Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on April 19 said though India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was a self-confessed “agnostic”, he was deeply drawn to religious texts in his younger days.
Also read: Nehru’s socialism was evolutionary, inclusive, and not based on class
Mr. Khan said even Mahatma Gandhi had told his wife Kasturba that Nehru was nearer to God than many who professed to be worshippers. “…people have many confusions and Panditji [Nehru] himself has a great role in creating that confusion on his views on religion,” he said delivering the second lecture in the Prime Minister’s lecture series in New Delhi.
Mr. Khan said Nehru’s views had to be taken in the background that his was a time when religion was used to break the unity of this country and used by colonial masters to create deep divisions in society. “Do not forget the context in which many positions were taken and many statements were made”.
Also read: The enduring relevance of Nehru’s legacy
The Kerala Governor said when one reads his writings, it becomes clear that Nehru adored India. Despite saying that he was a queer mixture of east and west, he affirmed “India clings to me as it clings to all its children in innumerable ways, I am first and foremost an Indian”.
“Similary, after Gandhi’s assassination, he says: “It is a shame to me as an Indian that an Indian should have raised his hands against the Mahatma. It is a shame to me as a Hindu that a Hindu should have done this deed to the greatest Hindu of the day”.
He said letters written by Nehru to Mahatma Gandhi from Prayagraj jail in 1921-22 showed that the former Prime Minister was deeply drawn to religions texts and ideas. These letters did not appear in the selected works of Nehru or any other works so they may have been overlooked. But they were with the Gandhi papers in Ahmedabad, Mr. Khan said.
“In these letters Nehru mentions that he has been reading mostly religious books like Bible, Ramayana, Kabir Bhajans and shlokas from Gita”.
