You may have heard or read,  Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru quoted as saying, ‘I am English by Education, Muslim by culture, Hindu  by an accident’.

Fact checks have brought out that it is false. Pandit Nehru never said that. It was a description of Nehru by a Hindu Mahasabha Leaders, N B Khare.

Let’s see what Pandit Nehru did say about himself in 1929?

“I was born Hindu but I don’t know how far I am justified in calling myself one, or speaking on behalf of Hindus”. (Pandit Nehru’s Presidential Address to the Lahore Session of Congress in 1929)

Question becomes: Was N B Khare totally wrong on Nehru?

It doesn’t seem so.

When a person says, ‘I was born Hindu but don’t know how far I am justified in calling myself one’, is he not saying that I am not Hindu except by birth. So, is it totally out of place to say that Nehru said, he was Hindu by birth or by accident of birth only.

It is be a matter of letter and spirit and not just letters as Fact Checkers can, and at best, do.

The second part of Nehru’s Statement is equally significant, in the context of pre-partition politics of India.

Right in 1929, Nehru had clearly said that ‘I was born Hindu but I don’t know how far I am justified in speaking on behalf of Hindus.’

This shows he wanted to be seen as a secular (as a good way to gain political following and position), but Hindus were fools who saw him as their leader.

As a context, that was the time when interests of Muslims were being actively taken care of by Jinnah and Muslim League, interests of Scheduled Caste  were taken care of by B R Ambedkar and his group. Who was taking care of interests of Hindus?

Hindus thought a Pandit in name will do that.

But Pandit himself had said, loudly and clearly, in 1929, I don’t know how far I am justified in speaking on behalf of Hindus.

In financial risk management, it is said, only diversifiable risks can be diversified; undiversifiable can’t be.

We often blame British for divide and rule. But truth is only divisible could be divided.

And if you see my ‘Nationalist Muslim Leaders?’ and ‘Who was the Father of India’s Constitution? How would you rate B N Rau?” at www.kreately.in, you would see how divided and partisan were leaders of pre-partition India, particularly, Jinnah and Ambedkar. Nehru turns out to be ‘secular’  to gain political position.

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