Review Article : Nehru’s Legacy and Hindutva

The forces of Hindutva have always tried to hunt down Jawaharlal Nehru’s legacy. He represents the undoing of all that the RSS–BJP stand for, i.e. modernism, secularism and an inclusive form of nationalism.

Nehru represents that current of Indian anti-colonial nationalism which ousted the British from India. His life is a saga of devotion and dedication to the nationalist cause that never was and could never be emulated by the ideological bearers of Hindutva. Historically speaking, what makes the RSS–BJP even more uncomfortable is the fact that Nehru’s modernism, founded upon atheism and scientific temper, posed a significant impediment to the medieval obscurantism bandied by Hindutva, whose fruition we are witnessing today.