Every Prime Minister Has Contributed To Nation Building, Said PM Modi. Do Others Agree?

The inauguration of Pradhanmantri Sanghralaya at Teen Murti Bhawan in the National Capital on April 14 was an important event in India’s history.

When every Prime Minister, and every Government -- of different hues – is celebrated, when India’s glorious diversity is showcased, and when United Colours of India are invoked, India, and its people, win.

After inaugurating the Museum of Prime Ministers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Every Prime Minister of Independent India has contributed to nation building, taking the country to the heights where it is today”. Some reports quoted him as saying, “every Prime Minister has contributed towards achieving the goals of Constitutional democracy”.

Family members of former Prime Ministers, including Morarji Desai and Charan Singh, were present on the occasion. So were Lal Bahadur Shastri’s, Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s and P V Narasimha Rao’s kin. Media reports said that members of Gandhi family were invited but they did not attend.

Lal Bahadur Shashtri’s grandson, Adarsh Shastri, a Delhi Congress spokesperson, probably spoke for many when he described the museum, to quote a media report, as “an excellent initiative by PM”. Another media report quoted him as saying that the “museum was overdue”.

However, this was not the first time when PM Modi paid such rich tributes to contributions of former Prime Ministers. After taking over as Prime Minister, in his first Independence Day speech in 2014, PM Modi said: “Today, if we have reached here after Independence, it is because of the contribution of all the Prime Ministers, all the Governments so far and even the Governments of all the states”.

If Independence Day speeches are an important barometer of times and an important document to outline a Government’s -- and a Prime Minister’s -- priorities and concerns, it would indeed be a useful exercise to see if PM Modi’s predecessor, and Congress PM for ten years, Dr Manmohan Singh, ever acknowledged contributions of other Prime Ministers.

A glance through Dr Singh’s Independence Day speeches shows that while there are multiple -- and repeated -- references to members of the Nehru-Gandhi family, he doesn’t exactly remember his “other” predecessors – former Prime Ministers of different hues. Incidentally, in one of his I-Day speeches, he even makes a reference to the then Congress president. In his 2008 Independence Day speech, Dr Singh said: “Our beloved former Prime Minister Shrimati Indira Gandhi had said: ‘Garibi Hatao’. Our leader Shrimati Sonia Gandhi has given us the slogan ‘Rozgar Badhao’.”

There is a particularly interesting reference to the Vajpayee era in the same 2008 I-day speech. Dr Singh said: “…After almost a decade of stagnation especially from 1998 to 2004, investment in agriculture is increasing…”

Consensus is always desirable. Divisions and divisive politics should never be encouraged. But to work towards a consensus, acknowledging the presence and contribution of others is the first necessary step.

Congress will have to do some introspection and soul-searching if it has ever acknowledged the role and contribution of non-Congress, non-Family members. Else, calls for a dialogue, consultations and consensus will only appear as hollow, half-hearted, and without any conviction or substance.

This writer has argued in the past that there has been a deepening of democracy in the last seven-eight years. When every Prime Minister and every Government is celebrated, this is indeed a festival of democracy. 

However, when some refuse to see beyond privileges and Family concerns, when some refuse to take note of a rapidly-changing India, and its transition to a post-Dynasty era, it only goes on to show why the idea of “Family-First” will increasingly be challenged by the idea of “Nation-First”, today and tomorrow.

(The author, a JNU alumnus, is a political analyst. Views are personal)