Nehru thought highly of Jan Sangh: Book

Bhopal: The memoir by Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon is set to uncover India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s ‘ideological dilemma’ by exposing the latter’s ‘secret admiration’ for Jan Sangh.

The yet to be titled memoir, set for a February end release, throws light on the hitherto unknown stories of yesteryear heavyweights of Indian politics. The book particularly describes how Nehru had vacillated among various ideologies from Marxism to capitalism and ended up having no conviction to any particular ideology.

Nehru had cultivated an image of being a socialist in public, but he was not a follower of either socialism or capitalism in reality, the book written in Hindi said.
When contacted, the Governor said, “I am yet to find a title for the book. The memoir will be released in a month”.

“What one appears in public is not so in reality,” the author appeared to have come to conclusion while providing anecdotes on stalwarts such as Nehru, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, Atal Behari Vajpayee, among others.

The author has claimed to have seen these leaders from close quarters.

According to the memoir, Nehru was completely broken after the disaster the country faced after India-China war in 1962. He was advised rest by his well-wishers.

Once Nehru was having serious discussions with some Congress leaders including then defence minister V.K. Menon besides some Delhi-based journalists including one Salamuddin Usman, a scribe with Patriot then.

He expressed concern over his successor who could lead a challenging, ethnically and culturally diversified country like India. He dismissed all names of Congress leaders suggested as his successor by the people in the meeting.

One journalist drew his attention saying that Jan Sangh was rising rapidly attracting youths and predicted that the party might emerge as an alternative to Congress in future. But, others dismissed the suggestion with contempt saying Jan Sangh was harmful to India.

Nehru dismissed the suggestion saying ‘not so”, the memoir said quoting Usman. Nehru had high opinion about Jan Sangh which he had not made public, the book said. He had admired then Jan Sangh member in the parliament Atal Behari Vajpayee when the latter delivered an extempore speech on foreign affairs in the House.