In today’s India, it is fashionable to vilify Nehru, who was indeed the architect of modern India. Many of his contributions, some mentioned below, are still relevant today.

1. Drafting and passage of ‘Objectives Resolution’ in 1946, on the basis of which the Constitution of India was drafted.
2. Universal adult franchise to all citizens.
3. Regular free and fair elections.
4. Promotion of English as a language of scientific communication. English played a crucial role in India’s IT boom since the 1990s.
5. Recognising the linguistic diversity of India through linguistic reorganisation of states.
6. Setting up of world-class educational institutions such as IITs, IIMs, and AIIMS.
7. Coining the phrase ‘scientific temper’ as a way of life to promote rational and scientific thinking in day-to-day life.
8. Passage of Hindu Code Bills, which gave divorce rights and inheritance rights to Hindu women. This law led to the substantial reformation and modernisation of Hindu society.
9. Reindustrialisation of India.
10. Building the ’temples of modern India’ (factories, research laboratories, irrigation dams, and power stations).
11. Liberation of Goa and its honourable integration into the Indian Republic.
12. Modernisation of the military after the 1962 defeat against China.
13. Formulation of India’s three-stage nuclear power program and setting up of the Atomic Energy Commission under the leadership of Homi Bhabha.
14. Formulation of the Indian space program and setting up of INCOSPAR (later ISRO) under the leadership of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai.

Nehru also committed mistakes in his China policy. He neglected the modernisation of the primary education sector. Instead, he focused on the tertiary education sector to make use of graduated talents to rapidly industrialise India and lift people out of poverty. Though the Kashmir conflict is blamed on Nehru, I think the major blame goes on the then Pakistani regime and successive governments of Nehru and Pakistan. Nehru was genuine and democratic in his Kashmir policy.

Today, Nehru is abused and maligned by the ruling dispensation ungratefully in order to destroy his legacy. But it should be noted that Nehru’s role in building a modern, independent democracy far outweighs his mistakes, and his legacy will continue to last unhindered.