dated April 9, 1951: ''Great son of a great father''

Unveiling a portrait of Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru at the Rajaji Hall, Madras, on April 8, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, President paid a glowing tribute to ``the leading and determining part'' played by Mr. Nehru in the country's history in the last 30 years and said that in him India had ``a leader in the best sense of the term''. Having led the country through a difficult period of struggle, the President said, `Mr. Nehru is today leading the nation through the period of reconstruction and has raised the status of India to an international level.''

Dr. Prasad said: ``I find myself in a somewhat difficult position in having to speak about Pandit Nehru. My difficulty does not arise so much on account of my very close and personal relationship with him as on account of the vastness of the subject. To speak about Jawaharlal Nehru is to recite the history of India during the last 30 years and more (applause). It is therefore, very difficult to do justice to a subject like that in the short span of a few minutes. Yet, when one thinks of it, one feels that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru is the great son of a great father.''

``Pandit Motilal Nehru was great in many ways in his own days. He was great as a lawyer and great as a patriot. When the call of the country came, he gave up everything and joined the great movement which Mahatma Gandhi started. So long as he was there, he was great as a leader of the Congress. But he was great in giving us a great son. Pandit Motilal Nehru realised that he was giving the country a son who would prove to be greater than himself. When, at the time of the Lahore Congress, Jawaharlal Nehru, was going to preside, Motilal Nehru, who had been President of the previous session, had to make over charge to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. In doing so he repeated a Persian couplet which said `what the father fails to accomplish, the son achieves'. With these words, he handed over charge of the Congress to his son. This prophecy of his came true, because, some years after that, Pandit Jawaharlal succeeded in his great effort which had been continuing for half-a-century for the attainment of complete freedom of the country.''

The portrait was a presentation by Sri Ambalavana Pandarasannidhi, Head of Thiruvavaduthurai Mutt.

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