When Nehru said of RSS men at R-Day Parade: ‘Can’t stop them’
The Congress on Wednesday announced an ambitious project to create the first digital archive of Jawaharlal Nehru’s works to better preserve the legacy of India’s first Prime Minister and acquaint successive generations of his contributions at a time when the ruling BJP is challenging his historical role.
What the archive will host
- Hundred volumes of The Selected Works of Nehru
- His letters to Chief Ministers from 1947 to 1964 and his books
- Speeches from 1917-64, writings on Nehru by contemporaries
- Material on him from global archives and lesser known writings
The project, to be steered by Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, which has top Congress leadership among trustees, will be launched on late PM Nehru’s birth anniversary next year.
Modelled along the lines of Wilson Centre Digital Archive, the Nehru archive will be rolled out in phases.
“In the first phase, we will have all 100 volumes of The Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru on the multimedia digital archive. Gradually, all his letters, books, speeches, writings on him by contemporaries and material on him from the global archives will be hosted,” said Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, fund’s trustee.
The archive promises to be the single most important source of research on Nehru and will make his selected works accessible, allowing people to locate the exact remarks the late PM made on key subjects, including controversial ones such as ties with Sardar Patel and views on the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).
The Nehru archive will also offer counters to right wing narratives, including the much-cited permission he gave to an RSS contingent to march on Rajpath during the Republic Day Parade of 1963, in appreciation of the Sangh’s role in the 1962 Indo-China War.
“On the digital archive, researchers can use search words and land straight on The Selected Works, 2nd edition, Vol 80, which contains Nehru’s address to the Congress parliamentary party (CPP) on January 27, 1963, where he makes a mention of the RSS at the R-Day parade,” fund’s secretary Madhavan Palat says.
In this address to the CPP, Nehru says, “RSS... What about it? Yes, they were in their uniforms, shorts and shirts, they were I think about 2,000.. They had, I believe, called some people from Meerut and Ghaziabad, and others to increase their numbers...The Congress Seva Dal as such I do not remember seeing there ...Some Congressmen came to me a day before and said RSS people are collecting men with uniforms from Ghaziabad and Meerut and other places, we do not have so many uniforms. I said — look, I cannot stop the RSS from coming in, it is wrong to prevent anything.”
Likewise, people can access material on Nehru-Patel ties.
“Much is said of the Nehru-Patel ties. The archive will host publications like the Nehru Abhinandan Granth in which Sardar Patel’s piece is the first. You will also have access to materials, including Nehru’s works which reveal how the only time he made an exception to the rule of not unveiling the statue of anyone living was when he unveiled Sardar Patel’s statue in Godhra in 1949,” Jairam says.
Nehru fund’s vice-chairman Karan Singh said the archive would make Nehru more accessible to successive generations who need to be informed of his contributions towards the making of modern India and the world.
