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Had Nehru not been self-centered, partition wouldn't have happened: Dalai Lama

  •   Thu, Aug 09 2018 09:14:22 AM

Panaji, Aug 9 (IANS): Had Jawaharlal Nehru not been self-centred, India and Pakistan would have been one country, the Dalai Lama said on Wednesday, adding that while Nehru was gifted with experience, mistakes do occur.

"Mahatma Gandhi wanted to give the prime ministership to (Mohammad Ali) Jinnah. But Nehru refused. He was self-centred. He said, 'I wanted to be Prime Minister'. India and Pakistan would have been united (had Jinnah been made Prime Minister at the time). Pandit Nehru is very experienced. But mistakes do happen," the Dalai Lama said in response to a question from a student during an interaction held at the Goa Institute of Managament in North Goa's Sanquelim village, located nearly 30 km from Panaji.A

The Dalai Lama gave the Nehru analogy, in response to a question from a student who sought to know from the Tibetan leader, about how one can be sure-footed about one's decisions and how to avoid committing mistakes in life.

The Dalai Lama was a key note speaker on the subject "Today's Relevance of India's Ancient Knowledge" organised as part of the celebrations hosted by the Goa Institute of Management, which is completing 25 years of its existence.

Preceding the interaction, the Dalai Lama spoke extensively on India's ability to merge its rich traditional knowledge with modern facets of education.

"India has a culture deeply rooted in tradition and knowledge. The land of ahimsa is a cauldron of traditional knowledge includes the art of meditation, compassion, secularism and more" the Dalai Lama said.

While acknowledging that the British sowed the seeds of the modern style of education as we know it today, he remarked that India is probably the only country which can find the right balance between its traditional knowledge and modern education. A

He also emphasised the need to create dialogue and debate on a range of subjects which can aid aspiring B-school students to learn, analyse and gain new experiences. "We need more people to come together and talk and debate on aspects linked to India's ancient knowledge such as ahimsa and compassion. We also need to find ways to reduce conflict amongst ourselves," he added.
  

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Comment on this article

  • Rakesh, Pune

    Fri, Aug 10 2018

    Nehru family is really a curse to India. All the problems that India currently facing is because of this Nehru & his family.

    DisAgree [5] Agree [1] Reply Report Abuse

  • Max and Jessie Rasquinha, Mangalore - Houston/Dallas, Texas, U.S.A.

    Fri, Aug 10 2018

    The history of India's Independence is different from the history of Tibet. While the British concept of giving freedom to India's sub continent was mainly based on a "divide and rule" ideology, the desire of Gandhi was different. He knew the intentions of Jinnah to create a separate Moslem state and wanted to satisfy Jinnah in anyway to make sure that India was not divided on the basis of religion. As a compromise, Gandhiji went to the extent of offering Jinnah the position of the first Prime Minister of India by expressing the possibility of Pundit Nehru agreeing to the concept. Nehru showed his initial willingness although he said that such feasibility had many repercussions. Meanwhile Jinnah, upon the advice of the British preferred to create a separate Moslem state. In fact, this was the beginning of an isolation of Moslems from the rest of the world.

    Both Mahatma Gandhi and Pundit Nehru knew that the premiums are very high to keep Moslems together with the majority of Hindus, but they were prepared to heed to Jinnah's wishes, if they were feasible, but Jinnah chose to keep the Bengalis Moslems in the East and the Punjabi Moslems in the West as united Pakistan. Meanwhile the episode of Kashmir became a major concern, and that is where the "divide and rule" became a major focus on the part of the British.


    While India continued to prevail as a strong united democratic and secular nation, Pakistan went thru series of turmoil and soon their first Prime Minister called Liaqat Ali Khan was assassinated. India became a Republic in 1950 and while the British ViceRoy General Lord Mountbatten stepped down from his position, Mr. Rajendra Prasasd became our first President with his first Moslem Vice President called Zakir Hussein who later became the President of India.


    The secular values of India have prevailed stronger than ever before, and several hundreds of thousands of Moslems who chose to stay behind in India have survived and prospered.

    DisAgree [2] Agree [4] Reply Report Abuse


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