Even sixty years after the death of Jawaharlal Nehru, his legacy appears to loom large over the country바카라s contemporary political rhetoric. The ascendance of his 21st century successor, Narendra Modi, to the top post, has added to the political currency of the country바카라s longest serving prime minister, albeit through purely fabricated or delicately twisted commentary.
Since 2014, when PM Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stormed to power at the Centre, on the one hand, there appears to be a widespread vilification campaign against Nehru, with top ruling party politicians blaming him for several post-Independence misfortunes in the country.
On the other hand, social media platforms like WhatsApp serve as battlegrounds for spreading conspiracy theories about Nehru, questioning his ancestry and personal life, alleging he was born in a brothel or was a womaniser.
However, as is the nature of slander, most of it is rooted in either misquoting or fabricating the late Prime Minister바카라s quotes and speeches, or in words twisted out of context.
Take the case of Kiren Rijiju, a top BJP leader from Arunachal Pradesh and then the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, who, in November 2015, accused Nehru of surrendering territory to China during the 1962 war.
To back up his 바카라serious바카라 charge, Rijiju quoted Nehru바카라s statement, 바카라My heart goes out to the people of Assam,바카라 after the fall of Bomdila, now in Arunachal Pradesh, during the Indo-China war. Rijiju contended that by expressing sympathy for Assam after Bomdila바카라s fall, Nehru had virtually surrendered the territory to China.
However, the context of Nehru바카라s statement at the time, is crucial.
On November 19, 1962, Nehru addressed the nation via radio and acknowledged 바카라further setbacks바카라 in the northern part of Arunachal Pradesh, then known as the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA), along with the fall of Bomdila, but affirmed India바카라s determination to repel the invader.
Nehru, in the same speech, had in fact declared India바카라s resolve to fight until victory, rejecting any notion of surrender, saying he could 바카라well understand what our friends in Assam must be feeling바카라 and adding that the government was not 바카라going to tolerate this kind of invasion of India by any foreign country.바카라
바카라We must train ourselves and we must steel ourselves to meet all these reverses and to even make our determination still firmer to do all we can and to repel and throw out the invader from India,바카라 Nehru said in that speech, which raises questions over Rijiju바카라s drawn import, which questions the late Prime Minister바카라s resolve to protect India바카라s territorial integrity.
Rijiju is not the only BJP leader to doubt Nehru바카라s ability to safeguard India바카라s sovereignty.
In addition to misrepresenting Jawaharlal Nehru through speeches, new, more 바카라creative바카라 inventions such as fake letters have popped up of late.
In July 2020, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma echoed Rijiju바카라s sentiments, accusing Nehru of almost giving away Assam to China in 1962, on the basis of the same speech.
바카라Surrendering has been (a) hallmark of (the) Gandhi-Nehru family. In 1962, Assam was almost given away by Pt Nehru. When the Chinese Army had captured Bomdila, Nehru said, 바카라My heart goes out to the people of Assam.바카라 Shame,바카라 Sarma had said.
In August 2023, speaking in the Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the same speech by Nehru as a 바카라terrifying broadcast바카라 and said, 바카라In 1962, when China attacked India, when people of the country were expecting the government to save them, Nehru said in his radio speech 바카라my heart goes out to the people of Assam바카라. This was the situation. That radio broadcast continues to haunt people, thinking how Nehruji left them to their fate.바카라
In 2015, Rijiju also claimed that during a parliament debate about Chinese aggression in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, Nehru had purportedly said: 바카라바카라In those barren lands, in mountains of Ladakh and AP, not even a blade of grass grows, why is the Parliament wasting time?바카라바카라 Rijiju added, 바카라These are those words that really pinched our hearts.바카라
However, parliamentary records suggest otherwise.
During a Rajya Sabha debate on August 31, 1959, Devendra Prasad Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar representing the Praja Socialist Party (PSP), inquired about Nehru바카라s response to a news report stating that the Chinese had constructed a road through Indian territory in Ladakh.
In response, Nehru informed the House that China, 바카라without our knowledge바카라, completed the Yecheng-Gartok Road, which is also called the Sinki-ang-Tibet Highway, in September 1957 in the Aksai Chin area and that India had been 바카라dealing with it in correspondence.바카라
When Singh asked, 바카라Does not the government contemplate ousting the Chinese from this Indian territory by force? Will not the Government of India at least consider the advisability of bombing the road, built in our territory, out of existence?바카라 Nehru replied, 바카라No, Sir. Government will not consider that course, because that is not the way Government would like to function in such matters.바카라
Nehru then added, 바카라It is Indian territory and we claim it so, because we think that the weight of evidence is in our favour바카라maps, etc. But the Chinese produce their own maps, equally old, which are in their favour. And the territory is sterile. It has been described as a barren, uninhabited region without a vestige of grass and 17,000 ft. high.바카라
In the same debate, Jaswant Singh (not the late BJP leader who later became India바카라s foreign minister), an independent Rajya Sabha MP from Rajasthan, responded by questioning Nehru as to why India was not attaching significance to the desolate and infertile portion of Ladakh, despite China바카라s construction of a road there, while referring to the Prime Minister바카라s earlier remarks on the area바카라s apparent lack of importance.
Nehru바카라s response was, 바카라I talked only about the Yehcheng area, not about the whole of Ladakh,바카라 and that the government was treating the matter with due importance.
Nehru바카라s actual statements do not mirror Rijiju바카라s interpretation of the Premier바카라s words when the latter suggests that Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh were expendable to the late Congress stalwart.
Similarly, in February 2024, while delivering possibly the last speech of his second term in the Lok Sabha, PM Modi read out from Nehru바카라s Independence Day speech in 1959, which the latter had delivered in Hindi.
Quotations falsely attributed to Nehru are so abundant on the Internet that even mainstream media houses fall prey to them quite often.
Modi said: 바카라Let me read out what Nehru said from the Red Fort on Independence Day. He said, 바카라Indians are not used to working hard. We don바카라t work as hard as people in Europe or Japan or China or Russia do. These communities have become prosperous through their hard work and intelligence.바카라 So, Nehru was giving certificates to other countries, while looking down on Indians. He thought Indians were lazy and lacking in intelligence.바카라
A longer and more comprehensive quote from Nehru바카라s speech gives us a better perspective of what the late PM actually meant: 바카라The problem we are facing at this time is that our people have stopped trusting themselves, they feel someone else will come to help바카라 The government will help바카라 That is why schemes have been made바카라(But) the momentum has to come from within, it can바카라t be imposed from above바카라 the country doesn바카라t develop because of officials alone, it does so due to its own efforts바카라바카라
Following this, Nehru added, 바카라In our country, that habit of working very hard is not common. It바카라s not our fault, habits develop as per circumstances. But the fact remains that we do not work as much as the people of Europe, America, Japan or Russia바카라 we too can grow with hard work and intelligence, there is no other alternative바카라the world runs on the hard work of people, whether it is the farmers, the labourers, the shopkeepers or the artisans바카라바카라
In addition to misrepresenting Nehru through speeches, new, more 바카라creative바카라inventions have popped up of late.
In 2016, purported photos of an old letter from Nehru went viral on social media.
Addressed to 바카라Mr Clement Attlee, Prime Minister of England,바카라 residing at 바카라10, Down Street, London,바카라 one 바카라Jwaharlal Nehru바카라 wrote in it, 바카라I understand from reliable sources that Subhash Chandra Bose your War Criminal, has been allowed to enter Russian territory by Stalin. This is a clear treachary and betrayal of faith by the Russians and Rassia has been an ally of the British-Americans, which she should not have done. Please take note of it and do what you concider proper and fit.바카라 It was dated December 26, 1945.
After errors were highlighted, a revised letter circulated, correcting most spelling mistakes and listing the PM바카라s residence as 바카라10 Downing Street.바카라 However, while Attlee바카라s designation remained unchanged, his name was misspelled. The date was altered to December 27, 1945.
Quotations falsely attributed to Nehru are so abundant on the Internet that even mainstream media houses fall prey.
On November 14, 2015, the BJP바카라s IT cell chief Amit Malviya, in a social media post, quoted Nehru as saying, 바카라By education, I am an Englishman, by views an internationalist, by culture a Muslim and a Hindu only by accident of birth.바카라
This quotation gained such widespread traction that in 2018, Bengaluru-based English daily Deccan Herald actually attributed it to Nehru.
Congress leaders clarified that Nehru never uttered those words, which were instead used by N B Khare, a Hindu Mahasabha leader, to depict his interpretation of Nehru바카라s beliefs.
Following the criticism, the media house issued a clarification and apologised.
(This appeared in the print as 'Naysayers And Nehru')
