Modi government’s projection of Nehru as a ‘failed administrator’ is as far from historical reality as possible

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]dministration, specifically speaking, public administration, is one of the most visible parts of the government. And the government in a democracy works on the philosophy of the Constitution. As far as the Constitution of India is concerned, this document, as the Constituent Assembly had on November 26, 1949, in general was an outcome of almost a century-long struggle against the British, and in particular, of the Objective Resolution drafted and moved by Jawaharlal Nehru and adopted by the Constituent Assembly. Later, providence favoured Nehru and he, as the first Prime Minister of independent India, was at the helm of all politico-administrative affairs.

The Constitution was adopted, and enacted with the seal of "We, the People of India". Nehru always visualised free India as "popular" union of self-governing masses where nothing but the People would have the primacy. Speaking to the Congress colleagues in Jhansi (October 27, 1928), he said:

"Our very method of referring to masses betrays that we think ourselves something apart from the masses. By virtue of our intellects and our material possession we consider ourselves something apart from the masses. It is the way of hypocrisy…"

 Inception of the Union

At the outset, a well-deserved criticism can surely be put here that why Nehru with such a pro-people orientation allowed the whole exploitative bureaucratic machinery of British India be incorporated in the free India. This would be a sweeping generalisation if proper attention is not paid to the erstwhile national and international scenario of the World Wars, Partition of India, post-independence communal clashes, accommodating refugees from the other side of the border, poverty, diseases, squalor, hunger and so on.

Today, the ruling creed in the power echelons is trying hard to undermine the legacy of Nehru and in previous years had made various attempts at "idolising" Sardar Patel, thereby portraying the relationship between the two leaders as obnoxious and incompatible and it is where the roots of administrative inefficiency are being located by them. On the contrary, Sardar Patel — who is hailed as the Lauhpurush of India, credited with one, the merger of princely states to turn free India in to a larger "Union of States", and two, with the inception of the steel-frame of the bureaucracy —worked with Nehru in fine cohesion and coordination. The States Department inaugurated on July 5, 1947 succeeded the Political Department of British India and was an outcome of Nehru's great toil for the socialist democracy. The department was later handed over to Patel which was followed by negotiation and integration chores by him with expert assistance of VP Menon.