Architect of modern India left indelible footprints

Raj Kanwar

Senior Journalist

WHEN India attained its independence, it was Jawaharlal Nehru who, as the country’s first Prime Minister, strode like a colossus across its political horizon. For the following 17 years until his death on May 27, 1964, Nehru was India’s unquestioned supremo with Sardar Patel as his closest confidante and comrade-in-arms.

Despite Gandhi’s assassination on January 30, 1948 and the turmoil of Partition, it nonetheless went to Nehru’s credit that he continued to pursue the various development projects. He had left in the competent hands of Sardar Patel issues regarding the maintenance of law and order, and those related to the accession of hundreds of Indian princely states to the Dominion of India. The reassuring presence of Patel enabled him to continue without distraction with his development agenda.

Now that when Machiavellian attempts are being made by the current ruling dispensation to erase from India’s political history the name of Jawaharlal Nehru — India’s first and, by all accounts, the most popular and successful Prime Minister — it is time to recall, celebrate and indelibly etch on stone his great contribution towards making India a modern secular parliamentary democracy. Nehru had always considered parliamentary democracy as the critical bedrock for building a forward looking and self-reliant country. And every possible safeguard had been incorporated in the Constitution to ensure that its fundamental features were not tampered with. Even though many amendments over the preceding 72 years have changed some of its contours, yet the ‘basic structure doctrine’ ensured that the fundamental rights granted to the citizens remained sacrosanct and unaltered. India’s political stability over all those years stood in sharp relief to the tumultuous changes that had been the fate of some of its neighbours who too had become independent almost at the same time.

It would be a virtual blasphemy to claim that the BJP government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has achieved so much during its tenure than what the previous governments could not achieve even in the preceding decades. There is no denying that the Modi government has to

its credit numerous achievements

over the preceding seven years, as claimed by the government.

The BJP government has undoubtedly been trying to “improve the living standards of the poor, farmers and deprived sections by bringing them into the mainstream with its determined, holistic and welfare policies”. According to Home Minister Amit Shah, “Many welfare schemes have been introduced by the Modi government that includes provision of houses for 25 crore people under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna and clean, potable water via pipeline under the Jal Jeevan Mission.” Though all such welfare projects are high on the agenda of the government, only time will tell how much of these targets will be achievable in the given time-frame. However, there is no point questioning or doubting the government’s sincerity.

On the contrary, Nehru’s achievements as the Prime Minister primarily lay in giving India an industrial and scientific face. Bhakra Nangal dam was the first to become a symbol of India’s progress. Nehru called it “A temple of resurgent India”. And the next on the scientific horizon was the establishment of the Atomic Energy Commission in August 1948. The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) took another six years in coming. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was yet another important landmark that went on to spawn over the years a network of nearly 40 national scientific and research laboratories across the country.

At least a few major industries had come up in the public sector during this period. Three state-of-the-art steel plants were set up in Bokaro, Bhilai and Durgapur in cooperation with West Germany, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom, respectively. One of the most notable contributions was the setting up of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission in August 1956 despite virulent opposition from foreign oil companies and other vested interests. That was followed by nationalisation of the oil refineries owned by Burmah Shell, Caltex and Stanvac. The Indian Oil Corporation was set up to look after the marketing and refining of petroleum products.

Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) were the other major legacies of Nehru. Beginning with Bombay, Delhi, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Kharagpur and Madras, there are today 23 such IITs in the country turning out every year thousands of engineers and technologists. Here, it would be interesting to recall a comment made by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that had Nehru not set up IITs, he would have been selling tea.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, Coal India Ltd, Gas Authority of India, NTPC and the Steel Authority of India are today some of the Maharatna government undertakings yielding annual revenue worth thousands of crores by way of dividend and taxes to the Central exchequer. This is not all. There are nearly a hundred major, medium and small government companies spanning a wide range of industries. Many of these public sector companies are like hens that lay golden eggs. The net worth of some of these companies today is in lakhs of crores of rupees. For instance, the net worth of ONGC today is Rs 200,000 crore while the market value of Coal India is Rs 216,000 crore. How very fortunate that the ‘family silver’ has become so very valuable.

These are just some of Nehru’s tangible contributions that made India an industrial powerhouse of some substance. His critics may find fault even in his positive contributions. However, it needs to be emphasised that Nehru’s ideas were unexceptionable. If some of these failed to live up to the expectations, then the fault must lie in their implementation. In principle, Nehru’s contribution to India’s industrial and infrastructural growth was based on sound economics.

Those who today overtly criticise Nehru must not forget that they have been in the seat of power since 2014, thanks primarily to the parliamentary democracy that Nehru’s generation had not only given to India but also strengthened and made durable. It is now time on his 58th death anniversary for us to rise above our narrow political skirmishes, and stand as one to hail the man who made India the bedrock of parliamentary democracy.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.