The the Idea of State in Nehru
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
International Research Journal of Social Sciences___________________________________ ___ ISSN 2319–3565 Vol. 6(8), 33-39, August (2017) Int. Res. J. Social Sci. The Idea of State in Nehru Charusheel Tripathi Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi , India [email protected] Available online at: www.isca.in, www.isca.me Received 18 th June 2017, revised 4th August 2017, accepted 11 th August 2017 Abstract The objective of this paper is to depict how the political writings of Nehru, primarily "The Discovery of India " and "Autobiography", contained a plethora of derivative as well as indigenous characteristics and ideologies that resulted in the culmination of the concept of state in India, during the pre -independence era. The Nehruvian strategy comp rised of attempts to pose challenges to the internal discrepancies in India pertaining to the British rule as well as to the external or international disturbances of global politics and juxtaposed this with the progressive phenomenon in the West, that he deemed plausible for borrowing and applying to the Indian context, thus, subsequently laying down the framework for the conceptualization of an Indian state. This paper is hence, segregated into three section s:- The first deals with the misuse of power by the colonizers to construct a flawed idea of the state in India and Nehru’s attempt to identify them and pose adequate challenges; the second deals with the Nehruvian ideologies and fundamental principles which were a result of the influences from the West and which assist him in conceptualizing the Indian state; lastly, the third section deals with the plethora of characteristics in Nehru’s prospective vision of the state, that assist in the establishment of a strong case for an idea of state in the forthcoming post-colonial era. Keywords : Jawaharlal Nehru, State, Democracy, Advaita/Vedanta, Religion, Socialism. The Idea of State in Nehru he puts forth his conceptualization of the Indian state in a scattered manner. “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less travelled by; and that made all the difference”. The conceptualization of a notion of statehood by Nehru was a –Robert Frost synthesis of the East and the West. He said, “I have become a queer mixture of the East and the West, out of place The aptness of these lines is depicted in their unparalleled and everywhere, at home nowhere. Perhaps my thoughts and uncanny resemblance to the dilemma that was brewing in the approa ch to life are more akin to what is called Western than mind of a charismatic political figure and freedom fighter, who Eastern, but India clings to me, as she does to all her children, in in an imprisoned state was tryin g to cull out a fathomable idea innumerable ways” 2. This eclecticism of Nehru assisted him in of a state. This creative architect made a constructive usage of carefully selecting the attributes coterminous with the values of his term as a class ‘A’ prisoner, who had access to newspapers, both the civilizations. magazines and writing materials in his cell, by reading and writing about Indian and world hist ory. Thus, being ‘denied the The objective of this paper is to depict how these political freedom to act in the present, he turned to the past and made it writings of Nehru contain a plethora of derivative as well as 1 his instrument for action in the future .’ indigenous characteristics and ideologies that resulted in the culmination of the concept of state in India, du ring the pre- This politician and philosophical thinker was Jawaharlal Nehru. independence era. During the late colonial rule in India the 2 He was born in a ‘typical bourgeois ’ family of a Kashmiri envisioning of a concrete notion of a state along with its Brahmin lawyer, Motilal Nehru. After being home schooled till desirable features was impossible as it would be like counting the age of thirteen, in theosophy and science by his tutor, the chickens before they are hatched. But Nehruvian strategy Ferdinand T. Brooks, Nehru continued his education in Harrow was otherwise. He posed challenges to the internal discrepancies and Cambridge and later returned to India, to be i ncorporated in in India pertaining to the British rule as well as to the external or the glorious struggle for independence under the supervision of international disturbances of global politics and juxtaposed this the Indian National Congress party. This agitation against the with the progressive phenomenon and processes in the W est, British suzerainty resulted in his subsequent imprisonment for that he deemed plausible for borrowing and applying to the nine terms and provided him with the enforced leisure of prison Indian context thus, subsequently laying down the framework life that eventually culminated in his three literary works of for the conceptualization of an Indian state. This paper is hence, Glimpses of World History, An Autobiography and The segregated into three section: The first deals with the misuse of Discovery of India and it is primarily in the latter two works that power by the colonizers to construct a flawed idea of the state in International Science Community Association 33 International Research Journal of Social Sciences___________________________________________________ ISSN 2319–3565 Vol. 6(8), 33-39, August (2017) Int. Res. J. Social Sci. India and Nehru’s attempt to identify them and pose adequate Nehru intentionally made use of gender stereotypes like the challenges; the second deals with the Nehruvian ideologies and ‘manhood’ 1 of the Indian nation being under threat and this fundamental principles which were a result of the influences leading to a derelict nation. A similar faux par is committed by from the West and which assist him in conceptualizing the him when he considers the State to be ‘effete’ and ‘effeminate’ 1 Indian state; lastly, the third section deals with the plethora of during the invasion by Nadir Shah. The use of these characteristics in Nehru’s prospective vision of the state, that terminologies to depict the weakness and the lack of political assist in the establishment of a strong case for an idea of state in prowess of the Indian state is a stark reminder of how a the forthcoming post-colonial era. patriarchal association is created between the gendered view of women as a symbol of weakness and the limited or clipped I strength of the state. The lens though which the British rulers and administrators tried An array of criticisms was launched by Nehru towards the to perceive and understand its colony was highly parochialized liberal party and its acceptance of the British proposal of a and constricted. From the beginning there was a wave of distrust dominion status for India. Like Gandhi in Hind Swaraj, Nehru for the Indian natives and their societal norms and principles. believed that the dominion status stood for the standardization These ways and mannerisms of East were considered to be of the status quo i.e. the same old structure of governance and mysterious, secretive, conservative, backward and at the same administration, with ‘responsibility at the centre’ and this would time, full of conspiracies, hence putting the onus of their only lead to the replacement of the white sahibs by the brown betterment and well-being on the British, under the garb of sahibs. The alternative forwarded by the Congress on the other white man’s burden. ‘The Englishman can seldom think straight hand argued for the creation of a new state, through on matters relating to these lands of supposed mystery. He never independence and not just a new administration. ‘We want fresh makes an attempt to understand that, somewhat obvious and air in India, fresh and vital ideas, healthy cooperation’ 2. They very un-mysterious person, the Easterner. He keeps well away eulogized a state which was free from the clutches of the twin from him, gets his ideas about him from tales abounding in spies evils of capitalism and imperialism. and secret societies, and then allows his imagination to run riot’ 2. As a result of this stigmatization of the ruled by the rulers, According to the Joint Parliamentary Committee Report on what emerged was a police state whose primary responsibility Indian Constitutional Reform (1934), the British conceived their was the protection of the territories and its inhabitants. Taking rule in Indian to be a just and efficient administration by a his personal plight into consideration, with reference to his days parliamentary government, under the rule of law which was in prison, Nehru establishes a linkage between the penitentiaries successful in maintaining social and political unity. and the modern state. He exclaimed how the basic functions of Paradoxically, the Nehruvian framework thwarted this the government could be encapsulated in the tripartite zones of exaggerated version of benevolence of imperialism by ‘the prisons, the police, and the army’. There was hence a portraying how it prevented political, economic and industrial glorification of the protective role of the colonial state. The growth as well as socio-cultural progress in term of removal of public finances were directed towards the maintenance of the obsolete and conservative norms and cultures of the traditional army, military, police and civil administration and the areas of feudal societies in India. The political unity which the rulers economic planning and fulfillment of the socio-cultural needs of claimed to have spread in the colony was an incidental and the governed were dislocated and deliberately sidelined. This accidental side effect and later attempts were made to undo it by perspective of Nehru, regarding the duties and functions of the spreading disunity and sectarianism in order to instigate discord state during imperial rule, was synonymous to the Hobbesian and communalism.