January 6, 2020
The Saga of Nehru Family
By Syed Rifaquat Ali
Cock-eyed Bhartiya Janta Party looks at the Congress Party as one family Party: the Gandhi family. It is human nature to pinpoint the shortcomings and pick holes in others, and overlook the merits and positive attributes.
Ever since the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014 and again in 2019, prime minister Narender Modi and his nincompoop ministers have been targeting the Gandhi family on trivial matters and not concentrating on economic development, job avenues, industrial growth, reforms in hackneyed educational system, empowerment of women, and above all, uniting the people from different faiths.
It’s balderdash to label the Gandhi family for dynastic succession. Never in his lifetime Jawaharlal Nehru wanted anyone to succeed him. He could have named his sister Vijaylakshmi Pandit or Indira Gandhi as his successor, but until his last breath, Nehru never pondered who will succeed him.
When I interviewed Vijaylakshmi Pandit at Hotel Janpath in New Delhi in c.1973, for my book 'Contemporary India,' she told me that Indira Gandhi was asked in Hong Kong, who will succeed her
father, Jawaharlal Nehru, she said emphatically, 'I will succeed him.'
When Nehru came to know about this, he blasted Indira Gandhi on her return from Hong Kong. Such was
the mindset and integrity of the first prime minister of India. And today Narender Modi has the cheek to castigate Nehru for everything, camouflaging his own failures on all fronts.
Modi shamelessly accuses the Nehru family of dynastic succession. The reality is that when Jawaharlal Nehru died on May 27, 1964, Gulzarilal Nanda took over as Interim prime minster. And it was Lal Bahadur Shastri who was sworn-in as the prime minister.
So where was the dynastic succession? Moreover, Indira Gandhi became the prime minister only after the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri in Tashkant in mysterious circumstances. And Rajeev Gandhi took over from his mother after she was assassinated at her residence in New Delhi, not on his own will, but through consensus and wish of President of India, the late Zail Singh.
And though there was an occasion for Sonia Gandhi to become the prime minister, she suggested that Dr. Manmohan Singh's name for the coveted post. Moreover, there have been so many premiers in India
from outside the Gandhi family: Gulzarilal Nanda, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Morarji Desai, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Choufhary Charan Singh, Chandrsekhar, Inder Kumar Gujral, Devi Gouda, and yet the BJP talks of dynastic succession meaninglessly.
Today, there is deep economic crisis in India, the GDP growth has come down to 4.5 per cent. Millions
and millions of educated youths in India are jobless and groping in dark. Farmers are committing suicide pretty frequently for lack of government support, women are being raped regularly, business houses are closing by thousands.
But Modi has adopted an Ostrich Policy and says everything is fine in India. Kashmir is still in lockdown. There Is protest and chaos all over the country over the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). About fifty people have died after the clash between the protesters and police.
There is country-wide student uprising against the BJP government over the CAA.
Hindu, Muslim, Sikh students, backed by politicians from various political parties, social activists, Bollywood stars, Human Rights organisations, are all up in arms against the Modi government.
The agitation is getting intensified day by day, and the police is now totally demoralized to tackle the situation.
Noted historian Ram Chander Guha, who was in detention for protesting against the government, says that Modi's jingoistic attitude will ruin India and BJP's Hindutva philosophy will polarize India.
It seems that the Modi government is heading towards anarchy steadily, but surely.
Syed Rifaquat Ali is Sydney-based journalist
The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
Special Correspondent
Maryam Turab
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