Nehru's vision lies at the core of true India: Sonia Gandhi

Delivering her inaugural speech at the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial lecture 2019, Gandhi said, "On August 15, 1947, even as he was confronted with challenges that would have crippled the very best of us, Nehru, chose instead to put his faith in a democratic system which treated all citizens as equal and trusted the collective wisdom of their electoral choices."

"Rather than compromise on this commitment, he would go on to launch India on a remarkable experiment in democracy," she said.

"That was his own tryst with destiny. In doing so, he not only etched an eternal mark in the history of our nation, but in his time went on to consolidate India’s democracy and entrench the foundational values of our polity, values to which we are still proud to lay claim," Gandhi said.

"They can be summarised as the four pillars of Nehruvianism: democratic institution-building, staunch secularism, socialist economics and a non-aligned foreign policy. These were integral to his vision of India. Today, this vision is fundamentally under attack. It is lamentable that those who are in power today are blind to this truth. They lack the capacity, the vision and the wisdom to uphold this legacy," she said.

Speaking at the function, where veteran Congress leader Karan Singh was also present, Gandhi lamented that in today’s times, it has become fashionable to decry Nehru’s contributions.

"The forces unleashed by our present rulers want to dictate to us what we can do, say or think. Their idea of unity is uniformity. They disrespect and fear diversity which means they deny our pluralism, our freedom of choice, which are integral to our fundamental rights. Their language may be modern, but they seek to take India backward, not forward," said she.