Often I have read Nehru or about him but never bothered to listen to him or his views other than his tryst for destiny speech, thrusted down our throats for last 74 years!
Today I mustered courage and spent many hours listening to his speeches from 1947 onwards! Thread follows
Thanks to @prasarbharati we have readily available archive of all the I-day speeches from 1947 onwards. youtube.com/playlist?list=…
Request @shashidigital to start a process to transcribe these speeches as well. Will go a long way in breaking the halo of Nehru- Gandhi’s!
First things first : if you make a stranger with knowledge of Hindi or Urdu hear these speeches, his first reaction will be that all the speeches were more like in Urdu. Yes close your eyes and listen to his speeches. All his speeches were more like in Urdu. No wonder!
None of Nehru speeches I have heard up to now - 11 in total -mentioned one scheme. Yes not one scheme was mentioned in his those 11 speeches.
Compared to that,I saw tweets taking on PM @narendramodi over schemes that he launched today, saying they are extension of old schemes!
11 years and NOT one scheme was mentioned or launched by Nehru in his I-Day speeches- so statesman like he was! Before I go on describing his year wise speeches, let me tell u one thing not only was Nehru a supremely delusional leader but he actually think very low of Indians!
Take this 1949 speech for ex: - he dedicated full 4 minutes taking on the youth of the country on so called “hulladbaazi” (used it thrice) … imagine thinking so disparagingly of youth in a country coming out from partition horrors!
Later, Nehru spoke of his impending visit of some foreign country- but never bothered to mention the name of the country once. He talked about the struggles in Asia but again never mentioned country by name-surely he didn’t find audience worthy of knowing the name of the country!
Next came his speech of 1951 - this speech like every Nehru speech was full of motherhood statements and sounded like a broken record.
First 3 mins were spent on describing Delhi & the city. Again the speech was in chaste Urdu!
See how Nehru, instead of applying balm on wounds of partition,sent country on the guilt trip for not adhering to old principles of non-violence!
Precisely why I rated PM @narendramodi ‘s move of yesterday abt #PartitionHorrorsRemembranceDay as huge
Do you really want to know why we lost 1962 or why did Nehru ask forces to retreat from the position of strength in 1948 or lost gains of Gen Thimmaiyya’s dare devil act on Zozila Pass - look no further but hear this Nehru masterpiece! theprint.in/defence/zojila…
This is real Nehru masterpiece - the war that Nehru mentioned in his 1951 speech was the same template that his daughter, Indira used in 1970 vide her Garibi Hatao or his grandson Rajiv used in 1985- all 3 spoke same thing in a span of 38 yrs between Nana and grandson!
But wait for another Nehru masterpiece - Nehru blaming Korean War for food inflation in India. Korea was his favourite topic of his I-day speeches for at least 3 years and came distant second after Pak- his fav country that he quoted mostly in his speeches!
Note this excerpt from 1951 I-day speech of Nehru, exhorting people to make roads and all as Govt can’t; no wonder mumma of @RahulGandhi could enjoy the fruits of that great Nehruvian vision 64 years later in Oct 2015- there is a method to this madness!
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