The Tired Man

"Panditji, you are leaving us orphans!" cried a Congress Party leader last week when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru announced that he wanted to step down for a while as Prime Minister. Nehru had come to the conclusion that something was terribly wrong with his chosen instrument, the Congress Party, and that many of his aides, through self-seeking, corruption, scandals, jobbery and squabbling, had turned it into a flabby, directionless movement that is unable to win the support of the young or to counteract the wave of cynicism spreading throughout India.

Heading to the Woods. The party stalwarts were in a panic at the thought of losing 68-year-old Nehru, who has allowed no one to grow up in his shadow, and whose national prestige, if slipping a little, is still immense. By acclamation they rushed through a resolution declaring that the Congress Party "categorically refuses to contemplate any period devoid of Nehru's continued leadership." But Nehru was standing firm. He scolded the party members for their action: "You do not do me any credit. It will mean that I have acted casually and you have also acted casually." A deep feeling had been rising in him, Nehru said, "that something is out of tune in this country, a great many things are out of tune. The whole problem is how I can be more effective. I have come to the conclusion that it would be helpful to me and to the country if I could devote myself for a while to activity outside Parliament, outside the Prime Minister's job, and then come back. That is the problem before me, and it is not a question that can be solved by loud acclamation." He was hoping to leave in a fortnight with his daughter Indira for the cool, piny forests of Uttar Pradesh, there to sleep under the stars, ride ponies, climb mountains and go boating. He had served his country as leader for 10 1/2 years, and felt "flat and stale."

Change of Heart. But at week's end, Nehru did another of his sudden turnabouts, and decided he would heed the pleas of his followers and, with no feeling of pleasure, remain at the unsteady helm of state. "In all humility," he announced, "I will not proceed to take the step I suggested." The faces of party members were wreathed with smiles, but Nehru was grim: "An atmosphere is growing in India that I found not only disturbing but suffocating." His own work had come to be the work of "some kind of robot or automaton ... I was physically fit but getting querulous. I sense coarseness and vulgarity growing in our public life. In the Congress Party and the whole country idealism is fading out. We in India suffer from a split personality. One part is of the highest moral standard. The other part completely forgets about it. We are losing our sense of mission. What to do? I don't know. It is not easy to stop. You can't draw a sword and cut off the head of this enemy." Then, looking to the future, Nehru said: "We may win certain elections but we are losing our soul."

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