Eight reasons why I remember Jawaharlal Nehru

I was lying in bed with a plaster cast at the age of 16, soon after the tribal invasion of the Kashmir Valley had begun. We were in Jammu and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru came on a brief visit to the palace, but I was not able to see him. Having grown up reading his books and being inspired by them, especially his autobiography and Discovery of India, I complained to my father for not having had the opportunity to meet him. When he came for the second time, my father brought him into my room and said to him, “Tiger is your great admirer.”

He asked how I was and good naturedly apologised for not having seen me on his first visit. I requested him to sign my copy of his autobiography. He was in the room for barely three minutes, but I was deeply struck by the agility with which he moved and that unforgettable smile, pensive yet intensely human.

Kashmir was very close to his heart and as prime minister he would visit it as often as feasible. He loved to stay in our Chashmashahi Guest House in Srinagar which, incidentally, is the house where my parents were married and now "Raj Bhavan". As Sadr-i-Riyasat, I would invariably receive him at the airport and accompany him in an open car to his residence. Despite his unrivalled political status, he was an intensely human person, and it was always a privilege to be in his company. He visited pour house in Srinagar on several occasions, and attended the house-warming of our Delhi residence in the late fifties. He invariably wore a red rose in his jacket and carried a short cane. The word "charisma" is now-a-days loosely bandied around, but Jawaharlal Nehru had this indescribable aura in full measure.

#1 Early days of Independence: Despite disagreements with him on many issues Jawaharlal Nehru was handpicked by the Mahatma to lead the new India that would emerge after independence. Those who have not lived through that period can hardly comprehend the extent of the chaos and upheaval that accompanied partition. To stabilise and consolidate the situation after independence required statesmanship of a high order, and the cabinet led by Jawaharlal Nehru, including such stalwarts like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as deputy prime minister and Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, was able to do this.

The first great achievement of Jawaharlal Nehru after independence, therefore, was to hold the ship of state firm amid the turbulent waters of the partition process, despite predictions of the prophets of doom, including Winston Churchill that after the British left India would balkanise and break into a dozen units.

#2 Making of a Constitution: The second great task was, after centuries of foreign rule, for India to get itself a new Constitution. The Constituent Assembly was already meeting, and Jawaharlal Nehru took a keen interest in its activities. Presided over by the mature Dr Rajendra Prasad, Dr BR Ambedkar who headed the drafting committee, and some of our finest constitutional minds including BN Rao and Allady Krishnaswamy Iyer, the Constitution gradually emerged with a clear imprint of Jawaharlal Nehru’s views, especially in the socially oriented directive principles of state policy. Himself an impeccable parliamentarian, Jawaharlal Nehru not only took a keen interest in the framing of the Constitution but attended Parliament for long hours, answered questions and in particular spoke on foreign relations, which portfolio he had kept with himself. The Constitution was finally adopted in 1950 and has stood the test of the time for over six decades with numerous amendments to meet the challenges required of a developing society.

#3 Integrating the 'princely states’: After partition, India was a patchwork quilt consisting of what used to be called "British India" and hundreds of princely states ranging from large ones such as Jammu & Kashmir, Hyderabad, Mysore and Gwalior, to tiny principalities, a legacy of historical circumstances. Knitting these separate units into a single state was a massive task, the main credit for which goes to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who as home minister was dealing with states. Although Nehru left this area mainly to the Sardar, he closely monitored the process and, despite his strong anti-feudal feelings, he realized the importance of seeking the cooperation of the ruling princes for integrating the Indian States so as to consolidate India from Kashmir to Kanyakumari after many centuries of servitude and fragmentation. This was followed by the appointment of the States Reorganisation Commission in 1956 which resulted in a revolutionary restructuring of the whole nation continuing down to the present day, although for historical reasons Jammu & Kashmir has so far been excluded from this process.

#4 Laying foundations and institutions to build today’s economy: Greatly influenced by the Soviet model, Nehru set up the Planning Commission to redesign an economy that was made to serve colonial needs. His decision to ensure that the state retained the "commanding heights" of the economy has of late come under attack but we must understand that had it not been for the massive public sector inputs in industries such as steel, hydroelectric plants, railways, coal and so on; the basic infrastructure for the future growth of Indian industry would not have been available.

Now it has become necessary to liberalise the entire system, and the private sector must expand effectively as it is doing, but that does not negate the benefits that we derived in the early years from strong public sector undertakings. The public sector remains a bulwark against the unpredictable fluctuations of the global financial market. Nehru was also responsible and deeply committed to establishing institutions for the development of science and technology including the IITs and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).

#5 Religion and secularism: Apart from the political dimension of our freedom, what was needed was a radical restructuring of our iniquitous social institutions. A major step in this direction was the passing, despite fierce opposition by conservative forces including the highly respected first President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad, of the Hindu Code Bill in 1952.

The changes that the bill included represented a social revolution for the Hindu community. With his immense prestige Nehru could surely have pushed through a common civil code, but he refrained from doing so because he did not want to alarm the Muslim community already reeling from the aftermath of the partition. In this whole exercise the then law minister, Babasaheb Dr BR Ambedkar played a leading role. Panditji was never at ease with organised religion though he did pay rich homage to the Upanishads and Shankaracharya. He was a bitter opponent of religious fundamentalism, whether Muslim or Hindu. This was reflected in the secular constitution that followed independence. After the horrors of partition, the entire Congress was geared to strengthening the secular fabric of India, and Gandhiji’s martyrdom in 1950 set the seal upon this policy.

#6 Foreign policy: Foreign policy was Jawaharlal Nehru’s first love. Even before Independence he had travelled extensively in Europe and had attended meetings of the Socialist International and the League Against Imperialism meeting with intellectuals and political leaders.

He organised the Asian Relations Conference in New Delhi in 1947 even before independence, and then the historic Bandung Conference in 1955 where he clearly emerged as the leading figure in the whole developing post-colonial world. As is always the case, his policy had its triumphs and tragedies. The triumph consisted in his leadership of what came to be known as the Non-Aligned Movement along with other leaders and heads of State of Egypt, Yugoslavia and Cyprus at the time. Nehru was clearly the dominating figure in the group that was based on the premise that the newly independent colonial nations were in no way obliged to take sides in the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Now, the basic concept of India remaining self-confident with an independent view on international issues is still valid, a legacy that Panditji had left for posterity.

The tragedy, of course, was China which Nehru felt would be a natural ally of India in the post-colonial period. Our ambassador to China at the time Sardar KM Panikkar for all his brilliance was unable to grasp the essential philosophy of Maoist communism and fell into the trap of being over-optimistic regarding India-China relations. Panditji underestimated the Chinese drive for power. Not only did they build the Aksai Chin road through an area which was legally Indian Territory because it was part of the erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state, they also began aggressive moves in the eastern sector. The whole Chinese disaster has been widely researched and written up, except the Henderson Brooks’ report on the debacle that has still not been made public. In this crisis again Panditji was misguided by his trusted but controversial defence minister, VK Krishna Menon whom he eventually sacked, who advocated an unprepared "forward policy" and played favourites in the Armed Forces that resulted in widespread demoralisation.

Despite the Chinese debacle, the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) today owes its origin to Panditji, because after the British left, he built the whole service virtually from scratch. He left an indelible impress upon the style, substance and standards of the service which persist down to the present day.

#7 Jammu & Kashmir: Another area in which Panditji faced difficulties, of course, was the issue of Jammu & Kashmir. I have described the whole situation in detail both in my autobiography (published by Oxford University Press) and in my letters to Jawaharlal Nehru (published by Penguin).

Suffice it to say, that after my father had signed the Instrument of Accession in the wake of the Pakistani invasion, the much criticised reference to the United Nations once again flowed from his idealism and his firm belief, strongly encouraged by Lord Mountbatten, that the newly created international body would clearly identify the aggressor and take steps to have the invasion withdrawn. The "final settlement" of Jammu & Kashmir envisaged in the Simla agreement of 1972 still remains a chimera. Nehru did make several efforts to build bridges with Pakistan, the last of which was sending Sheikh Abdullah to Lahore to negotiate a settlement.

It is a common error to treat the state of Jammu & Kashmir as if it were a single unit. In fact it was a multi regional, multilingual, multi-cultural state built up by my intrepid ancestor Maharaja Gulab Singh, which now needs a political solution and not a military one.

#8 His letters to chief ministers: Quite apart from his public and political life, Jawaharlal Nehru was a remarkable thinker and an elegant litterateur. The fact that he wrote his major works during the long periods that he was in British jails, was an astounding mnemonic and intellectual feat. He used to write regular fortnightly letters to chief ministers, which made fascinating reading because they reflected his views on current affairs and events at the time.

Jawaharlal Nehru was in the best sense of the term "renaissance man". In him, therefore we have a unique personality of the 20th century – an ardent freedom fighter, a competent administrator, a planner and a visionary thinker, an author and a world statesman. The people of India held him in special affection.

Finally, to describe India’s most popular icon, from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar which refers to Brutus, but could well apply to Jawaharlal Nehru - "His life was gentle, and the elements so mixed in him that nature might stand up and say to all the world 'this was a man'".