JAWAHARLAL NEHRU AND MODERN INDIA

What would be the link between Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Bangalore. I see a distinct connection between Nehruvian policies and modern Bangalore.

I have met many people in life who do Nehru bashing...and few praise him and I personally find him worthy of praise. I think some where it is the good fortune of India to have had him as a Prime Minister for a considerable period of time where key progress was made. Nehru was far ahead of his times and a well educated scholar and brought this vision with vigour and vitality on the PM's job. He built solid foundations for India and his calibre was much beyond ordinary and many world leaders of his times. What could have a fledgling India asked for more than have such a leader of his stature.

Nehru was not parochial and was a very good planner. Planning was his forte and he had a team of dedicated leaders around him who implemented his plans. All the many public sectors that were established in bangalore owe in totality to his far reaching vision. The west was critical of our public sector concept but I feel a infant nation like ours had no other choice or alternative. And every public sector was built with formidable investments and on ultra modern lines. Scores of Indians who ferried themselves into this city with little or no education found respectable employment at these outfits. If anyone were to call India a developing or developed economy; its largely because of societal engineering that has happenned as a result of these organizations. We had something to bank upon and look up to. Many people learned their first lessons in business owing to these sectors- not to mention the small tea shops or petty shops that operated near the gates of these mammoth enterprises which gave sustenance and hope for many.

Nehru was not partisan or parochial because he found Bangalore to be an ideal breeding ground for such units and put many of them, here. Bangalore has become some kind of a server of utilities and services to the rest of the country and the world. That many of these sectors continue to thrive even to this day is a tribute to the independence of thinking and vision of our leaders who broke away from many accepted moulds of the past to mould a new format for themselves.

Thank you Panditji.....You did something unprecedented both in precept and practice. Modern Bangalore amidst all it growth and fanfare will not forget this modern leader of India.