‘Nehru: A Troubled Legacy’: Book Release : Nehru, swayed by a pacifist world view, made monumental blunders in defence and security affairs of India. Nehru’s benign neglect of India’s defence and lack of strategic foresight formed a special part of the discussion, craftily brought out by Lt Gen (retd) R.K. Sawhney, Dean, Centre for Defence Studies, VIF.

-

Opinion
15/06/2016.
596.

Sub : ‘Nehru: A Troubled Legacy’: Book Release :

Ref : Nehru, swayed by a pacifist world view, made monumental blunders in defence and security affairs of India. Nehru’s benign neglect of India’s defence and lack of strategic foresight formed a special part of the discussion, craftily brought out by Lt Gen (retd) R.K. Sawhney, Dean, Centre for Defence Studies, VIF.

A book, Nehru: A Troubled Legacy, authored by Shri R.N.P. Singh, Senior Fellow, VIF, was formally released by Hon’ble Shri Vijai Kapoor, former Lieutenant Governor Delhi, at a simple ceremony held in the auditorium of Vivekananda International Foundation on 18 August 2015. Following the release, a discussion was held on Nehru and his political legacy.

Underlining the fact that a critical appraisal of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, was long overdue, General (retd) NC Vij, Director, VIF, remarked that most of the books written about Nehru have tended to be overly one sided so far. While the foreign writers have written superficially about him, the Indian writers, by and large, have hero-worshipped him, overlooking aspects of Nehru that need a critical appraisal. He pointed out that Nehru, swayed by a pacifist world view, made monumental blunders in defence and security affairs of India. Nehru’s benign neglect of India’s defence and lack of strategic foresight formed a special part of the discussion, craftily brought out by Lt Gen (retd) R.K. Sawhney, Dean, Centre for Defence Studies, VIF.

Introducing the book, Shri R.N.P. Singh, the author, shed significant light on what spurred him to write a book on one of India’s most adulated, yet probably the most discussed political figures since independence. He gave a detailed account of what each of the eight chapters of the book entails – Gandhi’s protégé, unchallenged supremacy, seeds of dynastic politics, President-Prime Minister relationship, and betrayal of democratic values, among others. The author felt sore that Nehru wittingly or unwittingly hoisted a dynastic tradition in Indian politics, a malice which continues to permeate across the entire political spectrum even today. He stressed that some of the political ills the contemporary India faces could be traced back to the Nehruvian era. The twenty eight letters reproduced by the author in support of his arguments are quite revealing in themselves. These are correspondences between the political heavyweights of that era – Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Jayaprakash Narayan, and India's first Attorney General MC Setalvad, among several others.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Guest Shri Vijai Kapoor said history warrants that a proper dispassionate evaluation of Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru is undertaken especially in light of the fact that the country has traversed a lot since Nehru’s death. He further said evaluations are generally harsh. The book presently under discussion is one such evaluation. The Presidential address by Shri Vijai Kapoor touched on a number of key policy decisions taken by Nehru which had far reaching consequences for the nation – the dismissal of CPM-led government in Kerala in 1959, taking the Kashmir issue to the United Nations at a time when the Indian military was still gaining momentum in Kashmir, the loss of India’s Tibetan cause resulting from an insensitive attitude, and India’s China war debacle, among others.

The Vote of Thanks was proposed by Shri Shobhit Arya publisher Wisdom Tree and passed by the House with a thunderous applause.

Event Date:
August 18, 2015
Vivekananda International Foundation.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PRACTICAL RELIGION : BREATHING AND MEDITATION - 2.

-
Image
Opinion               25/12/2017.                    1077                 All Members,          Respected family members of this great holy Nation. Everyone's idea of practical religion is according to his theory of practicality and the standpoint he starts from. There is work. There is the system of worship. There is knowledge.           VERY IMPORTANT FOR THE PRESENT DAY STUDENTS : - This article was recorded by Ida Ansell in shorthand. As, however, Swamiji's speed was too great for her in her early days, dots are put in the articles to indicate the omissions, while the words within square brackets are added by way of linking up the disconnected parts. (Delivered in San Francisco, April 5, 1900) Sub : PRACTICAL RELIGION : BREATHING AND MEDITATION - 2. Swami Vivekananda We are always talking [about] practical religion. But it must be practical in our sense. Especially [so] in the Western countries. The Protestants' ideal is good works. They do not ca
Read more

The Realisation of the Absolute :3-5-1

-
Image
Chapter 3: The Need for Integral Knowledge -5 5. THE REALISATION OF ONENESS IN THE SPIRIT -1 One must go beyond all that causes duality, even the intellect, and take resort in the transcendent silence. "One should not play too much upon words, for it is mere weariness of speech." "The Brahmana should, knowing Him, renounce learning, and stand childlike and The intellect is the seat of egoism, and the highest learning is only apara vidya, not above the phenomena of nature. The intellect has no light of its own, independent of the Self, any more than the moon has any light other than that of the sun. Consciousness gets diffused through the distractive intellect and creates the perception of multiplicity. "Dismissing all other words, He alone is to be meditated upon and known, the bridge to Immortality." Further, it is erroneous on the part of an individual to take seriously the many forms of perception. These forms float in Truth even a
Read more

HINDU FASTS & FESTIVALS: 3 - Sri Swami Sivananda.

-
Image
=========================================================== Thursday, 14 Sep 2023. 05:30.  3.Durga Puja or Navaratri Post-3. ============================================================= 3.Durga Puja or Navaratri SALUTATIONS to the Divine Mother, Durga, who exists in all beings in the form of intelligence, mercy, beauty, who is the consort of Lord Shiva, who creates, sustains and destroys the universe. This festival is observed twice a year, once in the month of Chaitra and then in Aswayuja. It lasts for nine days in honour of the nine manifestations of Durga. During Navaratri (the word literally means “nine nights”) devotees of Durga observe a fast. Brahmins are fed and prayers are offered for the protection of health and property. The beginning of summer and the beginning of winter are two very important junctions of climatic and solar influence. These two periods are taken as sacred opportunities for the worship of the Divine Mother. They are indicated respectively by the Rama-Navar
Read more