Secularism's Saviour
Nehru accepted the idea of Partition because he knew that Gandhi's proposal to avert it by making Jinnah prime minister was a sure recipe for disaster.
Forget Jinnah's communal politics, a man could not conceive any vision or plan of progress for even his dwarf-sized Pakistan, what could he do creatively for giant-sized India?
The much-maligned idea of secularism was fundamental both to Nehru's principles and for his project to build a modern nation. If Jinnah and his communal politics had continued to be part of the polity, India would neither have been secular nor modern.
What was Nehru's vision of India?
Even in the 1940s, Nehru viewed India as potentially one of the top four powers of the world, the other three in his view being America, the Soviet Union and China.
Nehru, however, was under no illusion and knew that this goal could be achieved only through a long-term effort surmounting immense social, economic and technological difficulties.
He also understood that it could only be achieved by adopting for India its own distinct economic model. A middle path had to adopted between American style 'extreme capitalism' and Soviet style 'extreme Communism'. Government would have to make the investment and build the infrastructure to launch the Indian economy.
Contrary to widespread belief, Nehru did not build the 'closed economy' that India came to be an ideological prisoner of. That was done in the late 1960s and the 1970s by Indira Gandhi, who was under pressure from both internal Congress politics and the rising threat from the Left parties and trade union extremists.
But Nehru did want basic industry in India to be owned and operated by Indians while consumer goods and high technology sectors could be kept open to private and foreign capital.
Also read: Truly an extraordinary fellow