Book Review
“Nehru: A Troubled Legacy” by Sri RNP Singh
Dt: 27/7/15
Book Review
“Nehru: A Troubled Legacy”
by Sri RNP Singh
Published by Wisdom Tree
4779/23 Ansari Road, Darya Ganj
New Delhi -110002; T: (11) 2324-7966
Price: Rs. 695 ; Pages: 337
Review by
Dr T.H.Chowdary
At the 20th Congress of the CPSUB (Communist Party of the Soviet Union) Nikita Khruschev, Secretary General of the party and USSR’s supremo addressed a closed door meeting of the party in 1956? He narrated the gruesome tale of Stalin’s murders of thousands of noted communist party leaders and members and a few million soviet citizens . This narration was heard in silence with grim faces. During the course of this narration one person shouted, “what were you doing then?” “Who is that ? asked Khruschev. There was absolute silence. Khrushchev repeated the question several times Nobody answered, nobody looked up. Then Khruschev triumphantly declared, “ I was as silent and as frightened as the questioner is now”.
3. I am recounting this story because now that no Dynast of Nehru is in power , a number of former senior officers and intellectuals are boldly narrating the megalomaniac, selfish, dictatorial, dynasty –building, power-hungry and self-righteous deeds and politics of Pt.Jawaharlal Nehru.
4. This former IB Officer Sri RNP Singh in his long and detailed story of Nehru’s deeds with 135 pages of Annexures has exposed Nehru’s hitherto untold misdeeds like Kashmir, India-China border and Muslim minority which are severely troubling the nation and seem to be un- resolvable. Nehru considered himself an English man measuring upto Macaulay’s idea of English educated Indians who are only in blood and colour Indian but in tastes, views, likes and preferences English -men. Indeed, Nehru told John Kenneth Galbraith, US ambassador that he (Nehru) was the last Englishman to rule India. Galbrith was stunned at this self-description of Nehru. Gandhiji said, “Nehru is the only Englishman in my camp”.
5. Nehru was inducted as President of Congress at age 40, in 1929 at the wish of his father and the fathers’ request to Mahatma Gandhi who thrice advised Sardar Patel the choice of Congress men as President, to withdrew in Nehru’s favour.
6. Nehru talked of socialism in order to enthuse the young but he never said what it meant nor ever defined socialism when challenged to do so by Subhash Chandra Bose and Jaya Prakash Narayan and other Congress socialists.
7. Nehru had scant respect for his cabinet colleague including Sardar Patel and Rajendra Prasad. But he had fear of Sardar Patel behind whom the Congress party ever stood as evidenced by the election of Rajendra Prasad as the President of India, Purushottam Das Tandon as the President of Congress, both against the will and intervention of Jawaharlal Nehru personally. He had to submit to Sardar Patel in regard to the Police Action against the recalcitrant Nizam of Hyderabad. He listened to the Englishman, Mountbatten and his wife, Edwina in regard to Kashmir and not to his colleagues including Sardar Patel.
8. Sri Singh tells in great detail how Nehru groomed his daughter Indira Gandhi first for presidentship of the Congress and eventually for the Prime Ministership; how he shielded corrupt people like Krishna Menon (of Jeep sandal) and T.T. Krishnamachari (of Mundhra rip off of the Life Insurance Corporation’s funds). Nehru could even tell lies as in his letter to Rajendra Prasad telling him that Sardar Patel agreed with Nehru that Rajaji was to be the first President ( for telling this lie he had later apologised). Nehru was communal in the sense that he advanced the interests of Muslims as against any Hindu loyalist of his or Hindus in grneral. For example: he invited Muslim League members to join the Congress and fraternised with them so that they would support him against Sardar Patel & Rajendra Prasad; he entered into electoral alliance with the Muslim League which he earlier bitterly criticised as utterly communal and antinational; in Kerala in the 1952 General Elections just to win ; he put up Hafiz Mohammed Ibrahim, the former Muslim Leaguer against his former college and Congress President J B Kripalani in a bye- election in Amroha (UP) where Muslims constituted 37% of the electorate.
9. Nehru had scant regard for military officers; he showed favouritism to a Kashmiri Pandit, General B.M.Kaul . He had unjustified faith that communist China would never wage any war on India. He withheld the fact of Chinese occupation of 40,000 sq.kmts Aksai Chin area of Laddkah for more than two years from the Parliament. His arrogant and unrealisable assertion that he has ordered the Indian army to throw out the Chinese, fully knowing that the Indian armed forces were no match to the Chinese in any sector provoked the Chinese to attack India.
10. He asked Rajendra Prasad, the President not to consecrate Lord Shiva’s idol in Somnath (Rajendra Prasad defied in this regard). Nehru ordered his Cabinet colleagues and the President not to go to the funeral of Sardar Patel when he died in Bombay in 1950; Nehru once again ordered his Cabinet colleagues not to go to the funeral of Dr Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India; (Dr.Radhakrishnan disobeyed Nehru and went to Rajendra Prasad’s funeral) . Nehru had aversion to have Rajendra Prasad’s cremation and a memorial on the banks of Jamuna along side of Gandhiji (and others later).
11. Nehru preferred foreign experts’ opinions and disregarded India’s own intellectuals. Nehru’s was total discomfited at the humiliating defeat that Chinese inflicted on India with not a single leader of the more than 70 non –aligned countries he thought he was leading , spoke in India’s behalf.
12. The Appendices running to 129 pages and the hundreds of references that the author has given, fully authenticate what Sri Singh had to say about this bombastic, double -speak, double standard, Mecaulayan Indian owing his position entirely due to his father and to Gandhiji. The Nehru family persons, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are all of the same feather , totally selfish, little educated and who have neglected of nation-building and concentrated on Dynasty building and who subordinated India’s and Hindus’ interests to those of Muslims. That Nehru was appeasing Muslims and had no sensitivity to Hindu sentiments is tellingly brought out by the narration of Nehru’s opposition to have the Common Civil Code while reforming the Hindu laws about heritage, marriage and so on. The Nehru Dynasty and the Congress are anti-Hindu party of minorities, i.e , Muslims during Nehru’s time and Muslims and Christians now . It is as well that Narendra Modi talks of “Congress mukt Bharat” that is, an India rid of the Congress party which has been totally sullied by and subordinated to the minorities. It has become proprietary and has degenerated to be a party for minorities for their vote banks against the majority Hindus .
Why is it that with all the will in the world, I cannot understand what is obvious to you ? I am not as far as I know, suffering from intellectual decay. Should you not then set your heart on at least making me understand what you are after. – Mahatma Gandhi to Nehru
“ You are in the habit of proclaiming that you stand by yourself and represent nobody else. At the same time you call yourself a socialist– some times , a full blooded socialist. How a socialist can be an individualist as you regard yourself beats me. The one is anti-thesis of the other - Subhas Chandra Bose to Nehru
(These questions were never answered by the great Jawaharlal Nehru –Reviewer)
END