India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru remains in the news even today. Many types of questions arise regarding his life. It is said about him that dynasticism in politics in the country started from the Nehru family. Were his clothes sent to Paris to be washed? Where did the word Pandit come from in his name? On what kind of relationship he had with Edwina, historian Pushpesh Pant answered in his own style in a special podcast to TV9 Bharatvarsh. He told that Nehru achieved a lot in his life on his own and nothing special was achieved by having a father.
Regarding how much of a Pandit Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru was, renowned historian Pushpesh Pant said, “I do not consider him a Pandit at all. I had been hearing the word Chacha Nehru about him since my childhood. Children used to call him Chacha Nehru. Later I understood that he was also the first Prime Minister of the country. Big photographs of him were seen. Sometimes with Gandhi, sometimes with Patel, then it was understood that he was a great freedom fighter. But as far as my personal identity is concerned, it is Chacha Nehru’s.”
‘The word ‘Pandit’ didn’t work for him”
On where the word Pandit came from, Pant said, “Pandit has two words. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Govind Vallabh Pant was also called Pandit. Mahamana Madan Mohan Malviya was also called Pandit, and others who have tilak are also Pandits. I think the one who is educated is also a Pandit. There were many people who considered Nehru a scholar. While he was called a Pandit. There were very few people who addressed him as Nehru. His contemporaries like Subhash Chandra Bose, Sarojini Naidu etc. all used to call him Jawahar. He said that in my opinion the word Pandit has been imposed on him.
He said that if there is any person who can build modern India, it is Pandit Nehru. Referring to Nehru’s book ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’, Pant said that Nehru was not searching for India but he was searching for his place, where do I fit. What could be my role? Regarding the discovery of Bharat Mata, he told that everywhere the slogan ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ was raised. I was wondering who was the Bharat Mata Ki Jai slogan about whom the slogan was raised, then they mentioned a Jat, he was a farmer. He had been doing farming for many generations. And this is the land of Mother India. He always kept searching for Mother India.
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Dynasty started from Nehru!
On the question related to Nehru’s entry into politics and the beginning of dynasty in politics, Pant said, “Since the beginning, entry into politics has been through parachute. As far as Nehru is concerned, when he came to India from abroad, he first associated with Annie Besant. Father Motilal Nehru used to be in Congress, but he was very quiet there. But Nehru came to Congress and gradually came closer to Gandhi. Motilal joined the freedom struggle because of Gandhi. His father encouraged him.” Not connected, but I would say that the son connected the father, he was very influenced by Gandhi.
“Father Motilal Nehru’s parachute entry into politics was due to his son. Motilal was influenced by Gandhi and gradually he came closer to Gandhi. Overall, it can be said that Nehru did not inherit everything. He achieved most of the things on his own.”
Were Nehru’s ancestors Muslims?
On whether Nehru’s ancestors were Muslims, Pant said, “If we search the 7 books of Nehru’s family, there is no mention anywhere that his ancestors were Muslims. If we read about the ancestors of his family, then we get information about one of his famous ancestors. One of his ancestors, Gangadhar Kaul, was the city policeman in Delhi.” He further says that the name Nehru came from a place named Noor in the Tral area of Jammu and Kashmir. His ancestors were not Muslims.
On the question whether Nehru’s clothes used to go to Paris to be washed, Pant said, “This is a matter of great stupidity. Nehru himself has described it in his autobiography that there used to be a laundry in Allahabad city whose name was Paris Laundry. So obviously it must have been a very big laundry. Nehru was rich so obviously he used to go there to get his clothes washed.”
What was Nehru’s relationship with Edwina?
He further said, “At the time when this is the case, there were ships but they were less and used to sail. And it took 3-4 weeks to go one way, then another 3-4 weeks to come back. Till then, would any person be living without clothes? Yes, it is possible that he may have gone on a foreign trip and during the trip, if necessary, his clothes were washed 2-4 times in Paris.”
On Nehru’s relationship with Edwina Mountbatten, Pushpesh Pant said, “Nothing was hidden about this relationship. I would say that let love remain love, do not give it any name. Not only I am calling it love. Edwina’s daughter Pamela Mountbatten has also called it love. She had written, “My mother had a love affair with Pandit Nehru. This love relationship was very good for him. The names of many female friends came into discussion during his lifetime. Had good relations with him. The relationship of love is between two people, what kind of relationship was there between them, everyone has their own relationship.
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