Nehru
Gandhi was celibate, religious, studying the Bhagavad-gita, opposed birth
control (and was at odds with Margaret Sanger over this one!), and wanted
India to remain an agrarian nation of 700,000 villages, etc.
Nehru, by contrast, was an extremely shy aristocrat, but through public
speaking became a skilled orator and politician. He wrote several books
while imprisoned by the British, he encouraged industrialization and the
emancipation of Indian women.
He advocated birth control programs, made Hindu marriage monogamous,
established divorce procedures, outlawed the practice of dowry, and
introduced laws that gave daughters an equal share in family estates. He
despised the superstition, ritualism, and mysticism in religion.
Krishna Kripalani said of Nehru: "He is at once personal and detached, human
and aloof, with the result that now he appears fond, now cold, now proud,
now modest. An aristocrat in love with the masses, a nationalist who
represents the culture of the foreigner..."
Churchill said of Gandhi: "Among the saints, he is a politician, and among
the politicians, he is a saint."
Gandhi said of Nehru:
"If he has the dash and rashness of a warrior, he has also the prudence of a
statesman. He is undoubtedly an extremist, thinking far ahead of his
surroundings. But he is humble enough and practical enough not to force the
pace to the breaking point. he is pure as crystal, he is truthful beyond
suspicion. He is a knight sans peur et sans reproche. The nation is safe in
his hands."
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