Letters: Understanding Nehru

This refers to Mihir S Sharma's column "The end of Nehru's Republic" (Policy Rules, November 15). To understand Jawaharlal Nehru one has to rise above politics. For Nehru, peace was a passion that made him believe that like him, his counterparts elsewhere in the world were well-disposed towards doing right as international statesmen. This was the reason he could have made some mistakes. Nehru was not arrogant but somewhat proud of himself and his countrymen. Gandhi preferred Nehru as his successor because he was young and acceptable to other leaders. Because of his Fabian background and Soviet success, he was enamoured by the concept of the mixed economy.

His understanding of market economics was not comprehensive; he could not be close to the US because of "mentally-conceived distance," exacerbated by the then inadequacies of communication-technologies. Poverty in India drew him towards socialism. Had he been functioning in the 1970s and '80s, he would have been not only a pragmatist but also a liberal in the front row like Narendra Modi. With patient understanding and after more evaluation, Modi might come out with better appreciation of Nehru's leadership and philosophy.

K U Mada Mumbai

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