Ruling establishment trying to vilify Nehru to dismantle his legacy, says Sonia Gandhi

Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Friday (December 5, 2025) accused the ruling establishment of carrying out a deliberate project to vilify Jawaharlal Nehru, saying the aim is not only to erase India’s first Prime Minister from public memory but to “destroy the social, political and economic foundations” he helped build.

Speaking at the launch of the Nehru Centre India at Jawahar Bhawan, the CPP chairperson said a “systematic effort” was underway to distort Nehru’s ideas and undermine his contribution to the freedom movement and the shaping of modern India.

“Let there be no doubt whatsoever that the project to vilify Jawaharlal Nehru is the main objective of the ruling establishment today. Their goal is not just to erase him; it is actually to destroy the social, political, and economic foundations on which our nation has been founded and built,” Ms. Gandhi said.

She asserted that Nehru was the prime architect of the modern Indian nation-state, who had a steadfast belief in planned economic growth and a profound commitment to the development of scientific temper and technological and scientific capabilities.

“To him, secularism — in which he firmly believed — meant above all the celebration of India’s many diversities while strengthening its fundamental unity,” Ms. Gandhi said.

‘Deliberate mischief’

Critique of historical figures is legitimate, she noted, but “deliberate mischief” with Nehru’s words and actions is unacceptable. According to Ms. Gandhi, those driving this campaign subscribe to an ideology that “had no role in the freedom struggle, no role in drafting the Constitution, and even burnt it”.

“It is an ideology that long ago fanned an atmosphere of hate that ultimately led to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. His killers today continue to be glorified by its adherents. It is an ideology which has consistently rejected the ideals of our founding fathers. It is an ideology with a bigoted and viciously communal outlook. Its approach to nationhood is based on stoking prejudices of all kinds,” Ms. Gandhi noted.

Defending Nehru’s legacy, she argued, is not an exercise in nostalgia. “It is a commitment to restoring India’s constitutional promise, safeguarding reason from propaganda, and ensuring that our republic remains modern and forward-looking,” she said.

Ms. Gandhi also praised the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund’s launch of a new digital archive containing all 100 published volumes of Nehru’s selected works — fully searchable and freely accessible, including on smartphones.