Those who still question the enduring legacy of the Nehru-Gandhi family should read VS Naipaul – National Herald

During his maiden visit to the United States in 1949, Nehru was idolised by Hollywood directors and movie stars and wooed by Americas big business. Yet he did not let the might of Americas wealth and her charm affect him.

Dom Moraes, in his biography of Indira Gandhi recalled hearing an anecdotal account. On a visit to New York, Nehru was the guest of honour at a lunch in Wall Street where several of the richest men in America were present. Just think, Mr Prime Minister, said his host, at this very moment you are lunching with men worth 40 billion dollars.

It was apparently difficult for his aides to persuade Nehru not to throw down his napkin and walk out! Dom mentioned this story to Indira and asked if she had been there and if the story was apocryphal or true. She laughed a little but did not answer directly. Well, the Americans irritated my father. But that was because of his British education. (Dom Moraes, Indira Gandhi, pages 133-134)

In an article on Indira Gandhi after her death, Norman Cousins, titled, India: Carrying on the Nehru tradition, wrote, After Nehrus death, there was deterioration on the home front. The country needed a rallying centre Jawaharlal Nehru had inherited the mantle of Mahatma Gandhi; now it was necessary to pass along the mantle and the full symbolic power of the Nehru name in providing continuity for the total society. Indira possessed this symbolism. (The Christian Science Monitor, November 14, 1984).

Similar views were echoed by V.S. Naipaul, mingling praise for both Nehru and Indira, in an article written for The Daily Mail, which was also reprinted by the New York Times on 3rd November 1984, three days after Indiras death. The Nobel Laureate wrote: Indira gave India stability; without her, that ceases to exist. The country has grown intellectually and industrially, and for a long time there has been a balance between rationalism, the life of the mind and the pull of barbarism.

India has been very lucky in the Nehru family, he further wrote, Nehru was unique in recent world history: a colonial protest figure, a folk hero who did not appeal to fanaticism but was a reasonable, reasoning man. A man committed to science, religious tolerance, the rule of law and the rights of man. Indira Gandhi his daughter carried on this way of looking at things.

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Those who still question the enduring legacy of the Nehru-Gandhi family should read VS Naipaul - National Herald