Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister of India from 1947-64.
There is no doubt that during his reign he was much loved by the Indian people.
He had a charismatic touch and easily related to the Indian masses.
In addition he was an intellectual giant who welded the pen to telling effect.
Obviously to write about him is regarded as blasphemy by his supporters particularly from the Congress party.
But the sad part is that this man who was the darling of the Indian masses in real terms led his people down.
Now that much water has flown down the Ganga, it is time to access his legacy to the Indian people.
Nehru had tremendous intellect and was a writer of some standing.
However despite his fertile mind he as a man appeared to be misfit as a great historical leader.
Nehru was prime minister for 17 long years and inevitably he invites comparison with the great leaders of the twentieth century like Mao Tse Tung, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin.
But I am afraid he will be found wanting against such men as he never understood the game of power politics and the role of military power.
Thus he believed simply that his international image which he was carefully cultivating mattered more than hard politics.
He failed grievously to estimate the intentions of the Chinese.
The sad part is the Nehru introduced Chou enlai at the Bandung summit in 1955 and yet he was unaware that 30,000 sq miles of Ladakh had been occupied by the Chinese.
His naivety was there for all to see when he made that ill-fated remark that he had instructed the Army to throw the Chinese out.
Perhaps he had no idea of a military campaign and he never got the Indian army together as a potent force.
By default he allowed the finest army in Asia to wither away.
Thus when the Chinese mounted an offensive in 1962 along with the Indian army Nehru's image as a great leader also snow dived.
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This war with China broke all his dreams and Nehru was not the same man again.
Apologists of Nehru will be hard put to explain his China policy and the naïve concept of Hindi Chini brotherhood and the five principles of co existence (panch sheel).
The Chinese threw these in the waste paper basket.
The Kashmir problem which could have been so easily solved in 1948 was allowed to linger on as Nehru had little stomach for a prolonged military campaign It is a sad commentary that just when the Indian army had thrown the raiders out of the valley he agreed for a UN brokered cease fire.
His naivety was again in evidence when he agreed for a plebiscite in the valley.
In addition his acceptance of article 370 of the constitution giving Kashmir a special status sounded the death knell of the states integration with India.
The fruits are there now in the garb of the Mujahedeen and the LeT and other Jihadist groups who at the behest of Pakistan are creating endless trouble for India.
He kept Patel the home minister out of the Kashmir issue but the end result is that this problem will not be solved for another generation.
His misplaced ideas of secularism failed to see the Hindu Muslim conflict for what it had been for centuries and he pressed on with his philosophy.
The fact remains that Nehru was more of a philosopher than anything else and by default unsuited to be a political leader.
It is a sad commentary that with all the love of the Indian people behind him he failed to make India a great power and left behind perpetual problems.