While it may or may not be time to move on from Nehruvian politics, it's certainly time to move on from the politics around Nehru. Busting here some of the myths around Nehru. I know for every evidence, there is an equal and opposite evidence, but I am writing this after reading the two sides of evidence. I could be wrong, as much as you are.
1. Allegation: Nehru cried for the PM post
The Congress leadership post independence wanted someone who could lead the country for the next 1-2 decades. Patel was not only in his 70s but was also ailing (he later died in 1950). When Nehru was asked to take over PMship citing these reasons, he put it as a pre-condition that Patel will have to be number 2. In fact, Patel and Nehru had a lot of respect for each other.
2. Allegation: Nehru was solely responsible for Article 370
Kashmir was given special status because, even under British rule, the British controlled only defence, communication and foreigh affairs of Kashmir while the adminstration was under the Maharaja. Post independence, the princely states had the option to choose between India and Pakistan. Article 370 granted the same pre-independence rights to Kashmir. As against the recent narratives that Nehru was solely responsible for Article 370, there have been many evidences now that both Patel and Nehru devised Article 370 together. In fact when Article 370 was cleared in the Parliament, Nehru was on travel, and Patel took up the job. There have even been instances where Patel had agreed on certain terms of the Article 370 but Nehru didn't. Even post-independence, Patel was open to the idea of allowing accession of Kashmir to Pakistan in exchance of accession of Hyderabad to India.
3. Allegation: Nehru got Indira in
Nehru did not lobby to get Indira as the PM, in fact he did not even want her to join politics. For many years, Indira was not made the Congress President solely because Nehru rejected the idea whenever her name was proposed. His first choice successor was not Indira, but JP Narayan, on whose repeated refusal he recommended Lal Bahadur Shastri to be his successor.
4. Allegation: Nehru borrowed the Gandhi surname
Indira Gandhi was not masked with the Gandhi surname to cheat the people of the country, but she inherited that from Feroze Gandhy who had changed his surname to Gandhi much before the marriage, for the respect he had for Gandhi. Feroze went on to be a revolutionary of sorts both pre and post independence, even challenging the Nehru Government in many instances. And no, he was not a Muslim, he was a Parsi.
5. Allegation: Nehru belongs to a Muslim traitor family
Nehru's grandfather was not a Muslim (even if he was, so what is a different genuine question, but let us leave that aside). The earliest ancestor of Nehru's family was Raj Kaul who was a Hindu Sanskrit and Persian scholar from Kashmir and migrated to Delhi in 1716. Kaul's surname became Nehru during this migration because they lived by the canal in Delhi (naher = canal). Raj Kaul -> Lakshmi Narayan Nehru -> Gangadhar Nehru -> Motilal Nehru -> Jawaharlal Nehru is probably the best lineage you could derive.
6. Allegation: Nehru had a relationship with Edwina Mountbatten
It's none of our business unless it affected the decisions and politics of the country, for which there is no evidence. Nevertheless, this has been refuted by Mountbatten's daughter Pamela, who had direct access to both Nehru and of course Edwina, and the letters that Nehru wrote to Edwina. She summarizes the relationship as one of love, respect and intellect, but nothing physical.
7. Allegation: Nehru did not strengthen our borders
When you have 65% of people under poverty line and very less money to play around with, it is not an unwise decision to build the country instead of the army. Nehru not only got the poverty percentage from 65% to 40% in 15 years, but he chose to build educational institutes (IITs and IIMs), healthcare institutes (AIIMS), dams, space institutes (ISRO), manufacturing units (e.g.SAIL) and more importantly, the supply chain for them. Blaming him for Kashmir and China is like blaming Modi for demonetization and GST disregarding Jan Dhan, Ujala, Ujjwala, infrastructure work, rural toilets, green energy, etc. Either we should accept Modi as a failure because of demonetization and GST or accept Nehru as a success discounting Kashmir and China. Yes, we lost 1962 but the fact that we won a critical and strategic war in 1967 with China, means Nehru and the Congress learnt their lessons.
That the Congress let the ball drop somewhere is a different story. I am not here to support or oppose the Congress or the BJP, but let us please move on from Nehru!
