Who, if not Nehru?

In this era of the Congress hatred (which is justified) and mostly a pro-right wing atmosphere; where humans are believing on th

e things they see on a website or social media sites which are by no means unadulterated by certain bias, we have started hating our first (And according to me the best) Prime Minister. Pandit Nehru, through the years, recent years more precisely has undergone tremendous amount of criticism. It is mandatory to face criticism if you're a politician, but Nehru faced hatred, he lost the love which the Indians had for him. And all these things after his death. The time when he was alive, he was probably the most loved man in India after Gandhi. The defamation started happening after his death. 

There are multiple reasons for the downfall of Panditji's publicity. He was never really fond of the RSS which resulted in him banning the institution after Gandhi's assassination; just for one year though. And in the previous two or three decades, the liking towards the right wing ideology of people in India has increased, which explains few things. Secondly, the failure of the INC post Indira Gandhi has risen a tremendous amount of dissatisfaction in the minds of the citizens. The Congress of Nehru and the Congress of Rahul is poles apart. People generally confuse the two, which is another reason for Nehru's degrading image amongst the general public. These being the main reasons, it also has many reasons and many other perspectives (very few of them which really make sense) which turn on the hatred towards Nehru! The question, I wanna ask today is if not Nehru, then who? 

Who was capable and able to lead the nation of such a vast population? A nation with tremendous problems, probably facing the world's largest human migration, A nation who's economy was going nowhere, A nation facing communal riots every other day, A nation in whom no person believed to survive more than ten years, A nation with a nominal literacy rate, all in all, a nation with all kind of problems. As far as I'm concerned, Jawaharlal Nehru was the wisest person who could have led India. Arguably the most moderate man, respecting all cultures and beliefs, with tremendous amount of international respect. His idea of foreign policy, mainly because of his many visits to the European and Soviet countries, and his relations with the diplomats there. His view of building educational institutions realising the importance of them in the coming future, his role in the formation of the constitution. Involving people from various ideologies in his cabinet, and taking forward the idea of 'non-violence'. His role along with Vallabh bhai Patel in keeping Kashmir intact. His way of dealing with the criticism of the opposition. (Read the exchange of letters between JP Narayan and Nehru) his idea of a nation like India was so splendid. I cannot see any other politician equalling the heights of Nehru's achievement. 

One might argue that Patel was a better choice. He was never the first choice to be honest, plus he had his own disputes within the congress party. I have seen some people claiming that Gowalkar should have been the PM. I'm afraid our national flag, then, would have been saffron coloured. His rally at Shivaji Park, Bombay was attended by about 1 lakh people. The speeches there were filled with plain radicalism with the touch of RSS in it. Whereas, Nehru's rally just next week was attended by more than 6 lakh people. This clearly suggests, Nehru was winning this battle of popularity, hands down. Muslims intellects wanted Maulana Azad to be the face of India, but this decision would have definitely encouraged many riots and would have made the situation intense. 

For the horrific communal violence of 1946 and 1947 bore witness to the need for a strong centre. In the words of Kazi Syed Karimuddin, "everyone is not Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru(in respect of his commitment to inter religious harmony). There were weak and vacillating executives in all the Provinces, thus what we want today is a patriotic and a steady government. What we want today is a strong, impartial and an unbending executive". Also we cannot forget the pre Independence inputs of Nehru and the time he spent is jail. Well, the time spent in jail resulted in great literary pieces. 

Of course, mistakes were done by Nehru, especially during the 1962 China war. Nehru thought of the Chinese as their well wishers due to his slight inclination towards left ideology. Also, other administrative mistakes, which can be overlooked. As a head of the country, you're prone to certain mistakes. 

Lastly, I thought of writing this article due to the things I read on social media and comments made on social media. The situation again might not be so explosive against Nehru,(As mentioned earlier; social media mostly show the false side) there would be people who certainly know and realise the contribution of Pandit Nehru towards building our nation. India was lucky to have a Prime Minister like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru!