Nehru implemented idea of India: Historian Aditya Mukherjee

Jawaharlal Nehru’s name is increasingly missing from India’s official historical discourse. The first Prime Minister of India, who played a crucial role in shaping the nation’s democratic and secular foundations, is now being left out of national commemorations and official lists of key nation-builders. Why is Nehru being sidelined, and what does his legacy mean in today’s political climate?

In an insightful conversation on Off The Beaten Track, a program on The Federal's YouTube channel, historian Aditya Mukherjee speaks about Nehru’s contributions, his vision for India, and the growing attempts to erase his name from history. The discussion also contrasts Nehru’s historical perspective with that of the Hindu majoritarian politics that have gained prominence in recent years.

Erasing Nehru from history?

Over the past decade, India has seen a push to appropriate many nationalist leaders into the ruling party’s ideological framework. Figures like Sardar Patel, Mahatma Gandhi, and Lal Bahadur Shastri have been selectively used to fit new political narratives. However, Nehru remains conspicuously absent from this list.

Mukherjee points out that the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) recently compiled a list of important figures who contributed to nation-building, but Nehru’s name was missing. This omission, he argues, is a clear attempt to rewrite history and push a narrative that aligns with current political interests.

"The BJP has included everyone from Gandhi to Patel in its pantheon, but Nehru remains excluded," Mukherjee says, highlighting the selective portrayal of history.

Nehru vs Savarkar: Divergent historical perspectives

A major distinction between Nehru and the Hindu majoritarian forces lies in their understanding of Indian history. While Nehru’s Discovery of India presents a pluralistic, inclusive perspective of India’s past, Hindu majoritarian ideology, as inspired by VD Savarkar, promotes a divisive and exclusivist view.

Mukherjee explains how Nehru viewed history as a binding force, focusing on shared traditions and coexistence, whereas Savarkar and his ideological successors emphasized conflict and religious divisions.

"History can show us both binding and disruptive forces. Nehru believed in emphasizing what united us," Mukherjee explains. He contrasts this with the British colonial strategy of fostering Hindu-Muslim divisions—a strategy later adopted by Hindu majoritarian forces.

A striking example of this manipulation of history, Mukherjee says, is the narrative around Mahmud of Ghazni’s attack on the Somnath temple. While contemporary accounts did not emphasize religious conflict, British colonial historians framed it as an eternal Hindu-Muslim divide, a narrative that was later picked up by right-wing nationalists.

Democracy, secularism, and federalism: Nehru’s guiding principles

Nehru’s governance was shaped by three key principles:

Democracy

Secularism

Federalism

Mukherjee argues that these were not just Nehru’s personal beliefs but core values of India’s national movement. Nehru inherited a country deeply scarred by Partition, where religious tensions were at their peak. Despite this, he resisted calls for a Hindu Rashtra, instead championing secular democracy.

"After Gandhi’s assassination, Nehru had the monumental task of preventing a coup that would turn India into a Hindu Rashtra," Mukherjee explains.

One of Nehru’s most significant victories was the 1952 general election, which he turned into a referendum on secularism. The result? 94% of Indians voted for a secular India, rejecting the Hindu Mahasabha, Ram Rajya Parishad, and Jan Sangh (BJP’s predecessor), which secured only 6% of the vote.

Nehru’s economic model: A socialist vision for India

Mukherjee challenges the popular right-wing claim that Nehru’s economic policies failed India. He emphasizes that Nehru did not act alone—his vision was supported by India’s leading industrialists, including the Tata and Birla groups, who endorsed a strong public sector to counter foreign economic dominance.

The Nehru-Mahalanobis model focused on heavy industry, technological self-reliance, and land reforms. Mukherjee points out that within 15 years, Nehru’s policies transformed India’s agrarian economy, increasing industrial self-sufficiency from 5% in 1947 to 91% by the 1970s.

"If Nehru had adopted 1991’s neoliberal model in the 1950s, India would have become a banana republic," Mukherjee argues.

The dismantling of India’s Planning Commission by the Modi government in 2014, Mukherjee says, was part of an effort to undo Nehruvian economic policies.

Scientific temper vs mythological narratives

One of Nehru’s most overlooked contributions is his promotion of scientific temper. Unlike today’s political discourse, which promotes mythological science (plastic surgery in ancient India, nuclear weapons in the Mahabharata, etc.), Nehru focused on rationality and evidence-based thinking.

Mukherjee reads from Discovery of India, where Nehru defines scientific temper as:

"A refusal to accept anything without testing and trial, the capacity to change previous conclusions in the face of evidence, and reliance on observed fact."

This commitment led Nehru to establish India’s premier scientific institutions, including:

IITs and IISc

ISRO and BARC

National Physical and Chemical Laboratories

Today, Mukherjee argues, the rejection of scientific thought in favor of mythology has had real-world consequences, such as the unscientific handling of COVID-19 through ritualistic practices like banging utensils and lighting torches.

The growing threat of historical revisionism

Mukherjee warns that rewriting history to fit majoritarian narratives could have dangerous consequences. He cites examples of Yugoslavia and Rwanda, where misuse of history led to ethnic conflicts and civil wars.

"When you hear dog whistles like ‘1200 years of slavery’ or see attempts to erase Nehru’s legacy, understand that history is being rewritten to serve a dangerous agenda," he cautions.

He concludes with a call for reaffirming Nehru’s values:

"We must talk about Nehru not just for history’s sake, but to safeguard the idea of India."

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