Based on a speech/talk in Telugu by Dr. Devaraju Maharaju
Some people say Nehru belongs to the past. Personally, I believe he belongs not only to the past but to the present and the future as well. Building a nation requires immense effort and sacrifice — and Nehru demonstrated both through his life. His life stands as an ideal not just for the older generation, but for today's youth and generations yet to come. I hold this belief firmly.
He was a visionary, an atheist, a rationalist — but setting all of that aside, there is one thing that must be spoken of without fail: Scientific Temper. The man who coined the term "scientific temper" and gave it to the world was Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. This phrase is now used globally, and people must remember that it was Nehru who gave us those words.
The Roots of Scientific Thought in India
Did scientific temper begin with Nehru? Not quite. India was actually home to the world's earliest materialists. It was India that first introduced the concept of materialism to the world — the Charvakas raised profound questions even before the Buddha. But over centuries, that entire body of thought was systematically destroyed by Manuvaadis. As a result, Charvaka literature is almost entirely unavailable to us today.
After all those centuries, Nehru picked up that thread and declared: if this nation is to progress, scientific temper is the only way forward. Superstitions must be abandoned. The chaos carried out in the name of tradition must be swept aside. Humanity has advanced through scientific understanding and will continue to do so. With that conviction, he introduced the concept of scientific temper to the world.
Nehru was not a scientist himself. Like many educated Indians of his era — Gandhi, Sardar Patel, and others — he went to Britain and became a barrister. At the time, studying law in Britain was a mark of distinction. Yet this man, trained in law, turned his gaze toward social justice. He reflected deeply on the inequalities plaguing this country and concluded that a scientific worldview was the only true remedy.
A Life of Sacrifice
A few personal facts about Nehru must also be acknowledged.
He came from a Kashmiri family that had settled in Allahabad. His father was famously wealthy — their home, Anand Bhawan in Allahabad, was eventually donated to the nation. Nehru gave away all his family wealth to the country, keeping nothing for himself. Anyone who speaks disparagingly of a man who surrendered everything — I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
More significantly: no political leader, in any party past or present, spent as many as 14 years in prison for the cause of Indian independence. Gandhi sacrificed greatly, but the longest continuous period of imprisonment was endured by Nehru himself. We know this not from partisan claims, but from a letter that Sardar Patel wrote to Nehru — published by the National Book Trust in Delhi, an institution where I served as an advisory member for ten years. In that letter, Patel's admiration and reverence for Nehru is unmistakably clear.
Nehru and Patel: The Truth Behind the Myth
There is a piece of misinformation currently in circulation — promoted to diminish Nehru by elevating Patel as a rival figure. The narrative goes: it was Patel alone who integrated the princely states into India after the British left.
Here is what the historical record shows. When Nehru became Prime Minister, he wrote to Patel requesting him to serve as Home Minister. Patel's reply was remarkable in its humility. He said: "It is not a matter of my agreeing or consenting — I am honoured to have been chosen. Though I am somewhat older in age, before your sacrifices, your wisdom, and your judgment, I consider myself far lesser. I gladly express my willingness to work alongside you."
The constitutional reality is equally clear: a Home Minister cannot make or execute decisions without the Prime Minister's knowledge and approval. Therefore, the claim that Patel single-handedly integrated the princely states — whether Kashmir, Hyderabad's Nizam, or others — without Nehru's direction is simply false. Everything Patel did, he did with the Prime Minister's sanction and guidance.
Why, then, is Patel being artificially elevated today? Because he was from Gujarat. And because building him up provides a convenient tool to pull Nehru down. The irony is striking: the massive Statue of Unity erected in Patel's honour stands beside the Sardar Sarovar Dam — a project initiated by Nehru himself. Furthermore, the ₹3,000 crore spent on that statue was handed to China, which manufactured it. This, from a government that loudly proclaims "Make in India" — while Indian artists, craftsmen, and engineers were bypassed entirely.
The Writer, the Thinker, the Nation-Builder
Nehru the writer is inseparable from Nehru the leader.
The Discovery of India and Towards Freedom are works that remain part of public consciousness. The Discovery of India originated as letters Nehru wrote to his daughter Indira from prison around 1934–35 — a vast synthesis of Indian history, culture, and civilisation, composed while he read voraciously in confinement. These letters were later revised and published as the book we know today.
On 19 October 1952, at a large public gathering in Shillong, Meghalaya, Nehru delivered a speech that captures the essence of his vision. He said:
"A country is not merely mountains, rivers, plains, and fields — not just cities, towns, and villages, large or small. A country is the people who live in it. I have tried to understand the people of my India — those of the past and those of the present — studying their lives and their needs in depth. I have travelled extensively across this land, from the Himalayas in the north to Kanyakumari in the south, from the western borders to the eastern shores. I have met millions of people, looked directly into their eyes, sensed their feelings, learned their hopes and aspirations, heard what they said — and tried to understand even what they could not say. In all of this, I have begun, in some measure, to understand my country's people. That has given me joy, and a certain satisfaction."
Tagore's Tribute
The autobiographical Towards Freedom moved the great poet Rabindranath Tagore so deeply that he wrote Nehru a letter. In it, Tagore said:
"Dear Jawaharlal, I have just finished reading your book. It is truly a great work — I was deeply moved throughout. I take pride in the achievements you have described. Above all, the deep current of humanity that flows beneath everything you have written unravels the most complex knots and brings the truth forward with remarkable composure. Your personality, I can tell, is even greater than all the achievements described within these pages. In the midst of the turbulence of contemporary life, your honest and genuine character shines through unmistakably."
Closing Thoughts
I have deliberately chosen to speak less from my own opinions and more through the words of those who knew Nehru in his time — Sardar Patel's letters, Nehru's own speeches, Tagore's tribute. My purpose has been to give younger generations, in particular, a sense of the stature Nehru held among his contemporaries.
His sacrifices. His vision. His intellectual honesty. These are not diminished by political campaigns or misinformation.
Speaking ill of such a man reveals the character of the speaker — it says nothing about Nehru.
Comments
Post a Comment