Who in your opinion is a more successful man – Gandhiji or Pandit Nehru?
While Gandhiji is our father of the nation and is a point of reference in the world for tolerance and strategy and self belief and morality and political theory, is it possible that Gandhiji is actually a theory? It could be true in mathematical sense as longevity of Gandhiji’s relevance in this world will be very long. However, while Gandhiji lead our country to freedom and created the base for the crumple of the mighty British Empire, he was not so successful in his own family life. This is evidenced by the fact that we rarely come across any member from his family in modern India. Also, we have very rarely come across members of his family in any meaningful role in India or elsewhere in the world. Personally, my knowledge is restricted to knowing Mr. Gopal Krishna Gandhi as the Governor of West Bengal and another one of Gandhiji’s grandchildren who fought an election from Uttar Pradesh and lost.
Pandit Nehru, however, is barely being referred as the first Prime Minister of India. However, Pandit Nehru is not theory. He is a complete practical package. His political astuteness is so appreciable that his family has actually ruled the most populous democracy in the world through a dynastic rule. Even after over 60 years of independence, there is no reason to believe that the Nehru family ruling India is anywhere close to its sunset. While it all started as members of Nehru family were at the helm of the Indian political system as the Prime Ministers; the present day members are comparable to Kings and Queens as they control the complete Indian politics through proxy rules by some Prime Ministers. Sometimes I feel that it is more appropriate to refer to India as a monarchy ruled by the Nehru dynasty. This would be the correct political depiction of India instead of being confused as a democracy.
What do you think?
English: Pandit Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi during the All-India Congress Committee session, Bombay, August 8, 1942, when the “Quit India” resolution was adopted, calling for the immediate dissolution of British rule. The following morning, British authorities arrested Gandhi and Nehru, along with other top Indian political leaders. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Experiences of Partha Majumdar 