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Gandhi, Patel, Nehru and Subhas

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Gandhi, Patel, Nehru and Subhas Odisha Review August - 2015 Gandhi, Patel, Nehru and Subhas Dr. Atul Chandra Pradhan Now the work of Congress leadership before and Kashmir and Indo-China border have created a after independence is being reviewed. It is true legacy of problems for the posterity and that Patel that there is a basic difference between the would have handled these matters in a better and Congress party of pre-1947 period and that of pragmatic way. A quarter century after the choice post-1947 period. While the former was a multi- of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru as the Prime Minister group revolutionary party, engaged in the struggle of India, Chakravarty Rajagopalachari wrote, for liberation from the colonial rule, the latter is a ³Undoubtedly it would have been better if Nehru party in power, though deeply concerned with had been asked to be the Foreign Minister and nation building in spite of lapses and deviations Patel made Prime Minister.´ from revolutionary ideology. On the eve of Patel joined the National Congress under independence Mahatma Gandhi wanted the Mahatma Gandhi¶s stewardship in 1917; he transformation of Congress into a social service successfully organized Bardoli peasant movement organisation. Those who heeded him entered the in 1928, he was the organiser of the Congress nebular and amorphous Sarvodya Movement. It partly; he was elected as the President of is true that those who are now at the helm of Congress at its session, held at Karachi in 1931, affairs at the Centre after long years of electoral he acted as the Chairman of the Parliamentary battle are the legitimate successors of those who sub-committee of the Congress for the period were critical of the µpro²Muslim¶ and µsecular¶ 1935-40. Patel played a firm and decisive role in policies and credentials of the Congress party. the integration of princely states; but for his timely One should not however be blind to the fact that action Hyderabad would have become an ulcer in terms of real politic. There is no difference in the body politic of India. A leader of peasants, between the µsecular¶ Congress and the Patel did not subscribe to socialism because of µHindutva¶- based BJP which has already his pragmatic outlook. Patel¶s dexterity and identified itself with the legacy of Congress efficiency as an administrator and a leader has leadership. been lauded by many including the British Viceroy Lord Wavell. In May 1959 Rajendra Prasad, the It is held in certain quarters that Sardar then President of India wrote, ³That there is today Vallabhbhai Patel has been denied his Legitimate an India to think and talk about is very largely right to be the first Prime Minister of India, that due to Sardar Patel¶s statesmanship and firm Nehru¶s faulty economic policies and policy on administration.´ 17 August - 2015 Odisha Review In 1916, at the Lucknow session of Indian industries the Nehru government followed the National Congress Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru met policy of import controls which made them Mahatm Gandhi for the first time; he led Gandhi¶s uncompetitive. The Nehru government used Non-cooperation Movement in United Provinces industrial licensing to promote the growth of public (now Uttar Pradesh). Nehru became the sector. Overmanning in public sector made President of Indian National Congress in its commodities costly. Because of import controls Lahore Session of 1929, which adopted the the foreign suppliers became unwilling to sell resolution on complete Independence or Purna technology. As a result Indian firms remained Swaraj. Fourteen years younger than Patel, technologically backward. India got caught in a Nehru was very popular among the masses, low-growth trap. Between 1960 and 1979 India¶s particularly youth for his sacrifices and idealism. per caita GDP grew at an average rate of 1.1 per It is said that Mahatma Gandhi regarded annum compared to average growth of per capita Jawaharlal Nehru as his political successor. When world G.D.P. of 2.7% per annum. he became the President of the Congress in 1936- In the early post-Independence years 37 for the second time he tried to incorporate many in India regarded socialism as the most socialism into the Congress party's programme. suitable model of development for the country in Again he became the President of the Congress view of Communist Russia and success of party in 1946, when Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Communism in People¶s Republic of China. withdrew. Azad writes in his memoirs that he made Under these circumstances the Congress Party a mistake by proposing the name of Nehru instead adopted socialistic Pattern of society (1955) and of Patel for the Congress Presidency. After being Democratic Socialism (1964) as its goals. Nehru unanimously elected as the President of Congress was not opposed to private sector; he followed a in April 1946, it became easy for Nehru to be the mixed economic policy. Even if Patel had become head of interim government and the first Prime Prime Minister, it is doubtful whether he could Minister of independent India. have followed a fully liberal policy. But pragmatic As Prime Minister Nehru laid the as he was, he would have moulded the economic ideological foundation of the Young Indian policy in a different way. ³It is fair to assume,´ republic by putting before it the ideals of says Ashok V Desai, "that a Patel government democracy, secularism, socialism, non-alignment would have dismantled the import controls inherited from the War and would not have and promotion of scientific temper. Through introduced industrial licensing." socialism and application of science and technology Nehru wanted to solve the problem The Congress leaders such as Gandhi, of inequality and poverty in Indian society. He Nehru, Patel and Bose had different approaches laid emphasis on planning, public sector, in political matters. Subhas Chandra Bose openly development of heavy industry, rapid spoke of his disbelief in Gandhian principle of industrialization and application of science, non-violence. Gandhi opposed Bose¶s election technology and atomic energy. To develop an to the Congress presidency for the second term. independent economy Nehru was opposed to In spite of Gandhi¶s opposition, when Bose got investment of foreign capital and acceptance of elected to the Congress presidency in 1939, anti- foreign aid. To give protection to domestic Bose Congressmen rallied round Sardar 18 Odisha Review August - 2015 Vallabhbhai Patel. Nehru, though committed to most probably died in plane crash in 1945. Gandhi Gandhi¶s leadership did not subscribe to the fell a victim to the bullet of a Hindu assassin who latter¶s views on non-violence and small scale at the time of trial accused the Father of Nation village industries. In October 1945 Nehru wrote of being pro-Pakistan and pro-Muslim. Patel died to Gandhi, expressing his scepticism about some of cardiac failure in 1950. Nehru lived fourteen basic tenets of Gandhism expounded in the latter¶s years more and died as the Prime Minister of booklet Hind Swaraj (1909). Nehru did not India. agree with Gandhi¶s view that a village should necessarily embody truth and non-violence and Both Gandhi and Nehru were idealists in factory civilisation was based on exploitation and their own ways. No doubt Patel¶s pragmatic violence. In the first Cabinet formed after statesmanship resulted in the integration of the independence Nehru was Prime Minister and princely states with the Indian Union. But idealism Patel was Deputy Prime Minister; both of them also has a dignified place in politics, and statesmen had sharp differences. On 6 January 1948 Nehru and leaders can claim to be judged not only by wrote to Gandhi mentioning his ³temperamental their achievements but also by motives and ideals. difference´ and differences ³In regard to economic Nehru was a staunch advocate of decolonisation. and communal matters´ with Patel; he wrote, ³In In 1949 he convened a conference in New Delhi the present set up either I should go out or Sardar to extend support to Indonesia¶s struggle for Patel should go out.´ Towards the last days of freedom. In UNO India played a leading role in Gandhi¶s life there was difference of opinion accelerating the process of decolonisation. Nehru between Gandhi and Patel over the question of laid down non-alignment and Afro-Asian unity as release of Rs.55/- crores from the exchequer of the basic foundation of Indian foreign policy, which undivided India to Pakistan. Patel opposed the was appreciated by AB Vajpayi, the External release and linked it to Pakistan¶s invasion of Affairs Minister in the Janata government, formed Kashmir. Mahatma Gandhi and Lord in 1977. Mountbatten considered it dishonourable for India to stop the release of Rs.55 crores to Pakistan. On 14 January 1948, as desired by Mahatma Gandhi, the Cabinet decided to release the amount to Pakistan. Expelled from Gandhi- dominated Congress Subhas Chandra Bose steered on independent course; he organised Dr. Atul Chandra Pradhan, MIG-68, Baramunda Forward Bloc and Indian National Army and Housing Board Colony, Bhubaneswar-751003. 19.
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