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By PR Chaswal

Pandit Nehru worked very hard to strengthen the roots of democratic institutions, right from the Panchayati Raj at the village level to the building of a responsive and responsible Parliamentary form of Govt duly elected 'by the people, of the people, for the people’ at the national level. He further ensured that the administrative machinery functioned for the fulfillment of socio-economic national goals up to the urges and aspirations of the people and that it remained accountable to them. No amount of any kind of pressure could ever weaken his faith in the inner goodness of humans. He always promoted virtue and truth in all spheres of human activity. He ethically believed in the famous dictum that 'means must justify the ends.'

We observe that in the early days of our independence, Nehru more than anybody else realized that the unity of India lies in its diversity of thought, language, colour, and creed being pursued by various communities and ethnic groups in different parts of this mass of land which has been rightly described as unique by many for its splendour, primitive history, spirituality, and noble culture.

While he advocated a policy of friendship towards all and enmity towards none, he would never compromise his position with the forces which propagate and support individual and collective injustice and tyranny, communalism and fanaticism, racial discrimination and genetic superiority, capitalism, and imperialism in any form and in any corner of the world. Atrocious behaviour against women, cruelty to children, and persecution of weaker sections of society would always fill him with rage and shock. He worked hard in reducing the cavernous gap between the affluent and the weaker sections of our society.

Nehru believed that political independence was incomplete and insecure in the absence of matching economic justice.

To be continued (3/7)

About the author - A former union leader & banker PR Chaswal, 78, is a published author and editor of e-patrika Anhad Kriti.

He is a fervent admirer of Pandit Nehru, attended two of Nehru’s speeches in person, and also got an opportunity to perform in a skit for Chacha Nehru in 1955.