Today’s rulers undermining Nehru’s legacy daily: Sonia
Cong leader calls for safeguarding democracy to honour first PM
NEW DELHI: United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of “undermining the legacy” of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and urged the people to honour the late leader by fighting with determination to safeguard the country’s democracy.
“Nehru’s precious legacy is being undermined daily by those who rule us today. They express disdain and contempt for Nehru for all that he did to build the India that they are bent upon changing for the worse,” she said in her address at the launch of new edition of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s 2003 book ‘Nehru: The Invention of India’. A documentary on Nehru was also released on the eve of Nehru’s birth anniversary.
Gandhi said Nehru’s core values of democratic institution building, secularism, socialist economics and foreign policy of non-alignment were being challenged by the ruling party.
She urged the people to resist such attempts. “Over the years, Congress has defended secularism in the face of violent threats. Today, we must honour Nehru by fighting with determination to safeguard our democracy against those who are undermining it.”
The former Congress chief said while it was “fashionable to decry Nehruvian socialism today”, the critics don’t take into account the circumstances of the early years of independence when massive infrastructure needed to be built and the private sector lagged the ability to invest on a large scale.
Gandhi said Nehru’s conviction was that India belonged to all its people and that the majority community has a special obli- gation to protect the rights and promote of well-being of the minorities.
“Nehru never believed that India was a country only for Hindu Indians. He never expected the logic that since Pakistan had been created for Indian Muslims, what remained was a state for Hindu Indians. He believed in a country for all. In policy and personal practice, he stood for an idea that embraced protection of all communities,” she said.
At the core of his socialism, she said was the conviction that in a land of extreme poverty and inequality, the objective of government policy must be welfare of the poorest, most deprived and most marginalised of its people.
Nehru’s economics – as her husband Rajiv Gandhi said three decades ago -- over time has developed shortcomings, Gandhi added.
“Nehru with his open mind would have allowed for it to be updated with the times.” NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear petitions by Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi challenging a Delhi high court order refusing to give them relief from reopening their tax assessments for 2011-12 in connection with the National Herald case.
A bench of justices AK Sikri and SA Nazeer told the department: “This matter needs consideration.” It fixed December 4 as the date for final arguments. A similar appeal by Congress leader Oscar Fernandes, too, will be heard in the next hearing.
Additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta, making an appearance on behalf of the Income-tax department, (I-T) opposed a detailed hearing, but the bench declined his request. The HC order was given on September 11.
The income tax probe has arisen from the investigation into a private criminal complaint filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy before a trial court.
Sonia Gandhi and Fernandes are shareholders in Young Indian, and the tax department claims they did not disclose their income from the company. Similarly, the department’s claims Rahul Gandhi withheld information of his directorship of Young Indian, which would have resulted in him having an income of ₹154 crore and not about ₹68 lakh, as was assessed for the year in question. In their submission, the petitioners said no income can be attributed for the purpose of levying tax because the shares they purchased belonged to a company under debt. NEWDELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his participation in the Asean-india and East Asia Summits in Singapore reflects India’s “continued commitment” to strengthen its engagement with Asean members and the wider Indo-pacific region.
Besides participating in these two summits during November 14-15, Modi will also join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership leaders’ meeting and hold a meeting with US vice president Mike Pence.
On Wednesday, Modi will be the first head of government to deliver the keynote address at the Singapore Fintech Festival. As the world’s largest financial technology event, he said, the festival is the right forum to showcase India’s strengths in this fastgrowing sector and to forge global partnerships for fostering innovation. Modi said he would also have the opportunity to interact with participants and winners of the India-singapore Hackathon.