The Nehru I
Knew
He passed
away more than sixty years ago. Looking at my age, you may ask, “You are eighty
now. How could you have known him?”
Even if I
have never met Mr. Modi personally, do I need to know him in person to write
about the good work he has done? Of course not. The same applies here. No need
for twisted interpretations.
The first
Prime Minister of Independent India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru passed away on May
27, 1964. The nation sank into deep grief when the news spread.
I remember
that day vividly. When people in our village heard the announcement on the
radio, many broke down in tears. Very few ate dinner that night. They mourned
as though they had lost a member of their own family.
The next
day, Telugu daily news paper Andhra Prabha carried an eight column main
banner headline on its front page: “Our guide, our statesman, our Jawahar is no
more.”
Many
memories of Nehru remain etched in my mind.
Once, the
Prime Minister addressed a public meeting in Bezawada. Not only people from
nearby areas, but also people from neighboring districts traveled there at
their own expense by train and bus. I was one among them. Nehru rode through
the streets in an open top car. People showered him with flower garlands. He
calmly caught them and tossed them back into the crowd with affection. That
scene still stays with me.
One
photograph reveals how simple and unpretentious Nehru lived while serving as
Prime Minister. The picture in the bottom, came from a press conference at his
official residence. Journalists crowded the room. Some stood because they could
not find seats, while others perched on the edges of sofas and fired questions
at him. Across from them sat the helpless Nehru on a sofa, holding his head. At
first glance, it hardly seemed believable that the man in the picture was the
Prime Minister himself. Without his trademark Gandhi cap, people could barely
recognize Jawaharlal Nehru.
Strangely
enough, Mahatma Gandhi himself never wore that style of cap, yet people still
call it a Gandhi cap.
During
Nehru’s tenure as Prime Minister, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev visited Delhi
on an official tour. Nehru personally went to Palam Airport to receive him. As
they drove into the city together, Khrushchev noticed several people squatting
by the roadside to relieve themselves in public. He asked Nehru about it. Nehru
found himself in an extremely awkward position and struggled to answer
directly.
In 1951, a
newspaper published an astrologer’s article predicting, “War with Pakistan is
inevitable.” The article angered Prime Minister Nehru so much that he even
considered introducing laws against astrology and palmistry.
History
offers many examples of Nehru’s democratic spirit. Even before independence, no
one in Gandhi’s Congress party dared oppose him openly. Yet a newspaper
published in Calcutta repeatedly carried articles warning that hero worship
within the party had crossed all limits. The articles argued that if the trend
continued, Nehru’s ego would grow unchecked and turn him into another Caesar,
which would harm the party. These essays appeared under the pen name
“Chanakya.” For many years, no one knew that the writer was Nehru himself.
People assumed that one of his fiercest critics had written them.
In those
days, the veteran journalist G. Krishna worked in Delhi as the Andhra Patrika
correspondent. Around that time, Narayana Dora visited the residence of Member
of Parliament Boddepalli Rajagopala Rao. Kunisetti Venkata Narayana Dora, a
native of the Salur region, belonged to the old Congress generation.
In his
memoir “Vilekhari Lokam,” G. Krishna recalled the incident this way:
“Dora knew
neither English nor Hindi. The moment he arrived, he said he wanted to meet
Jawaharlal Nehru. The Prime Minister’s Office immediately sent word that he
could come. They gave him fifteen minutes.
“Dora wore
khadi clothes and entered the room. As soon as he stepped inside, he moved
toward Nehru to pin a rose onto his sherwani. Suddenly, Nehru grabbed him,
lifted him into the air, and dropped him onto the sofa. Both burst into
laughter and continued laughing for several minutes. The story behind it goes
back many years.
“During the
1936 elections, Nehru toured Andhra for campaigning. Bulusu Sambamurthy, then
secretary of the Andhra Congress, appointed Venkata Narayana Dora as Nehru’s
bodyguard. Nehru knew no Telugu. Dora knew no Hindi. Yet they managed through
gestures.
“In Bobbili,
members of the Justice Party hurled stones at Nehru. Dora immediately picked
Nehru up in his arms and carried him nearly a furlong away. No matter how much
Nehru protested, Dora refused to put him down.”
Krishna
wrote that when Dora met Nehru again in Delhi in 1953, Nehru repeated the same
playful act by lifting him and dropping him onto the sofa as they reminisced
about old memories.
My second
brother in law, the late Kolipaka Ramachandra Rao, belonged to Rebbavaram in
Khammam district. He passed away long ago. During the freedom struggle, he
served more than fourteen months of rigorous imprisonment. My elder brother in
law, Aitaraju Ram Rao, shared the same prison with him. Both men left behind
pregnant wives at their parents’ homes in our village, Kambhampadu, under my
father’s care and went to jail for the nation.
That aside,
my brother in law Shri Ramachandra Rao
once told me about an incident.
“Soon after
independence, Nehru came to Andhra for a public meeting. About forty or fifty
of us from our village Rebbavaram, traveled by train to attend the meeting. When we went
to buy tickets, the Khammam Railway station master asked, ‘Why do you need
tickets to attend Nehru’s meeting? All are going there without tickets’
“Perhaps if
we had firmly objected that day, the country might not have reached its present
state. People slowly developed the belief that in a free India everything
should come free of cost. They failed to develop the feeling that this country
belongs to us and that its gains and losses belong to us as well.
“If you ask
whether this is the nation we dreamed of, I would say no. But I cannot say when
or how the nation we dreamed of will emerge. Personally, I do not expect to
live long enough to see it.”
Those were
the words of my brother in law, late Shri Ramachandra Rao.
Many people
born after 1964 immediately associate Nehru’s name with the corruption ridden
Congress Party. They fail to remember the great leader who guided newly
independent India during its infancy. Except for Gandhi, no Indian political
leader has inspired as many as through their books and writings as Nehru. Yet today’s
younger generation lacks the patience to read those works. They want everything
instantly, like a ready reckoner. One
click should place the answer before their eyes.
Try
searching Google for information about the Telugu Desam Party founder by typing
“NTR.” Perhaps one or two results may refer to the elder statesman, while the
rest highlight Junior NTR. This, unfortunately, has become our sense of
history.
There was a
time when India depended on wheat and milk powder sent by America under the PL
480 program to feed the poor. Yet the country later achieved the Green
Revolution and the White Revolution. In those days, even a small official
called the VLW visited villages and explained to farmers which crops to grow
and when to sow them. Villagers listened attentively. Every morning and
evening, agricultural programs broadcast on community radios helped the nation
achieve self sufficiency in food production.
Bhakra
Nangal, Nagarjuna Sagar, Srisailam. These massive projects that now keep the
country green and fertile owe much to Nehru’s vision. Even the Sardar Sarovar
Dam, inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi, was originally laid by Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru. The younger generation should not forget that.
From Nehru
to Modi, independent India has continued to move along the path of development.
Each Prime Minister has contributed to nation building in his own way. Future
India should remember the good work that Modi carries out today. In the same
spirit, this generation should also remember the great contributions leaders
like Nehru made in the past.
If we cannot
directly contribute to the nation’s progress, we can at least express gratitude
to those who did.
People may
criticize Nehru from many angles, including aspects of his personal life. Yet
as a visionary statesman, he possessed a personality that few could seriously
fault.
One final
thought.
As long as
we view Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Ambedkar, and Vajpayee merely as leaders
belonging to particular political parties, we will never judge their
personalities honestly and fairly.
(To be
continued)
Photo below:
Nehru during his years as Prime Minister, seated with his head in his hands
