The Hindu : Nehru, a near forgotten figure in Cong.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 28, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Nehru, a near forgotten figure in Cong.

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore May 27. The KPCC, under the presidentship of B. Janardhana Poojary, has begun to resuscitate the memory of Jawaharlal Nehru by observing his death anniversary.

Though the Congress in the State today observed the 39th death anniversary of the nation's first Prime Minister with Mr. Poojary himself presiding, it was evident that Jawaharlal Nehru is a back-number and a near forgotten figure in party circles.

The opinion among many party workers seemed to be that they could not be conversant with personalities and events that occurred at a time before they were born or when they were young.

A member of the Congress Working Committee, Motamma, said she was too small a person to talk of Nehru. She recalled the opinion among those who were children about four decades ago that Pandit Nehru loved children and roses. Ms. Motamma, who is the Minister for Women and Child Welfare, added that it was because of Nehru that India could earn a place of respect in the comity of nations.

She also said that considering the sacrifices and services of the Nehru family to the nation, one wondered whether those in the Congress today could make any such claim at all.

Speaking with insight into the Nehruvian contribution, the Vice-Chairman of the State Planning Board and former MP, H. Hanumanthappa, advised Congress workers and leaders to read books, especially those by and on Nehru. He recommended for reading Nehru's autobiography and The Discovery of India. The reading habit was absent among partymen and, even if they read newspapers, it was only those items related to the party. Mr. Hanumanthappa said it was Jawaharlal Nehru who changed the Congress from a conservative organisation into a liberal one after he succeeded his father, Motilal Nehru, as the President in December 1929. Both Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru were the ideological assets of the Congress and very much relevant today. The public sector industries of Bangalore were the contribution of Nehru. He should be remembered for founding the Non-Aligned Movement.

Mr. Poojary warned against foreign economic hegemony and said the NDA Government was too weak to resist it. It had bowed to American pressure on several occasions and turned back on the nation's independent foreign policy. India had lost the prominent place it held in the international arena in the days of Nehru and Indira Gandhi, he added.

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