Nehru vs Modi: Debunking Myths and Exposing Historical Truths

These days, blind followers are actively spreading misinformation on social media, attempting to portray the Nehru era as a golden age while blaming Modi for allegedly destroying everything. These same individuals are also denying the harsh reality of the recent Pahalgam incident, falsely claiming that no one was targeted based on their religion or physical identifiers. However, the victim’s family, in a heartbreaking media statement, clearly stated that the attackers asked such questions and carried out the killings accordingly.

If such blatant lies can be concocted about recent events, imagine the scale of distortion used to cover up the brutal and inhuman realities of the medieval period. There’s a significant contrast between the accounts of Muslim travel chroniclers who accompanied or followed the invaders, and the narratives shaped by left-leaning historians during the Nehru era.

Let’s begin with the often-repeated myth that India had no needle factories before independence.
In reality, this claim is not just misleading—it’s almost absurd or a deliberate attempt to deceive.
Long before 1947, India was home to several prestigious engineering institutions (though the Nehru era did contribute to their further development). The idea that industrial production started only after Nehru’s tenure is simply false. As early as 1919, Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata had already established Tata Nagar (now Jamshedpur) in South Bihar, creating large-scale industries. Additionally, several other factories were operational in different regions of India well before independence.

List of Engineering Colleges Established in India Before 1947:

• College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai (1794)
• Thomson College of Civil Engineering, Roorkee (1847)
• College of Engineering, Pune (1854)
• Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur (1856)
• Bihar College of Engineering, Patna (1886)
• Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, Bombay (1887)
• Engineering College, Baroda (1890)
• Bengal Technical Institute, Jadavpur (1906)
• Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (1909)
• Visvesvaraya College of Engineering, Bangalore (1917)
• IIT, Varanasi (1919)
• Government College of Technology, Calcutta (1919)
• H. Butler Technical Institute, Kanpur (1920)
• PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh (1921)
• Indian Institute of Mines, Dhanbad (1926)
• College of Engineering, Hyderabad (1929)
• Institute of Chemical Technology, Bombay (1933)

Were graduates from these esteemed engineering institutions truly incapable of manufacturing something as basic as a needle?
Such a claim is an absurd distortion of history.

In reality, many Nehru supporters feel threatened by the accomplishments of the Narendra Modi government, which they believe has overshadowed Nehru’s legacy. In response, they try to undermine Modi, downplay his contributions, and elevate Nehru to an almost divine status.
While Nehru deserves recognition for his genuine achievements, it should only be to the extent that it is warranted. Unfairly elevating one leader by discrediting another is not only unjust, but it ultimately backfires.

Nehru vs. Modi: Reaping the Consequences of Past Decisions

While India’s first post-independence government did undertake some positive initiatives, it also made numerous grave mistakes—many of which still affect the nation today.

Author Rajnikant Puranik, in his book Nehru’s 97 Major Blunders (published by Pustak Mahal), documents with evidence a long list of significant errors made during Nehru’s era. It was this very government that laid the foundations for caste-based politics, entrenched corruption, and vote-bank strategies in Indian democracy.

Moreover, the Nehru administration—whether due to negligence or intent—mishandled crucial issues related to national security, culture, and education.

Take, for example, the situation in 1961 when the Indian Army urgently needed ₹1 crore for critical supplies. The request was denied. Shortly thereafter, China launched its infamous attack on India in 1962.

Veteran journalist Man Mohan Sharma, who reported on the war, provides a chilling account:

“I covered the 1962 war with China as a correspondent. I still remember—India was completely unprepared for the conflict. Our soldiers lacked not only weapons but even basic winter clothing. Around 200 soldiers were airlifted from Ambala wearing only cotton shirts and shorts. They were dropped into Bomdila, where the temperature was minus 40 degrees Celsius. Tragically, all of them froze to death upon landing.”

The Jeep Scam

In 1949, B.K. Krishna Menon was serving as India’s High Commissioner in London. One day, the Prime Minister’s Office in Delhi called him. (Menon himself revealed this in 1969 to his interpreter, Devendra Nath, a journalist, when he visited Midnapore, West Bengal, to contest a by-election for the Lok Sabha.)

At Delhi’s instructions, Menon personally advanced £172,000 to a bankrupt company to purchase 155 jeeps. The jeeps that arrived in India were in such poor condition that they couldn’t even be driven from the port to a garage.

Instead of facing consequences for this scandal, Menon was promoted—first as a central minister and later as Defence Minister.

This jeep scam marked the beginning of a disturbing era of corruption in India, which eventually reached alarming levels.

When then-Finance Minister C.D. Deshmukh urged Nehru to take action against corruption, the Prime Minister responded that it would demoralize the administration.

As a result, in 1963, Congress President D. Sanjivayya publicly admitted:

“Congressmen who were beggars in 1947 are now millionaires.”

In an angry speech in Indore, he added:

“Royal palaces have replaced huts, and factories have replaced jails.”

Growth Under Modi

In 1985, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi acknowledged:

“We send 100 paise from Delhi, but only 15 paise reaches the villages. The rest is siphoned off by middlemen.”

India’s share of global GDP was 3% in 1947. By 1964, it had dropped to 2.49%.
In 2014, it stood at 2.6%, and by 2024, it had increased to 9.7%.
In 2014, India’s total electricity generation capacity was 2.45 lakh megawatts. By 2025, it had increased to 4.75 lakh megawatts.

In 2014, the Indian government collected around ₹10 lakh crore annually through various taxes. Today, that amount has more than tripled.

This increased revenue is now being used to fund visible development, strengthen the military, and deter external threats.

However, internal adversaries still persist, holding on to their old ways.

There is progress across various sectors. While there are mistakes and shortcomings within the central government, efforts are being made to address and improve them—something that was not seen in the past. As a result, Congress has remained out of power for a long time, with no indication of returning to power soon.

Even if the opposition labels Modi as uneducated or backward, the public remains unfazed.
The public sees that during the era of Oxford-Cambridge educated leaders, only 15 out of every 100 government rupees reached their intended purpose. However, under the leadership of the “uneducated” and “thief watchman,” the central government’s income has tripled due to efforts to combat corruption.

By Surendra Kishore