WATCH: Home Minister Rajnath Singh praising Jawaharlal Nehru as a champion of democracy

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday tweeted a video of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh praising India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, on his birth centenary, November 14, 2015. Jawaharlal Nehru was also the founder of National Herald and it’s sister publications Navjivan and Qaumi Awaaz. Here follows a translation of the speech delivered by Rajnath Singh. You can also watch a video of the speech.

Transcript of Rajnath Singh’s Speech

“We have not only gathered here to celebrate the birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru but also to celebrate the success of democracy in independent India. I am saying this because those leaders who took up the responsibility of running independent India in the beginning and contributed to the development of new India, had they not been filled with the strong feeling of democracy, then India would not have become world’s greatest democracy.

I would say this that if anyone at that time had made consistent and sincere efforts for making India a strong democracy, it was Jawaharlal Nehru. We can’t ignore the fact that a democracy based on adult franchisee, independent legislature and free press, all of this has been given to us by those great leaders who played an important role in one way or the other, and Jawaharlal Nehru played a significant role in all this as the first prime minister of India. That is why I said that it was Jawaharlal Nehru who made strong efforts in creating strong Indian democracy. Not only this, in order to develop Intellect, capability and interest towards science among young Indians, many institutes like Indian institute of management, Indian Institute of Technology and Indian Institute of Science were established at that time. He understood this well that if India wants to be one among the developed countries then She will have to achieve new heights in the field of science and technology, it cannot stand in the queue of developed countries. Such was his vision. His particularly insisted on the development of scientific aptitude in children. We celebrate his birth anniversary as Children’s day because of this vision of his. He believed that our country’s future lies in our children. If their talent and capabilities get the opportunity to develop then the capability and talents of our country will also develop. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was a man of wonderful personality. I have read somewhere and also as a child, I constantly heard stories about him from our teachers and family members. I was a 13-years-old kid when he died.

You can listen to the entire speech here:

But I remember, when he passed away, not only the Indian newspapers but also newspapers of the powerful nations all over the world wrote about him and praised him profusely. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was a man of international stature. Maybe most of the people don’t know, there was a dispute between Arab Countries and Israel over a sewage pond and at that time Arab countries didn’t have much faith in western countries like America. There was a dilemma over who should mediate and end this conflict. The then Israeli President suggested only one name and that was Jawaharlal Nehru. Such was his international repute.

We have gathered here to celebrate his birth anniversary. As far as the question of economic policy is concerned, I know there is never a consensus on economic policies, but I appreciate his sense of understanding, I want to appreciate that after India got Independence, our economic policy at that that was far sighted and practical. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru took mixed economy forward. Public-private partnership was initiated at the time, and no one can deny its importance even today. At that when the world was divided into two power centres- Russia and America. Some countries supported Russia and some America. It was at that time when Nehru decided not to align with any of them and started Non-Aligned Movement. Such was his courage.

As far as I am concerned, there are some of his policies on which I don’t agree with him in my individual capacity. There can be differences with him on policies but one can never doubt his intentions. I am saying this honestly that despite disagreeing with him on many of his policies, I don’t see him as political figure. I see him as a national figure, and one should see him like this.

He was the first prime minister of the country and we have all come here to celebrate the birth anniversary of this great leader. I think we benefit whenever we celebrate the birth anniversaries of these great leaders and especially when we celebrate the birthdays of freedom fighters, we get to know their motive and aspirations and what kind of India they wanted to build. We get to know these things and that is why their birthday is celebrated.

There is a lot to say on the Jawaharlal Nehru’s birth anniversary, but I will not say much. I sometimes think about the family he was born in and the stature of his father, it was all there, but I am amazed at one thing, he used to talk about big plants, steel plants, and he did a lot about it. But Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru never ignored the field of agriculture, where the economic strength of this country lies. He said, I am all for industries, I am all for steel plant, but I do say agriculture is far more important than any other industry.

Today, on the occasion of the birthday of such a great personality, I pay him respect from the bottom of my heart and I pay him my heart felt tributes.

Translated by Zaheeb Ajmal.