proved to be a big mistake and not only backfired on them but they had to pay a big price for their misconceptions.
Hero or Zero
Jawahar Lal Nehru had a burning desire to be known as a hero of the new nation. He wanted to be known as a champion of democracy, socialism, secularism, and world peace. He firmly believed that India would go on to play a leading role in the UN and new world order. He was not alone, many Third World nations thought so too.
More than economic development Nehru’s main preoccupation was foreign affairs. He wanted to be known as Chacha Nehru or a super-hero folk tales are made of. He wanted a position in world history as a giant killer and leader of Non-aligned moment. His greatest problem was that he wanted to be his own foreign minister. The result was that he was so trapped in minute details that he had no time for other important issues.
Also Read: How Nehru banished Hindu heritage from education
Significantly Mahatma Gandhi once wrote to Nehru before he took over as PM
“The first thing I want to write about is the difference in outlook between us. I am convinced that sooner or later the fact must be recognized that people will live in villages not in towns; in huts not in palaces. Crores of people will never be able to live at peace with each other in towns and palaces. While I admire modern science, it should be re-clothed and refashioned aright…”, Mahatma Gandhi wrote.
“I do not understand why a village should necessarily embody truth and non-violence. A village, normally speaking is backward culturally and no progress can be made from a backward environment. Narrow-minded people are much more likely to be untruthfully and violent”, Nehru replied.
Gandhi did not press the issue further.
Personal and married life
Very little is known about Nehru’s personal and married life.
He had a habit of writing letters and was a voracious writer. In 18 years he served as PM he must have sent thousands of letters to his associates. This includes voluminous letters from prison to his daughter Indira who was born a year after his marriage with Kamala (Nehru) Kaul in 1916.
He is also understood to have written several letters to his sisters Vijaya Lakshmi and Krishna. Both of whom were very excited and wanted to see the baby as soon as it was delivered by their Bhabhi, but left immediately after the delivery even without seeing the newborn. Actually both of them were disappointed and like most other Kashmiri pundits those days, wanted a baby boy to be born as their brother’s first child.
Indira was just 11 years old when Nehru was crowned as the president of the Congress Party at Karachi Session in 1928. In the thick of political activities Nehru was finding it increasingly difficult to attend to his ailing wife and girl Indira who was growing up. So Firoze Daruwala – a Parsi from Bharuch was engaged to look after the seriously ill Kamala Nehru as a nurse.
Indira Gandhi was fairly young when her mother died. Call it coincidence or otherwise Firoze and Indira Gandhi were attracted to each other and got married when Indira turned 19 – the same year she lost her mother. However, her ‘unhappy’ marriage with Firoze did not last very long and he died in 1960.
Grooming Indira – Nehru dynasty
History will remember Nehru for the manner in which he coached and mentored Indira Gandhi into politics as her father and gave Indian a Prime Ministerial Clan.
Immediately after independence India epitomized hope and optimism –as a cat at home, lion outside.
Let’s examine a few facts during his tenure:
India’s per capita income was higher than China in 1960, today it is less than half
Half the Indian people are living below the International poverty line – one dollar, per person, per day
33% of world’s poorest people are Indians
Life expectancy in India – 63 years is lower than that in most countries
Four out of 10 Indians are illiterate.
India ranks 134 out of 174 countries on UNDP’s Human Development Index
There are many people who believe that Sardar Patel would have made a better Prime Minister than Nehru.
However after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel’s serious health complications Nehru became the uncrowned king of Indian politics. He not only started his own dynasty but also managed to cut the then Congress President Purushottam Das Tandon down to size. It may be recalled that Tandon had defeated Acharya Kripalani who was sponsored by Nehru.
Inner party democracy
The Congress party during those days used to host six-party conclaves per year. In September 1950 at the Nasik conclave (some 3 months prior to Sardar Patel’s death in a Bombay hospital) Nehru made it clear that he would quit and sit in opposition if he was not given a free hand as the Prime Minister. This stunned the party rank and file who gave Nehru the freedom to do whatever he liked — just the way he wanted but lost Tandon (who resigned and went into political exile) and inner party democracy.
