Jawaharlal Nehru
Architect of Modern India
It’s unfashionable to give individuals credit for a nation’s achievements, specially a nation as large and varied as India, but if there’s a single reason for independent India growing into a civilised republic, it is Nehru’s commitment to a democratic and pluralist state. In his 17 years as prime minister, he made certain that India didn’t slip into the authoritarian and majoritarian habits that turned so many post-colonial republics into failed states.
Sardar Patel
The Iron Man
The undisputed boss of the Congress’ party organisation at the time of independence, Patel is often invoked by Nehru-baiters as the greatest prime minister India never had. A dour man, conspicuously indifferent to the anxieties of Indian Muslims after Partition, he is part of the republic’s roll-call of heroes because of the ruthless dispatch with which he coerced and cajoled India’s princes into merging their states with the new republic at a time when everything could have unravelled.
B.R. Ambedkar
Author of the Constitution
Ambedkar is more important in India today than either Nehru or Gandhi. India’s largest state, Uttar Pradesh, is ruled by a Dalit-led party, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), whose influence and organisation is increasingly pan-India in scope. But even if the politics of Dalit assertion had never come to pass, Ambedkar would be on this list for his role in the framing of India’s marvellously balanced Constitution and as the prime mover behind the landmark Hindu Code bill
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excellent work
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