In 1951, then-President of India Rajendra Prasad was invited to inaugurate the newly-built Somnath Temple in Gujarat.
PM Jawaharlal Nehru wrote to the President asking him to reconsider saying that “President of a secular country doing this has a number of implications.”
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PM Jawaharlal Nehru wrote to the President asking him to reconsider saying that “President of a secular country doing this has a number of implications.”
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Rajendra Prasad shot back a letter saying he was the President & would participate in whatever ceremony he pleases.
Nehru then reminded him that, as President, he was bound to act only on the advice of the Council of Ministers.
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Nehru then reminded him that, as President, he was bound to act only on the advice of the Council of Ministers.
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This back & forth went on until President Prasad - a staunch Hindu revivalist - decided to participate in the inauguration ceremony.
Nehru, fresh with the memories of the Partition riots, didn’t appreciate this symbolism from the President of a secular country.
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Nehru, fresh with the memories of the Partition riots, didn’t appreciate this symbolism from the President of a secular country.
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On 2 May, 1951, PM Nehru wrote a letter to the Chief Ministers of all states. It said:
“It should be clearly understood that this function (the inauguration by President) is not governmental & the govt of India has nothing to do with it.
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“It should be clearly understood that this function (the inauguration by President) is not governmental & the govt of India has nothing to do with it.
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He continued, “we must not do anything that comes in the way of our state being secular. This is the basis of the Constitution & govt, therefore, should refrain from associating itself with anything that tends to affect the secular character of our State”.
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President Rajendra Prasad inaugurated the temple on 11 May, 1951.
The govt of India distanced itself entirely from this & said the President went in his personal capacity against all advice.
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The govt of India distanced itself entirely from this & said the President went in his personal capacity against all advice.
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Next month, PM Modi will inaugurate the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. After the amount of bloodshed & polarization this issue has seen, it’d have been wise for the PM to keep an arms length distance.
But Modi LIKES religious polarization. That’s his pet project.
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But Modi LIKES religious polarization. That’s his pet project.
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PM of India will inaugurate a temple on a land that has a 100+ years of painful history. Even the SC said that Babri was illegally demolished on the site of this new temple.
Nehru was a statesman.
Modi is an RSS pracharak who built his career on religious polarization.
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Nehru was a statesman.
Modi is an RSS pracharak who built his career on religious polarization.
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