At a time when Jawaharlal Nehru is being demonized, viciously scapegoated for everything that has happened or not happened under the sun since India’s Independence, and diabolically erased from the nation’s collective memory, Professor Aditya Mukherjee has done an invaluable service to the people of India in writing this book.
An invaluable service because Nehru represents the ‘Idea of India’ in all its manifestations. The Idea of India encapsulates, in whole and part, democracy, sovereignty, justice, equality, liberty, fraternity, secularism, inclusivity, constitutionalism, federalism, rule of law, rationality and scientific temper. When Nehru is attacked, the Idea of India is under severe threat.
Why is Nehru the enemy number one of India’s present ruling regime? It is because Nehru’s persona strikes at the very root of communalism in India, which is the foundation and the sustaining amrit for the survival and longevity of the ‘communal fascists’ and the lethal communal virus let loose by them which is sweeping the country.