Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has called the first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru a “feudal”, blaming his socialist policies for the “backwardness suffered by the country till the economic reforms of 1991”.
Naidu, the president of TDP, the second largest constituent in the Narendra Modi-led NDA at the Centre, made the remarks on the second day of the collector’s conference held at the AP Secretariat, Amaravati, Tuesday.
At the same time, Naidu lauded Modi’s leadership since 2014, saying, “…under which India has risen from 11th position to the world’s fourth largest economy now,” adding that the nation is rapidly moving ahead to gain the third spot.
Addressing the IAS-IPS officers at a session on the importance of proper public policies for national well-being, Naidu compared India’s growth story with that of Singapore’s.
“Singapore gained independence a few years after us. Lee Kuan Yew, their founding PM, was a trade union leader but followed a competitive economy (which has put the city-state in the advantageous position it is now),” Naidu said.
“While in India, Nehru was a feudal, a wealthy landlord; he enjoyed all comforts, like a car, while studying in London in those days. But, Nehru followed the socialist economy. So, from 1947 to 1991, i.e., 30-40 years, we failed to compete against others. We could only move ahead after adopting the economic reforms in the nineties,” Naidu claimed.
The NDA CM then spoke about Modi, praising his leadership as the force behind India “taking a lead” in the world economy.
“As various projections show, we will be the second-largest economy by 2038. We have such inherent advantages,” Naidu said, emphasising that his government policies were “an equitable balance between development and welfare, which should reach the last mile beneficiaries”.
Andhra Pradesh Congress chief Y.S. Sharmila has, so far, not commented on Naidu’s remarks on Nehru.
“Nehru has been the punching bag of the BJP-RRS for long, but such comments are very derisive, cold-hearted, coming from a person who cut his teeth in legislative politics with the Congress, became an MLA, minister with the blessings of Nehru’s daughter, Indira Gandhi. Naidu was also associated with his grandson, Sanjay Gandhi,” said D.A.R. Subrahmanyam, an academic and Guntur-based Navyandhra Intellectual Forum chairman.
Naidu was elected a Congress MLA from Chandragiri in 1978 and was with the party till 1983. After his defeat in the 1983 polls to a TDP candidate, he joined his father-in-law NT Rama Rao’s party, which romped to power in the assembly elections.
Noting that Naidu went “a bit too far with his uncharitable remarks on Nehru”, Subrahmanyam opined that the TDP chief’s criticism of Nehru appears in line with his strategy to appease Modi and the BJP, pursuant to a wish to see his son, Lokesh, taking the CM’s chair, eventually—“a move sure to upset Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan”.
Naidu’s remarks comparing Nehru and Modi came while Kalyan, the deputy CM of Andhra Pradesh, sat on his side during the conference.
“Naidu should remember that for an economy to bloom, the country’s basics, such as food resources, health, and education, have to become strong, the foundation of which Nehru laid,” Subrahmanyam added.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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