Those in power have contempt for Nehru, we must honour him by safeguarding democracy: Sonia Gandhi

Sonia Gandhi said Jawaharlal Nehru, as India's first prime minister, "consolidated democracy and entrenched the basic values of India's polity -- values to which we are still proud to lay claim."

By: PTI

New Delhi | November 13, 2018 09:44 PM IST

2 min read

congress anti-bjp front for 2019 lok sabha elections

Sonia Gandhi released Shashi Tharoor’s newest book. (Source: INC/File)

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that the Nehruvian legacy was being “undermined” by those presently in power who have “contempt” for the country’s first prime minister for all that he did to build an India which they want to change for the “worse”.

Speaking at an event to relaunch Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s book ‘Nehru-The invention of India’, Gandhi said Jawaharlal Nehru, as India’s first prime minister, “consolidated democracy and entrenched the basic values of India’s polity — values to which we are still proud to lay claim.”

“What are these values. Shashi Tharoor summarises them as the core pillars of Nehruvianism — democratic institutional building, staunch pan Indian secularism, socialist economics and foreign policy of non-alignment. These values were integral to a vision of Indianness that is fundamentally being challenged today,” she said on the eve of Nehru’s birth anniversary.

“We all know as Shashi Tharoor has just said that this precious legacy is being undermined daily by those who rule us today. They express disdain and contempt for Nehru for all that he did to build India they are bent upon changing for the worse,” Gandhi said. She further said, “Today we must honour him by fighting with determination to safeguard our democracy against those who are undermining it.”

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