So, January 27th 2011. Just one day after I took the oath(or was it a pledge) to decode our leaders, one leader at a time, I am bubbling with ideas to kick the journey off. But for reasons which happen to be very close to my heart I chose to start to with our dear Chachaji.

Chacha Nehru , oh!! what a man. Legend has it that on a fine evening of mid November 1889, in a country (read colony) oppressed by the rule of the British was born the liberator. Born in a family that was one of the wealthiest in their era ( among the Indians of course), the boy went on to study at big schools(Harrow and Trinity) at Cambridge and earned the distinction of JB(Jailed in Britain). He then returned back to his country, as British as one(an Indian) could be and started to fight for India's independence. The legend goes on to say that he met a Mahatma en route his fight for freedom and the Mahatma changed him forever. Inspired by Mahatma's " Simple living and high thinking", the boy( now a full-grown man) became an "Indian" now. He would wear khadi and try to cut down on his lavish lifestyle.

He became the preferati in the eyes of the Mahatma and led the country with Mahatma's blessings. Chachaji became the first leader of independent India ( some part of the original one anyway) and paved the way for all that was to follow for this great nation.

The marvelous folklore recited at almost all schools of India today portray our dear chachu as a man of principles and great love for children. From time to time in our great peninsula's story men are born who pave the way for liberation of mankind and offer a path of true enlightenment for everyone. Such leaders need to remembered and revered in our hearts, for they are the ones that make a community truly proud.

Now one might choose to believe in all of this or one could try and analyze various aspects of Panditji's persona. Of course, a deeper analysis shall imply we look into sources that criticize Panditji for various reasons and then find counter arguments in the folklore to prove he was a great man. Of all the places where you might find subtle as well as exaggerated criticism of the great Chachaji almost all of them tend to agree that he was involved in adultery( the Indian version, of course) on several occasions. In fact, the First Lady(seems reasonable) at the time of the Kashmir crisis ( Lady Mountbatten ) claimed it was her influence on Panditji that led to the issue of Kashmir being taken to the United Nations.

But leave personal life apart. Seriously what have I got to do with the personal life of one of our "greatest" leaders, never mind his personal life may have put issues of national importance at jeopardy . Anyhow, talking politics, Panditji did some great things for the country too. Like setting up the IITs and the IIMs. Integration of the great country. He did indeed lay the foundation for further development in various sectors. Lakme for instance was Panditji's brainchild. But beyond all of these achievements lies failures ( read betrayals ) that the country is paying for even today.

* Nehru refused the permanent membership at the United Nations Security Council and decided to give it to the People's Republic of China instead, but since China was being opposed for the membership the seat was given to Republic Of China( Taiwan) instead,until 1971 when China(mainland) entered the UNSC.

* Nehru refused the offer of United States for help to develop a nuclear bomb as early as the 1960s(allegedly) citing panchsheel as his reason for non-alignment.

* Nehru placed immense faith in the Chinese and could never see through their motives of imperialism and never as a leader of free India did he take a solid stand against the oppression in Tibet.

* Nehru brought Kashmir to a stalemate by taking the issue to UN General Assembly and even today the issue is far from resolved.

* Nehru paved way for India's Hypo-critic adventure with socialism, wherein he created a culture of bureaucratic buffoonery which eventually created a system that our forefathers had to fight against for many decades. It was only until recently that restraint was exercised on the practice of "Fake Socialism". Anyhow, the party at the secretariats is far from over and the modern day bourgeoises( the bureaucrats) are here to stay.

* Perhaps the primary reason for the partition of the country was the animosity between Panditji and Jinnah.Now,how much of this could be pinned on Nehru is for God to decide , but Nehru was a primary figure in this dispute.

* And finally Nehru had confidants like V.K. Menon( India's first high commissioner to UK and later the Defence Minister in Nehru Cabinet) who single-handedly destroyed India's chances in the Shino-Indian War of 1962.

All said there are still several reasons to believe that Nehru was just another human being and perhaps all that he did was out of desperation to set up a country that was perfectly idealistic. Nevertheless, the very fact that he himself never realized anything wrong with his grand design for the country. And never ever worked on anything to rectify all that he had set wrong makes him perhaps the initiator of a political and economic system that shall take ages before it finally comes on a path our forefathers wanted it to be.

P.S. : I herewith include some references for further information on the content of this post.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V._K._Krishna_Menon
2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/08/AR2010110800495_2.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2010110402773
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_and_the_United_Nations
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakm%C3%A9
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jawaharlal_Nehru
6. http://www.india-today.com/itoday/millennium/100people/nehru.html

PPS : And also a special link for all those who love conspiracy theories, personally I couldn't digest the contents of the following link , but what the hell it is a conspiracy theory:

1. http://www.krishnajnehru.blogspot.com/