Indo-US Democracy Foundation

It is fashionable these days to denigrate Jawaharlal Nehru. Although he had his weaknesses, those who followed him, regardless of party or ideology, have been intellectual and political pygmies by comparison.

Nehru had a vision of India as a modern, secular state that would be inclusive and liberal. When advised to outlaw communal parties as they flouted the spirit of the Constitution, he declared that communalism had to be defeated politically, not by the use of legal instruments. When asked why he was so strident in attacking Hindu communalism while he soft-peddled on Muslim communalism, he replied that it was because majority communalism was far more dangerous since it could easily pass off as Indian nationalism. A prescient comment indeed!