He was first Prime Minister...he did not deserve that post, but Gandhi made a unitary decision that Nehru should be it. I consider Nehru's prime ministership to 2 decades in office to be a period of non-progress in India's history. Let's face it, on the domestic front, his policies prohibited rapid industrialization and infrastructure-building that the nation needed and brought in a sick socialism that is now the motto of our dear Left parties, or as Nehru termed it, "Indian growth"...on the international front, he turned India into a pathetic, wimp of a state with absolutely no backbone, spouting "Peace and love and non-alignment" and allowing Pakistan and China to beat India up and throw dust on its face, and then allowing India to become a Soviet puppet.
What sort of legacy is this? Are we supposed to respect the man just because he was PM?
There are only 3 Prime Minister's in India's history who I believe to have left any sort of lasting impression on the nation: 1) Indira 2) Rao 3) Vajpayee
Hopefully after this puppet windbag we currently have in office leaves, I might be able to add someone else to this list.
Only Vajpayee. Stood against USA and international sanctions after pokhran test, stready ecomonic growth, clear foreign policy (not like double standard UPA-Cong-Communists). Frankly speaking I am not talking from BJP point of view.
Indira - Black Emergency period, evil period of democracy, Khalisan-porblems and goonda-raj in election injected. Sold into the hands of KGB, Russia. Rao - Hawla scam, Urea scam, bribing MPs for getting majority in Parliament, sold into the hands of congress mafias.
It requires give & take to achieve co-existence. The UN is impotent and US will withdraw into a shell as they are war weary! They have had enough, if democrats have their way!
Whatever we feel about China, the world is both enamoured of their rise and fearful at the same time. We are considered a challenge for everything, mostly getting things done. Moreover, we are inconsistnet on our policies right from day one as per these revelations. I do not think we learn any lessons, as we continue to blame others for our predicament.
Is it at all possible to live like Australia & New Zealand or US & Canada with our neighbours? Pakistan gets by due to us! When everything fails, we are the uniting factor for their survival!
Past is past. We cannot change anything, like who our parents are. We cannot change history, though it can be interpreted in many ways! Ultimately, we are all responsible for electing our leaders, or at at least in keeping away from the process. Gandhiji & Nehru were a product of their times.
It is better to thrash out with our neighbours our differences with an open mind. That way we should benefit more, as at least we do not become their common enemy, like now. Despite their might China is playing soft power and the world is lapping it up! Like, Tibet issue no problem, let the Olympic games go on.
I find most are unwilling to let goand that can isolate us. Let us look ahead. Do we really have a choice?
I don't think your argument is good. You must not be serious defending Nehru giving cold war reasons! Anyways, having outdated russian trucks with empty missile tubes could have been far better options than today's 1) China on our doorstep fearlessly claiming India's NE land 2)China having direct boundry with Pakistan supplying them all support for fight against India 3) China controlling almost all rivers flowing into India from Tibet 4) China supplying arms/money to Left for anti-India activities giving India a permanent headach for how many more years.
Please accept Nehru screwed up big time. And we Indians are and will pay price for long long time to come. Power hungry and shameless Congress under Left and Jihadi blackmail is again behaving like obedient cow in front of China.
We need to think in terms of our country its political expansion and its own regional ambitions. By acting like a cow in the mosaic of so called east dictacted by china and russia is not going to help India at all. India needs to stand-up, firm-up and actaully behave like a world power and not like third world country.
RE:China, Nehru
by Rajeev G on Mar 26, 2008 04:14 AM Permalink
whats the point in arguing about Nehru and China. what was your expectation, nehru should have sent troops to lhasa to protect tibet or what? China was anyway unstoppable and sooner or later we would have to deal with them for NE..
RE:RE:China, Nehru
by Arjun on Mar 26, 2008 04:30 AM Permalink
China was unstoppable? excuse me!! even today with all its might and technology US is floored in Iraq. Same thing hapended to unstoppable USSR in Afganistan. Same thing happened to unstoppable nazi germans in rural russia. I agree there might have been initial set back, but Nehru threw in the towel like a coward and behaved like an headless chicken. We Indians are great fighers if ou don't know our history. We defeated 9 centuries of forign invasions. Then what the big deal with chinese?
Now the point of arguing about Nehru and China is: 1) History must be known and well understood and not supressed and manipulated as it is the case in India today. 2) Congress is still making similar mistakes Nehru made in 60s. 3) However ruthless chinese may try to potray themselves they are not at all invincible. There are plenty of ways to to hurt them like anything without having a direct open war. 4) Unless India and its coward leaders learns to be aggressive with China and with our looser neighbours, we can never ever be a world power.
RE:China, Nehru
by Rajeev G on Mar 26, 2008 04:59 AM Permalink
Agreed no one is invincible.But we should also see at what cost USSR got defeated in Afghanistan. Mr laden is a by product of that conflict. It took tremendous effort by all allies to pull down nazies. The India of 50's was not having tremendous resources to pull down China. Agreed There was a setback in we not prepared sufficiently militarily in 1962 and whatever happened is shameful. But now sitting in our comfort zones, it is very easy to say Nehru was this and that. There are many other things which Nehru has done, because of which India is what it is today.
RE:RE:China, Nehru
by lavanya on Mar 26, 2008 10:26 AM Permalink
r right one more thing nehru has done for our country looted crores of money and tressure for indira feroz shah, sanjay feroz shah, rajiv feroz shah, sonia rajiv shah, maneka sanjay shah, rahul rajiv shah, priyanka vadhara
Nehru has done some good things, lets agree he has done many good things. But, unfortunately, the things he never bothered to concentrate on, or the minor setbacks from him are now eating the country.
See, its the balance between result from good doing and bad doing. Which is more? I still think, its the bad doing which is eating us.
So, Nehru failed in his mission and in a way, he made "Titanic" out of India.
why india not clearing its policy on tibet.if we are for china,why not say we are and if not why the guests of nehru are still landing here.dual policies of our country are taking us away from super powers,without which a developing country can not survive,ussr is gone,china is our enemy and making usa our friend is difficult because of our political complications,so then what should we do.india should come out clearly,and if required.congress and bjp should shake hands in lead the country to a better state.
Then was when the cold war was fought. Both the USSR and the US had all the urges to grab any neutral land not fiercely defended by anyone to make military bases to deter each other. Imagine Tibet becoming a US base or USSR base stuffed with nukes. That was a reality. And India, with a fledgling democracy, tons of domestic problems and one brainless armed neighbour in Pakistan, was the last nation that could have defended Tibet for its autonomy or as part of India. We would have burnt our fingers very badly had we been greedy to annexe or defend Tibet. Have you seen the Tibetan terrain? Simple defense strategy therefore says that Tibet was safest with China, and a peaceful and safe Tibet was 100 times more worth than an autonomous or Indian Tibet. If Advani was PM at that time, he would also have done the same thing. IT is always easy to call names sitting in the Opposition. The Congress is no innocent child. They do the same thing when they are in opposition. To further explain this viewpoint, it is important to note that Advani did nothing of either Ram Mandir or Common Civil Code which he claimed all the while before elections. Six years was enough for that. He was Home Minister, was he not? These tricks are employed by all political parties, Congress, BJP, Left, everyone. People shoudl keep their heads and do a little thinking, otherwise, we are as bad as the fundamentalist fanatics we love to criticise. Never stoop down to your enemy's level, for that removes the disti
RE:a little politics and history are in order
by veeru raghavan on Mar 26, 2008 01:29 AM Permalink
Nehru has done lots and lots of good for this country.It was he who initiated massive electrification of India and lots of manufacturing units were setup including Steel plants, Neyveli Lignite factory, atomic power, cement manufacturing units.India became sulf-sufficient in rice production only because of him.He believed in peace,non-violence, mutual friendship and none would have expected in 1950s and 60s that China would betray us.He is a true patriot and is one of the greatest Indians.
RE:a little politics and history are in order
by All Right on Mar 26, 2008 08:46 AM Permalink
Yes. I completely agree with Veeru. Nehru even invented the Internet! I also heard that Nehru was the first man to walk on Mars. His brilliant inventions are still being deciphered in NASA. His management theories are being guardedly taught in Harvard. Chinese live and die by his phenomenal teachings and principles. Nehru was a great man!
RE:a little politics and history are in order
by Don johnson on Mar 26, 2008 01:32 AM Permalink
The only thing real about what you have written is that this party's propaganda has been very successful!
Wow!
A party run by semi-literates and complete illiterates has managed to fool 4 generations of literate people!
Veeru your endorsement of this party is a slap in the face of education and the enlightenment it is supposed to bring to the student after earning it!!
RE:a little politics and history are in order
by prakash on Mar 26, 2008 02:36 AM Permalink
agree with !!Don!!, thambhi raghavan , why dont you add failures of Nehru too
RE:a little politics and history are in order
by lavanya on Mar 26, 2008 10:29 AM Permalink
r right one more thing nehru has done for our country looted crores of money and tressure for indira feroz shah, sanjay feroz shah, rajiv feroz shah, sonia rajiv shah, maneka sanjay shah, rahul rajiv shah, priyanka vadhara
RE:a little politics and history are in order
by Arjun on Mar 26, 2008 03:44 AM Permalink
I don't think your argument is good. You must not be serious defending Nehru giving cold war reasons! Anyways, having outdated russian trucks with empty missile tubes could have been far better options than today's 1) China on our doorstep fearlessly claiming India's NE land 2)China having direct boundry with Pakistan supplying them all support for fight against India 3) China controlling almost all rivers flowing into India from Tibet 4) China supplying arms/money to Left for anti-India activities giving India a permanent headach for how many more years.
Please accept Nehru screwed up big time. And we Indians are and will pay price for long long time to come. Power hungry and shameless Congress under Left and Jihadi blackmail is again behaving like obedient cow in front of China.
RE:Nehru - on of the greatest Indians
by Don johnson on Mar 26, 2008 01:18 AM Permalink
The only thing real about what you have written is that this party's propaganda has been very successful!
Wow!
A party run by semi-literates and complete illiterates has managed to fool 4 generations of literate people!
Veeru your endorsement of this party is a slap in the face of education and the enlightenment it is supposed to bring to the student after earning it!!
