Shiv Sena says Modi needs to thank Nehru for creating national assets
Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut said the Narendra Modi government may have differences with Jawaharlal Nehru and Congress party’s policies but attempts to wipe their history was an insult to every freedom fighter
Shiv Sena parliamentarian Sanjay Raut, in his weekly column Rokthok in party mouthpiece Saamana, has said that the Narendra Modi government at the Centre should be thankful to India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for creating the assets which were being “monetised” by the current government. The column has also criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) ideological fount, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Jan Sangh, saying they did not play any role in the Quit India movement whereas Nehru was at its forefront and spent years in prison for India’s freedom.
Raut questioned whether the history of the freedom struggle was being tweaked by the current government. “India is celebrating the 75th year of freedom. In this context, the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) omitted the picture of Nehru from its poster ‘Azadi Ke Amrit Mahotsav’. This poster had the pictures of Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Sardar Patel, Bhagat Singh, Rajendra Prasad, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya and Veer Savarkar. It excluded Pandit Nehru and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. However, the government should remember that the history of the freedom struggle cannot be completed by excluding these two people. This only shows the pettiness of this government,” Raut wrote.
He added, “You may have differences with Nehru’s and Congress party’s policies but trying to erase them from history is an insult to every freedom fighter.” Raut then wrote of Nehru’s political journey from 1912 and how he rose through the ranks of the Congress party. “Nehru suffered long-term imprisonment during the Quit India movement and at that time the founders of RSS and Jan Sangh (previous avatar of the BJP) were nowhere in sight,” said Raut.
Raut said that after independence, it was Nehru who created national assets. “These institutions were responsible for creating employment for citizens. The current government should be forever thankful for Nehru for creating these assets. However, the current government is practising the politics of revenge and bent on wiping off Nehru’s role from the independence of India,” he added.
Raut asked the Central government to learn a lesson from DMK chief and Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin, who allowed the distribution of 6.5 million school bags carrying photos of political rivals former chief ministers J Jayalalitha and E Palinaswami of the AIADMK, to ensure the money spent on procurement of bags doesn’t go waste for political vendetta.
“Stalin ordered his officers not to change the bags as it would have cost ₹15 crore to the state exchequer. He said he would use that amount for fighting the Covid-19 menace. This was despite the fact that Stalin’s late father K Karunanidhi in 2001 was roughed up and arrested at midnight on orders of J Jayalalitha,” said Raut.
BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhyay dismissed Raut's comments, saying, "The Shiv Sena is so drunk on power that it is now always praising the Congress that it was opposed to for years. Hence, the Saamana article does not deserve any comment per se."