132 years since his birth, Nehru still remains a pertinent, contentious, and frequently mentioned figure in Indian politics. Nehru's legacy is often seen in black or white and rarely gray. He frequently receives an equal amount of blandishments and brickbats from his ardent supporters and staunch detractors respectively.
The first prime minister had a herculean mission
ahead of him. He had to unite the country, uplift the downtrodden and set the
nation on the path towards progress while retaining the values of Democracy.
As his biographer Judith Brown
noted, Nehru’s most positive influence and what he seemed to value was the
attempted construction of a plural, open, and democratic polity working for
change in the lives of all citizens. He often spoke of India as a
composite nation.
He also believed in the multi-party system,
although cynics may claim he knew the INC would remain the undisputed winner
for decades owing to their reputation.
The first step toward democracy is free and fair
elections. Nehru and other INC leaders alongside bureaucrats
and administrators lead a project to ensure that voting rights were
granted to each and every citizen irrespective of their background.
Israeli author Ornit Shani in her book How India Became Democratic
describes how a massive undertaking between 1947 to 1950 lead to electoral
rolls being put together to make the universal adult franchise possible. In fact,
voting rights were granted even before citizenship was defined or granted.
During
colonial rule, women were ‘permitted’ to
nominate a person to exercise the vote on their behalf, which meant their voting
rights were probably subverted. Also, women were entered in the electoral roll
as the wife or daughters of an individual. Post-1947, women were listed under
their own names and strictly had individual voting rights.
Also during Nehru’s tenure, several key institutions such as IITs, IIMs, NID, the Atomic Energy Commission
the precursor to ISRO, the Indian National Committee for Space Research were
established. These institutions still prevail and are regarded as world-class
even today.
However his shortcomings by far outweighed the positive contributions to the nation
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