Nehru: The Invention of India

by Shashi Tharoor

He could have used the adulation of the masses to turn himself into the dictator his own Modern Review article had suggested he might become. It was, indeed, the way most nationalist leaders in developing countries had gone. ‘Every conceivable argument has been available to tempt Mr Nehru to forego democratic institutions in India,’ Bertrand Russell wrote. ‘Illiteracy and poverty, disease and ignorance, a great subcontinent to govern, severe differences between Muslim and Hindu, many scores of languages and varied cultures reflecting a tendency toward a breaking up of the Union . . . .’ Nehru rejected all these arguments. Instead, he went out of his way to demonstrate respect for the institutions of the state, showing due deference to the President as Head of State (and even to the Vice-President, who had little to do but also outranked the Prime Minister in protocol terms). He treated Parliament as a serious and august body to which he was accountable, and ensured his officials treated it as more than a forum for launching policy, but one whose demands and questions had to be treated with due deference. He set the example himself, spending hours in Parliament, suffering Prime Minister’s Question Time and responding seriously to queries unworthy of his attention. He wrote regular monthly letters to the Chief Ministers of the provinces (later states) to share national and international concerns with them and consult them on issues of policy. He was astonishingly accessible ...