RSS leader Indresh Kumar says Jawaharlal Nehru was not a patriot at all

Just three days after the government and the Congress party celebrated the 125th birth anniversary of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar called the first prime minister of India 'a traitor of motherland', who compromised the unity of this country.

Speaking at a teachers’ training programme on nation building through higher education at the Centre for Professional Development in Higher Education, Delhi University, Kumar said that Bhagat Singh and KB Hedgewar were true soldiers of India, whose contribution to the freedom struggle has remained lesser known.

Sharing the dais with vice chairman of University Grants Commission H Devaraj and other senior professors from Delhi University and Indira Gandhi National Open University, Kumar said, “Bhagat Singh and Hedgewar fought to save the motherland and Nehru’s fight was only to gain control over the land. For Nehru, India was just a piece of land and he gave away a huge chunk to Pakistan.” 

Insisting that teachers should take these real historical records to the students, he appealed to the teachers to share these historical facts with them.

Blaming the Congress and Nehru for failing to give a correct perspective on history to students, Kumar said, “We are trying to bring changes in the Indian education system. Higher education will see a transformation, but with moral and cultural values. And this will happen with time and with the support of teachers.” 

Kumar also criticised the Western education practices and said that while the traditional Indian education system teaches social and cultural values, Western education system only has a professional approach. “The current education system lacks social sensibility. It has failed to create a harmonious society. There is a need to bring about a change,” he said.

The RSS ideologue also used the Delhi University platform to tell his critics that the sangh is a believer of religious tolerance. “We believe in the theory of Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah (may all be prosperous and happy). How can we be called fundamentalist or intolerant. Those who say so, need to self –introspect,” he said.

Criticising the Sahitya Akademi awardees for returning their awards and calling them agents of political parties, Kumar questioned their moral stand. “Where were these people when lakhs of people had died in Kashmir and many thousands were displaced? They should not misuse their creativity for petty political gains,” he said.

Indresh Kumar’s lecture in the university will be followed by other RSS functionaries. The 21-day session on the issue of Nation Building through Higher Education will be attended by Sangh ideologues, including Atul Kothari, Anirudh Deshpande, and Vinay Sahasrabuddhe. “These people have been major social reformers and have worked extensively in the field of education. We want to utilise their expertise in deciding the future course of higher education,” said

Professor Geeta Singh, director of Centre for Professional Development in Higher Education.