RENAISSANCE APRIL 2021

36 Monthly Renaissance April 2021 Obituary Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru Am ī n A ḥ san I ṣ l āḥī ( This obituary was penned by the author in 1964 at the demise of Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru .) The passing away of the Indian Prime Minister, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru is a major tragedy in the events of the recent past. Though he rejected God and religion, he was truly devoted to his homeland and nation and in this regard was an epitome of loyalty and ideological strength. Many prime ministers have come and gone in the world and many more will come but it will be difficult to find an example of the popularity that he enjoyed in a vast and ethnically diverse country like India. One has to admit that during his long tenure in government, he ruled not only his nation’s body but also its heart and real power is one which is exercised on hearts. We sincerely hope that those in whose hands the reins of power have been transferred are able to complete all the unfinished work of Pundit ji. Pundit ji was enamoured of democracy and, undoubtedly, managed to successfully maintain it. However, a weak aspect of democracy is that if it is not backed by a very strong and popular leader it is very difficult to safeguard. After Jawaharlal Nehru India does not have this feature. Its leaders will have to seriously reflect on this issue otherwise the future of democracy will be faced with dangerous troubles and whatever alternatives there are, none are such that can be willingly accepted. Pundit ji was also taken in by secularism but met with extreme lack of success in this. Reactionary elements made all his efforts in this field totally ineffective and Pundit ji could not show the strength against them that was expected from him. To be honest we were very disappointed in him on this issue. Whatever the reasons, we could never imagine that, during his term in power,