"Nehru left behind a basket of woes" ?

You are out of your mind. I doubt whether you have any idea about India since 1947 at all. Grow up dude, he sorted out LOTS of issues since Independence which otherwise would have choked India.

Balaced approach to present scenario.
Parading valient soldiers on Republic Day should be compatible with the infrastructure held by them in field. Army, Navy and Air Force are in dire need of modernization. Overworked soldiers must be given respite by filling up vacancies.
Cancer of corruption must be crushed in all walks of Indians.

Mr.Ramesh Khazanchi has rightly pointed out some of the policdies and failures of Mr.Nehru.I think even the division of India was a mistake.In addition,instead of uplifting by education, employment and encouragement of SC and ST (Dalits) leaders created monstrous divisions in caste sytem which classifies over 50% of population as some sort of backward classes.The Dalits are left behind.Customs,habits,policies,thoughts are not static.They change with times.When we realize that we made mistakes we should correct them.The leaders also should correct bad policies and institute progressive and productive policies.Though we achieved in IT ,and service sectors which improved our economy,we have not achieved in manufacturing and export of goods.Except Tatas,Ambanis,Mittals,there sre few leaders in Industries.Equality and socialistic parity are myths.All human beings are not the same as robots.We have to reconsider our approach and promote merit,creativity and hard work.

Verbose. A gawdy conconction of words. Keep it simple Mr. Kazanchi. Keep it simple and fluid.

Dear Mr.Khazanchi, You have rightly analysed the "HIMALAYAN BLUNDERS" done by Sh.Nehru.
Mr. Nehru was a day dreamer. He was lacking Statesmanship/ had poor foresightedness/ and top of it lacked National Wisdom.
He always thought himself to be an international Leader, always overlooking the facts.That is Why NAM came into picture. Where is Nam today.What to talk of International, he could not even become the true National Leader.
Thousands of crores have been and stii being spent to keep Kashmir with India. Uncountables lives have been lost.
In case of China, his theory was, " If we donot attack you, you will also not attack us. Similar to a pigeon:
A PIGEON, WHEN SEES A CAT,CLOSES HIS EYES, THINKING THAT, IF I DO NOT SEE THE CAT, HOW COME THE CAT WILL SEE ME. AND THE CAT EATS HIM/HER OVER.

Congress, even today not ready to accept ,the great fallacies/ mistakes Sh. Nehru made
To add to what you have written, I would like to refer another big blunder Nehru/ Gandhi did," ONCE YOU SIGNED ON THE DOTTED LINES OF PARTITION OF INDIA,ON THE BASIS OF RELIGION, WHAT RIGHT THESE LEADERS HAD ASKING THEIR MUSLIMS BROTHERS ON TOP OF THEIR VOICE, NOT TO GO FROM INDIA.Either they should not have accepted the partition on the basis of religion, or they should have never asked them to continue in this country.
RESULTS ARE BEFORE EVERYBODY TO SEE.
Muslims by and large are still guided by Deoband fatwas and even after 60 years of Independence do not consider this country as their own, and wait for Pakistan to attack and take over.They never wish to join the national stream.
Exceptions only prove the rule.
This is the legacy left by such leaders.
Rest Later, with a hope this gets printed.
Regards.

I am a great fan of Pandit Nehru. But the points raised in this brilliant article do cry for honest answers from the Prime Minister of India and the
Congress President or anyone big enough to matter.
India and all Indians are entitled to an elaborate
admision or rebuttal of the issues raised.

yes you are correct dthough nehruji had done a great sacrifice for the nation and in her development but it seems he beleived in autocracy that is why never beleive in other points of view.his intervention on kashmir is costing to this nation irrepairable loss and inspite of spenfding millions of rupees lakhs of people have been killed and problem is worsening every day.his policy on china disgraced the whole country and a large territory has been captured by china and by agrring ontibet our streatgy with china has been weakened.nepal, sikkim and bhutan wanted to merge with india but he refused so we are in loss and nepal is a great headache.if temples at ayodhya, mathura and varanashi werev given same treatment as par with somnathji then many of our problems would have been eliminated.he paid more attention on industrial development and negled village development ,patelji wanted transfer of power of population so that problem of minority would have been settled.he was not a prudent biut more interested in personal glory.he was not in good terms even with rajendra babu, purshottam das tandonji.actually he was anti hindus and pro muslim and done a great harm to us.republic day celebration has been overcasted by terrorist threats and becomes a ritual and formality.

It's really a wonderful and frank commentary. When sycophancy and euphemism rule the roost, there are few neutral words and expressions of a plain practical truth.Any one can commit a mistake in past but it needs to be rectify, not keep repeating the mistakes for these were begin by a 'big leader'. Thanks for calling a spade a spade. Thanks a lot!

comments on kashmir are quite frank, and need to be explored further.

Finally someone has exposed that The King had no clothes". Poverty as a result of Nehru's, and Indira's, and Rajive's socilist policies has probably resulted in more deaths than WWII initiated by Hitler. But the biggest Idol, M. K. Gandhi can't be forgiven for thrusting Nehru on the populace, when the obvious prefernce of the electorate was Sardar Patel. Enough said.

Finally someone has exposed that The King had no clothes". Poverty as a result of Nehru's, and Indira's, and Rajive's socilist policies has probably resulted in more deaths than WWII initiated by Hitler. But the biggest Idol, M. K. Gandhi can't be forgiven for thrusting Nehru on the populace, when the obvious prefernce of the electorate was Sardar Patel. Enough said.

I agree with your article, except that we can change our approach but still maintain our "cultural heritage and rich past". If the policy framers want and are sincere about it we can strike a balance in maintaining our culture and meeting the demands of realities domestic and international.

This is very timely.Failures have been colossal on all fronts. macro economy,governance, foreign policy,Defence.. you name it !We have created a monster of a government,that eats away 70 paise out of every one ruppee that we shell out for its perpetuation.Out of remaining 30 paise, the State conducts its affairs for the benefits of its denizens.
Yet, India has grown beyond anyone's imagination.This is the achievement of millions upon millions of ordinary anonymous Indians.As observers say, China is growing because of the State, while India grows inspite of it.

Mr Shashi Tharoor can go ahead and ask all Congress men abt slogan of GARIBI HATAO by Mrs Indira Gandhi in 1972 elections.People, instead of questioning her on what her party did between 1947 and 1972, voted for her.That was 37 years ago.Today we have UPA II coming to power with votes of AAM ADMI.Congress continues to swaear by the poor, who should not have been there by this time, if Congress had followed and executed right policies.
Our neighbours, Pakistan,Bangladesh,Nepal are bankrupt.Chaos prevail in all these countries.Yet all of them not only dictate to us but even pontificate.Our behemoth of a State is too weak to respond coherantly to them.

Instead of a Republic, what we have got is a corrupt, incompetent,self serving STATE.All those who ruled it or are ruling , have a lot to answer.Shashi Tharoor may run out of questions.

Thank god, at least one person has the guts to put this analysis on the 60th Republic Day. Nehru is the root cause of all the major problems that we are facing today. Our economy and infrastructure didn't progress a bit in the first 4 decades. Irony is that no one is allowed to say or even think that Nehru and his family screwed up India's future terribly.Fellas, just imagine how Inida would have been today if Sardar Vallabhai Patel had been made the first P.M of India. I can only hope that someday someone will come and eliminate the Nehru family and bring pride and dignity to our country. As long as the Nehru's family is at the helm of affairs, the country will never progress. Honestly I don't think that now Manmohan Singh is framing economic policies in the same way as he did in Narasimha Rao's period. Why isn't he concentrating on infrastructure at all? Sometimes I feel that Rahul Gandhi will turn out to be an idiot like his grand father and put our country at risk and trouble. God, please save us from this family. I'm not saying that other parties are very good and honest, but given any day Congress and Left are the worst parties for India's future and strength.

A very thought provoking assessment of our past. a number of people are realising the past mistakes after nearly 20 years since PV changed the way the governament conducted it's business.

well said sir.i completely agree with you.
the grand old party of india must atleast realise now that mere legacy does not help in lifting the nation to greater hieghts.pragmatism is the need of the hour.with a country having tbe biggest youth percentage and their spirits at a all time high,it should think of harvesting it in right areas.More than that it should let itself be a self critic and thus uphold the spirit of true democracy.

CONGRESS GANDHI FAMILY AND MAHATMA GANDHI ARE BEST FOR US, WITHOUT MAHATMA GANDHI AND NEHRU JI WE ALL INDIAN MUSLIMS WOULD HAVE BEEN KICKED OUT TO PAKISTAN BY RSS/SANGH.
SO WE WERE SAVED BY MAHATMA GANDHI AND BECAUSE OF THIS GREAT GUY INDIA IS A TRUE DEMOCRATIC AND SECULAR COUNTRY WHICH HAS HIGHEST MUSLIM POPULATION IN THE WORLD.
MAHATMA GANDHI AND NEHRU JI WERE TRUE PATRIOTIC AND TRUE INDIANS, THEY WERE TRUE SECULARS JUST LIKE PRESENT CONGRESS PARTY.

What was the basis for concluding that Nehru halted army operations mid-way in 1947-48? The war was stalemate after 14 months of war (October 47 - December 48). To put it in perspective, it was twice longer than all the other wars India fought put together. How long does the author think Nehru should have fought? May be Nehru didn't want to occupy that land. If it is difficult to control Kashmir now, it would have been more difficult to control the Kashmir/Gilgit/Baltistan together. If Nehru truly committed blunder by creating Azad Kashmir, why didn't Shasty or Vajpayee correct it. Indira Gandhi occupied Kargil in 1971 but never bothered to go west or north, why? They had all the legal means to do it. Both the Instrument of Accession and the UNSC Resolution-47 gave India (not Pakistan) the rights over the area.

excellent article.yes,we continue to bear and pay for theb blunders of nehru.at least his intentions were good.then came his daughter who ruined.now india is on right path but we are still not practical.

When a country disrespects its founding fathers like Nehru, it only deserves bad leaders in the successive generations. Thats what India now has and it should not be surprising. You reap what you sow. India will never get leaders like those of China or Japan or US. None of those countries demeans its founding fathers like India does to Nehru. What is wrong with inviting Chow En Lai to Delhi again? How did he figure out weakness in army that is at the border hundreds of miles away? The comments of 'moralistic commentary' 'still birth of NAM' are cheap shots at best. Claim that PVNR's course correction pitch-forked India from Nehru's Zero to economic supremacy is simplistic and malicious. Without Nehru's groundwork, a policy change could not have accomplished anything. That course change was in fact started by Rajiv for the changed times which could not be implemented when his government was paralyzed in the name of Bofors. Nehru's policies of protectionism suited for the fledgling domestic industry of that time and the license raj ensured diversity rather than everyone producing soaps. Article 370 was condition to accession and was not Nehru's desire. Without that Kashmir would have been long gone entirely. Nehru gave no 370 to Pondichery or Goa that he annexed.

When a country disrespects its founding fathers like Nehru, it only deserves bad leaders in the successive generations. Thats what India now has and it should not be surprising. You reap what you sow. India will never get leaders like those of China or Japan or US. None of those countries demeans its founding fathers like India does to Nehru. Khazanchi knows nothing about Kshmir issue, China problem or economy. He further dares to call those that don't believe his lies sycophants'. He knows nothing about Nehru. Panditji lives in the hearts of millions of Indians. Nehru's hydel projects irrigated our lands and lighted our houses. His institutions educated us and took beyond borders. His vision gave us identity. Organizing 3/4 of the world is a success in itself. Calling it 'still born' is ignorant. NAM helped India in Goa annexation and reversing China aggression. Nehru was such a visionary that refused to see the world in dichotomies that most people and leaders are comfortable with - black and white, communist amd capitalist, NATO and Wasaw Pact. The article is of poor taste.

I fully agree with the view of the author. If you are to progress and learn from your past mistakes, you must first admit them. No amount of sycophancy prevalent in the 100-year old party will save them from the grave mistakes committed by the successive prime ministers, both in the international and domestic front, of independent India.

As India's first Prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru played a major role in shaping modern India's government and political culture along with sound foreign policy. Liaqat Ali Khan, became the first Prime Minister of Pakistan. Immediately after partition, there was a shooting in Sheikhupura in which many Hindus who were waiting for repatriation in a camp, were shot down. There was a great commotion in India, and Pandit Nehru had to take up the matter in his next weekly meeting with Liaqat Ali in Lahore. The Prime Minister of Pakistan had brought the Deputy Commissioner of Sheikhupura with him. The officer explained that the Hindus had broken out of the camp at night in the midst of a curfew, and the police had to open fire. Pandit Nehru asked as to why the Hindus had broken out of the camp. The officer told him that some miscreants had set the camp on fire. Pandit Nehru protested to Liaqat Ali that this was an amazing explanation. Liaqat Ali replied without batting an eye that they had to maintain law and order. This exemplifies the quality of leadership which Muslim society has produced so far in Pakistan.

Pandit Nehru Ji became Prime Minister of India, in the eyes of the outside world, India was but a mysterious land of snake charmers, magicians, sadhus and sanyasins, besides being a poor country. Indian’s were virtually slaves and fighting collectively against the British Empire for freedom and there was mass starvation in states like Bihar, UP, Bengal and the economy was in real bad shape. If it was not for the humanitarian help from the US (PL 480) the famines would have brought about starvation and death on an unimaginable scale. Chronic unemployment amidst entrenched poverty continued to plague the Indian population. Entire system had been polluted. Corruption was on rise. Crime rate was increasing day by day and people had lost faith in law and judiciary. It was entirely in the hands of people who had both power and money and could do any thing. Our Identity was fading slowly as we were leaving our age old cultural values and blindly following the western culture under the British rule. Families were fast breaking with relations having no meaning. Jealousy, cult was on rise. We were becoming impatient and in tolerant. We were fastly loosing our moral as well as cultural values which were once the main building blocks of this country. We were becoming unsympathetic having no sympathy for others. The bonding between various communities was decreasing, which created partition of India. The people had become more self-centered and believed in give and take. Simplicity and truthfulness had got lost some were. With it happiness and peace has also got lost. The Love and respect for each other had vanished.

Pandit Nehru in December 1961 sent troops into Portuguese Goa and liberated Goa and included the same in the Indian Territory. He is praised for creating a system providing universal primary education, reaching children in the farthest corners of rural India. Nehru's education policy is also credited for the development of world-class educational institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology, the National Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institutes of Management.

Nehru Ji is credited for establishing a widespread system of affirmative action to provide equal opportunities and rights for India's ethnic groups, minorities, women, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Nehru's passion for egalitarianism helped end widespread practices of discrimination against women and depressed classes. His government hoped to extend water, electricity, health care, roads and infrastructure to a large degree for India's vast rural population.

MY FRIEND WHO IS A PROCSECUTING LAWYER AGAINST ABU SALEM, HE CLEARLY TOLD ME THAT SALMAN KHAN AND ABU SALEM ARE VERY GOOD FRIENDS, AND EVEN SALMAN KHAN IS PAYING FEES TO ABU SALEM'S LAWYERS. SO DON'T CALL SALMAN KHAN A TRUE INDIAN. WAKE UP INDIANS......

Ramesh Khanzachi neither knows geography nor history:
1. When Zhou Enlai was invited to Delhi, nobody knew there will be war. In fact Zhou made that promise to Nehru during that visit.
2. Zhou flew to Delhi and back (airport-hotel-conference room-airport?). The army and the armor was hundreds of miles away in remote Ladakh and NEFP. How did Zhou assess the weakness in the armor?

Nehru's elevation to P.M. of India was made possible by one single factor which was the disapperance of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.He was reported to have died in an aircrash on 17th Aug 1945 in an airport in Taiwan, but in fact he was captured by Russian authorities.Several attempts were made to unravel this mystery but truth never came out.Then in Jan.1966,India's then P.M. came to Russia in Tashkent for talks with Pak Authorities, but he was also poisoned so that truth about Netaji does not come out nad Indira Gandhi became India's P.M.This ensured that Russia's complicity in Netaji's disapperance and Shastri's death does not come out.

what does the writer suggest by "hindu rate of growth" in the above article?
please elaborate

well said.

it is bitter truth which all of us (indians) should know so that past shouldn't become present

Nehru was smeared to any extremes of bourgeoisie to marxist to traitor, from a push-over/meek/coward/spineless to a bully/aggressor/murderer to giving India's UNSC seat to China, from muslim stooge to british stooge to a hindu fanatic, from a dreamer to no-vision, from no-foreign-policy to only-foreign-policy, from moralistic commentary to corrupting morals, and from exaggerating India's importance to present Indians as beggars. These lies were spread one person at a time and has to be reversed one person at a time - for sake of your country!

Cool post as for me. It would be great to read more about that matter. Thanx for posting that information.