Nehru’s pragmatism

I agree with Maurice Horner (Letters, Jan 10) about the continued pertinence of the words of former Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

In fact, it was the same Nehru who in 1957 set out before the Indian parliament his government’s policy regarding what should be done with statues erected during British colonial rule: ‘‘Our general attitude has been to remove much as might be considered offensive. We have removed some of those statues and will continue doing that,’’ he noted.

‘‘Those that are historically significant without causing offence, we shall also remove them and put them in historic museums.’’

Finally, he suggested making a gift of those statues not important, historically or artistically, to whoever might want them.

One has to admire his pragmatism. Michael Contaldo, Island Bay