“Crossroads of history: How 2026 Bharat risks taking the 1950s Nehruvian turn — and why it should be stopped”, First Post, February 20, 2026
“Bharat stands at an inflection point. The atmosphere in 2026 carries an uncanny echo of 1947: a moment with immense civilisational possibilities yet shadowed by the risk of Nehruvian drift.
To understand 2026, one must revisit 1947. Contrary to what Left-‘liberal’ intellectuals and eminent “distorians” suggest, when Bharat attained its independence, it behaved like a Hindu state with deep civilisational mooring. As I write in my book, Eminent Distorians: Twists and Truths in Bharat’s History, it was the “Nehruvian conspiracy” in the 1950s that pushed the country away from its Sanatana core towards a socialist, secular order, “much against the civilisational grain of this land”.
For decades, the standard account of Independence has been presented as a triumph of secular modernism over Hindu tradition, as if the new Republic emerged in deliberate estrangement from its civilisational past. The historical record tells a more layered story. As August 15, 1947, approached, Delhi was not merely a site of political transition; it was alive with ritual symbolism and religious emotion, with Time magazine reporting how “the Indians thanked their various gods and rejoiced with prayers, poems, hymns and songs……”
Read full article at firstpost.com
