Humanity exists because of Nehru: BJP's sarcastic reply to Tharoor
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday took a dig at Congress MP Shashi Tharoor saying humanity existed only because of India's First Prime Minister. Tharoor had said a 'chaiwala' was the PM because of Jawahar Lal Nehru but the official Twitter handle of BJP asked Tharoor to not 'trivialize' Nehru's role to 'making Prime Minister and all'. This response is sure to spark a controversy.
Backstory: Tharoor praises Nehru, takes dig at PM Modi
At the relaunch of his book, 'Nehru: The Invention of India', Tharoor said on Tuesday, "If today we have a chaiwala as prime minister, it is because Nehru Ji made it possible to create the institutional structures through which any Indian can aspire to rise to the highest office in the land." Notably, PM Modi has described himself as chaiwala innumerable times.
Tharoor claims we owe it all to Nehru
Further, Tharoor asked why was there an attempt to undermine the efforts of 'great son of India' Nehru. He said if we can boast of Mangalyaan today, it was because Nehru laid the foundation of ISRO. "Who created the IITs that sent so many bright young men to Silicon Valley that 40 percent of the startups there are helmed by Indians?" Tharoor asked.
Of course, Tharoor's comments didn't go down well with BJP
Separately, Sonia Gandhi talks about 'Nehruvianism'
The launch, on the eve of Nehru's birth anniversary (November 14), was also attended by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Gandhi said, "Democratic institutional building, staunch pan-Indian secularism, socialist economics and foreign policy of non-alignment" were the core pillars of Nehruvianism. She added this was fundamental to Indian-ness, and it was being challenged these days. Gandhi agreed with Tharoor that Nehru was being undermined.
They want to change India for worse: Sonia Gandhi
"They express disdain and contempt for Nehru for all that he did to build India they are bent upon changing for the worse. Today we must honor him by fighting with determination to safeguard our democracy against those who are undermining it," Gandhi added.
