Thread by @sheshapatangi1

“No PCC has put forward your name…only [a few members of] the working committee has.”
This remark of Gandhiji was met by Jawaharlal with “complete silence”.

IMAGINE! 20 Million Words & another half a million in shorthand for a book.
That was, DURGA DAS – The Journalist Nobody

Wants To Remember.

In order to know what a rare Journalist Durga Das was & the extraordinary role played by him in the country’s history during the stirring times, one has to read his 500-page wholly absorbing book (more his memoir) "India From Curzon To Nehru And After,"

first published in early 1969. The material for the book, according to Das, is based on his 20 million words of straight reporting, features, analysis and comments, besides half a million of words in the form of notes in shorthand.

Excerpts from the book....

Once MKG was

informed that “Jawaharlal will not take the second place”, he asked Patel to withdraw. Rajendra Prasad lamented that Gandhiji “had once again sacrificed his trusted lieutenant for the sake of the “glamorous Nehru” and further feared that “Nehru would follow the British ways”.

When Rajendra Prasad was using the phrase “once again”, he indeed was referring to the denial of Congress president-ship to Patel in 1929, 1937 and 1946 in preference to Nehru; and always at the last moment.
Patel accepted to take the second position because of two reasons:

firstly, for Patel, post or position was immaterial; and secondly, Nehru was keen that “either he would take the number one spot in the government or stay out. Vallabhbhai also reckoned that whereas office was likely to moderate Nehru, rejection would drive him into opposition.

Patel shrank from precipitating such an outcome, which would bitterly divide India.”

I'm posting this thread with lots of pain, because he was a highly respected journalist, got retired as senior editor of @htTweets , he established Press Council of India, now @PTI_News & INFA

Publications.
His name was #DURGADAS and nobody remembers him.

Since, not much is known about his personal life, I give you few of the Bharat Centric Information from his book.
Please Do Read.
1) “Lord Curzon was the First of the Viceroys of India, Nehru was the Last of the

Glittering Tribe. Curzon left behind a Lore, Nehru a Legend.”
Read 2,3&4
2) When the formation of Interim government was taken up in August 1946, under the guidance of Gandhi, Congress Working Committee preferred with full majority Sardar V. Patel as Prime Minister as they felt

he was the “Iron Man with his feet firmly planted on earth.”
3) But, when Gandhi’s choice became Nehru as PM, Durga Das asked him as to why he preferred Nehru. Gandhiji with a laughter replies, “Jawahar is the only Englishman in my camp!” And then added: He will make India play

a role in international affairs.
Sardar will look after country’s affairs. They will be two Oxen yoked to the Government Cart.
4) When Das mentions it to Rajendra Prasad he tells, “…Gandhi had once again sacrificed his trusted lieutenant for the sake of ‘the glamorous Nehru’.”

The following record mirrors the roles played by him when he writes: “I was a witness at very close quarters of this pulsating drama, the ebb and flow of the struggle for freedom. I know intimately the men and women who shared its hazards and rewards, it was bliss to be alive in

those stirring times.”
Here's Nehru's words for defeat against China and Reaction by Durgadas, pretty long thread, but you will realise the cowardice of 1st PM.
1 I remember many a time when our senior generals came to us, and wrote to the defence ministry saying that they

wanted certain things...
2 If we had had foresight, known exactly what would happen, we would have done something else... what India has learnt from the Chinese invasion is that in the world of today there is no place for weak nations... We have been living in an unreal world of

our own creation."
The above was said by Nehru at Rajyasabha in 1963.
3) Instead of "I", Nehru used the collective "we", a clear indication of his reluctance to own up his own mistakes as a man.
"The fact of the matter is that Nehru felt a gnawing of conscience throughout this

episode.
4) He knew that the blame for the disaster was more his than that of his loyal friend [defence minister V K Menon]," says journalist and historian Durga Das.
5) "He did not understand economics,nor did he bother to face facts. He wove fantasies around his ideals".

Nehru becoming PM denying Sardar finds endorsement in @HindolSengupta s Biography "The Man Who Saved India" and quotes DurgaDas.
But why did Gandhi endorse Nehru over Patel, be it for the position of party president and later to lead free India? The answer is long, but provides

a succinct answer by quoting Durga Das, who asked Gandhi the question in 1946. Gandhi’s reply: “Jawahar will not take second place. He is better known abroad than Sardar and will make India play a role in international affairs. Sardar will look after the country’s affairs.

They will be like two oxen yoked to the government cart. One will need the other and both will pull together.”.

Durga Das who was born on 23rd November 1900, passed away on this day in 1974, at the least @nytimes had a sense to pay homage for the veteran journalist.

DUNA DAS DEAD; INDIAN NEWSMAN
Das, Durga
nytimes.com…/durga-das-dead-indian-newsman-chr…
In 2003, the NDA Government brought out a commemorative stamp in honour of Durga Das, in recognition of his great services to India and the world at large.
I saved this piece

for the last, Durgadas In a ten-page Epilogue, he ends with this destiny:
“Gandhi and Patel carved out a destiny for themselves and the country; Jawahar Lal Nehru was the child of destiny; Lal Bahadur Shastri was thrown up by destiny; Indira Gandhi is an instrument of destiny.