Nehru is credited by admirers with creating modern India. Are you referring to “modern” India, the one with the crumbling, side-lane-like highways, the beat-up Fiats and Ambassadors, the meagre Second World War armaments to ensure its security, the famines, the perpetual food shortages, the millions of people living in abject poverty, and both hands holding begging bowls? He did establish a number of research labs, but they had little impact and ended up being money pits. Poor transportation and communication systems had a significant impact on national integration, mobility, and the struggle against poverty.
As India gained independence, many nations, notably those in Southeast Asia, marched far ahead of it.

You wonder why you had continued to be (until the Nehruvian and the Nehru-Dynasty times [things have started to change with Modi]) a country of crumbling roads, overcrowded locals, overhanging scary ugly mess of mesh of electrical, TV and internet cables blotting the skyline, and brutally assaulting even the “chalta ha” (the poor) tolerance of the “have given up” generations; a nation of stinking slums and impoverished villages, open drains and sewers, rotting garbage, squatters’ camps, and pavements that are absent, encroached upon, or stink from the use they are not intended for—mercifully for walkers, this is not the case—instead, they are merely patches of crumbling pavers punctuated by man-holes waiting for their catch.

The majority of Indian towns, cities, and metropolises are filthy, offensive-smelling, and revolting. They appear to be an affront to the environment and a blight on the landscape. Every year, cities in the West, Southeast Asia, China, and elsewhere get cleaner, smarter, and spicier, while ours deteriorate and become more crowded, polluting, impossible to live in, and squalid.

How did we end up being so far behind? What specifically did we do or not do after gaining our independence that caused everything to be so terrible and pitiful? And all of this utter misery despite India’s obvious advantages as a country with excellent people, an abundance of natural resources, a rich cultural heritage, a variety of languages, unrivalled ethical and spiritual traditions, and, most importantly, a relative advantage in all areas at the time of independence compared to all other countries that have since surpassed us, including infrastructure, trained manpower, bureaucracy, and army.
Why did we fail to take advantage of this country’s abundant resources? Well, everything is due to Nehru’s policy. Because of Nehruvianism, India will always be a developing, third-world nation.

 

Source: Nehru’s 97  major blunders by Rajnikanth Puranik

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