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What is the Nehru pledge:

Congress is hosting an international conference on 17,18 Nov to remember the contributions of Nehru and find ways to educate the younger generation of these values. The conference has attracted international attention with delegates coming in from different parts of the world

The purpose:

To spread the ideals which the first prime minister of India shared and designed the developmental plans with. As per the official statements, the conference is supposed to spread the Gandhi-Nehruvian values to the younger generation which apparently seems to be moving away from it.

The conference aims at elevating the stage of Nehru. They do not want him to be remembered as just the children’s icon. His contributions to the country has been immense, especially in the socialistic front and the poor finally had a face. I guess this has primarily been one of the USPs of congress or was the USP’s but they did quite a good job to start the focus on it and Nehru does deserve great respect for this.

The Criticism:

Although the invites for this international conference went out months ago, the prime minister was deliberately kept away from the loop. Apparently the inherent fear was that the conference would belittle Nehru if the PM is invited. Although I do find the fears quite logical considering the recent flow of events, I still wonder about the real reasons behind it. Of the few I can think of

– The Modi govt has been bringing out a whole set of new programs with not many of them having the name of the congress leaders or the pats congress leaders in it. The most recent example has been the run for unity pledge on the birth day of Sardar Vallabhai patel which coincidentally was the day of death of Smt Indira Gandhi which did not get much mention in the midst of the Unity Pledge. I am not exactly sure as to which side to support, but it somehow is a really interesting phenomenun going on out there. At one end, I would love it if all the programs are mentioned on the freedom fighters – the ones who made the country the way it is today. And at the other hand sidelining and neglecting just the congress leaders might not be the best move.

Having said that most of our programs are called either Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi projects. Considering that, it might make sense to bring in new names and offer them adequate respect for their invaluable contribution to the country. I am actually quite against the using of recent prime minister’s names for this, there really have been some amazing names in the history books which really deserve a mention. India is not just Gandhi and Nehru.

reference: Telegraph India

What Modi Said:

I loved what our PM had to say about it, the proactive statement about how Nehru’s contributions have to be remembered seemed more logical than setting up a conference. The idea of linking up the existing projects and priorities to the views of Nehru is a brilliant one and I loved a few examples like these

– Linking Swach Bharat campaign to schools and connecting it to Nehru and his love for children

– Bringing him closer to the masses: I think one of the biggest challenges with the Indian leaders has been the larger than life image accorded to these leaders. The multiple conferences and the initiation of projects have made it extremely hard for people to actually reach these leaders and find a solution to the real challenges they face. However the idea of bringing them closer by being a daily part of people’s lives is a very elegant one. We are all honestly fed up of the godly images of our leaders. We really need to know the human side of them and let them be a part of our lives.

Reference: Indian Express

The Verdict

It is interesting to see what the conference turns out to be. I just hope it won’t be just another political conference used to convey the party agendas. I just hope it takes a step back and goes deeper and tries to answer the real questions through actions and not by mere promises.

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