A MAN OF PEACE

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30452, 28 May 1964, Page 1

A MAN OF PEACE

Mr Nehru was a paradox in himself. An idealist, with the mind of a scholar and a dreamer, he was at the same time a practical politician. He was a republican and a socialist, yet he approved of republican India staying in the Commonwealth, and compromised with capitalism for the sake of peaceful progress towards the welfare state.

Though a Hindu by birth, and one who on occasion performed the rites demanded by orthodoxy, he was secular In his outlook.

Religious as well as racial intolerance were foreign to his nature, and Moslems, Sikhs and Christians alike had confidence in his fair handling of minorities.. His English education and upbringing had made him Westernised in manner and often in outlook. “I have become a queer mixture of East and West,” he wrote in his autobiography. Athletic, fond of mountaineering and riding, he practised yoga and until late in life used to stand on his head for a few minutes each day. Illness last year aged him considerably and he no longer displayed the dashing vigour which formerly so distinguished him. He celebrated his 74th birthday on November 14 last year with India in the grip of economic crisis and his colleagues manoeuvring for the succession. But Mr Nehru continued to be dominant in India, and although his policy had recently drawn criticism, vir-

tually no-one could suggest an alternative, to his leadership. The criticism came from a somewhat disillusioned Indian intelligentsia who thought India should take a stronger stand over her border dispute with China; but the critics concentrated on Mr Nehru’s Cabinet colleagues instead of on him personally. His handsome figure, with its pale, clear-cut features and white hair, was already the

idol of the people during India’s pre-lndependence days. When independence was achieved, his popularity was such that he could have become India’s dictator, but his ideology was rooted in the parliamentary and constitutional system. The ruling Indian Congress Party owed more to him than to any other political leader who guided its destinies. To the peasant, Congress was “Panditji’s (Nehru’s) Party” and his vote was cast for “Panditji” alone.