Remembering Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru on his 130th birthday. I write this particularly as we live in a time of hate, when he is the most “hated” and discussed figure in the Indian political arena. Vilifying Nehru with fake news and photoshopped images has become the favorite pastime of digital trolls and born haters. It could be jealousy or desperation that drives right-wing politics to ignore or even erase him from the pages of history, but the more they ignore him, the more he will be loved and remembered—because Nehru’s legacy is etched indelibly in the making of India.
Gossiping about others’ private lives is like a national sport for us, and Nehru is perhaps the most misunderstood person and a convenient target for gossip-mongers. People never tire of speaking about his philandering or his relationship with Edwina Mountbatten, as if Nehru is defined solely by his relationships with women. A close relationship between a man and a woman need not necessarily be physical; it could be spiritual, emotional, or intellectual. But when you are frustrated and carry sex in your head 24/7, you cannot see beyond that. Platonic love doesn’t exist for you. However, an erudite, refined, and charming Nehru might well have attracted women, and as a widower he was committing no crime. Jealousy, after all, cannot be cured.
Though I had a penchant for biographies of great personalities, as a stupid and rebellious teenager I was never keen to read about Nehru or even Gandhi—because Subhas Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, and Che were the flavors of the season, plus those evergreen Latin American authors. My discovery of Nehru began with Glimpses of World History, and I couldn’t help but adore his sunny personality. His intellect, varied interests, and vast knowledge of almost every subject are truly appealing, but his aesthetic sense and sensitivity are even more endearing qualities—and definitely a rarity among statesmen.
Nehru might have made mistakes and might have been humiliated by the Machiavellian designs of China; he paid for it with his life, never recovering from that huge betrayal until his death in 1964. An idealistic Nehru’s thoughts and views on nations, people, and issues were greatly influenced by Gandhiji, who was his mentor and whom he considered a father figure. Gandhiji was for disbanding the armed forces, and the pacifist Mahatma’s influence might well have left its mark on many of Nehru’s political decisions.
Haters can hate, but Nehru will remain a shining star on the horizon of world leaders. No politician to date can match the intellectual prowess and creative genius of Nehru. Gandhi, who had been Nehru’s mentor for more than thirty years, had no doubt that Nehru was a true jawahar (jewel).
