How BJP is turning anti-Nehru propaganda into state policy

The BJP's hatred for India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru appears to be intensifying with every passing year. The shutting down of institutions set up by him began right with the inauguration of the Narendra Modi-government.

Three years down the line, a systematic effort to malign and gradually dump his legacy appears to be unfolding.

A national spokesperson of the party publicly cast a particularly demeaning slur on the former PM and the party has shown no effort to either rebuke the spokesperson or distance itself from his comments. Ironically, this happened on Nehru's 128th birth anniversary.

During a TV debate on leaked video footage purportedly involving Patidar leader Hardik Patel's private acts, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said Patel's acts showed he has Nehru's DNA.

Patra later tweeted about it too and indicated no remorse for making the comparison.

What is especially sinister about this episode is that it is not a one-off incident where a BJP leader has been found belittling or maligning Nehru. In fact, the party's efforts in this direction are these days led from the top, by none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself.

A forgotten anniversary

Modi, who has a huge social media presence and is an avid user of its platforms, did not tweet about Nehru's birth anniversary. Busy with diplomatic engagements in the Philippines, tweeting about an engineer in Maharashtra who has received a gas cylinder was a priority item on his agenda. However, he refused to spare even a mundane tweet for Nehru.

Interestingly, Modi chose to offer a terse tribute to the former PM through his personal handle @narendramodi. However, it lacked the warmth and enthusiasm that he invested in his next tweet, which was dedicated to World Diabetes Day.

The BJP's official handle too didn't send out any tweet on Nehru. It is not that the handle celebrates only BJP and its leadership. A day later, two tweets adorned the party's twitter time-line, paying rich tributes on the death anniversary of Vinobha Bhave and on the birth anniversary of Birsa Munda.

What is more troubling about this anti-Nehru campaign is that it appears to be turning into state policy. The Prime Minister Office's official press release on Nehru's birth anniversary was merely a one-line replication of the tweet that Modi had sent out from his personal handle.

Deendayal Upadhyaya, not Nehru

No ministry or department of the union government or any BJP-led state government put out any advertisements in leading national dailies remembering Nehru. While it is not necessarily an ideal practice to splurge the taxpayers' money on advertisements, there should be a uniform policy for leaders of all political hues.

On 25 September, BJP icon Deen Dayal Upadhyay's 101st birth anniversary, the union government as well as some BJP-led state governments sponsored advertisements paying rich tributes to him in national dailies.

In fact, Modi ensured the celebrations would be memorable by launching the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana the same day. Not just that, the Deendayal Urja Bhawan (ONGC's corporate office), was also inaugurated the same day.

There are many other parts of this campaign that provide further evidence of the BJP's sustained efforts to do away with Nehru's legacy. There is widespread speculation over the BJP's efforts to change the nature of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) in New Delhi as a museum dedicated to Nehru's life and works.

NMML is presently hosting an exhibition of books on all prime ministers of India. Its director Shakti Sinha, who also served former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as his personal secretary, has said that the museum will hold separate exhibitions on Vajpayee and PV Narasimha Rao in December.

The Sangh Parivar has always been disdainful towards Nehru but its propaganda against him was carried out in private circles so far. However, the BJP and the Modi-government appear to be officially adopting this propaganda and overseeing its implementation. When the BJP gave the slogan of 'Congress-mukt Bharat', that should have been a clear enough indicator of the things to come.