Nehru was India's best PM, Modi a master of falsehoods: Jairam Ramesh
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has said Jawaharlal Nehru is the best prime minister India has had, while Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is the best prime minister
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has said Jawaharlal Nehru is the best prime minister India has had, while Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is the best prime minister the country could not have. In an interview with PTI Videos, he also made sharp remarks on the RSS, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. During a one-word-answer segment of the interview, Ramesh called the RSS "fraudulent nationalists", described PM Modi as "the master of falsehoods", and said Amit Shah was about "bluff and bluster". He also spoke about his roles in government and the party, his work as a writer, and how former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi shaped his entry into full-time politics. Read Full Story Asked who he regards as the best prime minister India has had, Ramesh said, "undoubtedly Jawaharlal Nehru".
On the "best PM India could not have", he picked Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Asked to choose between his past roles as environment minister and rural development minister, he chose environment. He also said he preferred being in charge of communications over serving as an AICC in-charge of any state. When asked to choose between Jairam Ramesh the writer, Jairam Ramesh the strategist and Jairam Ramesh the environment conservationist, he said these were different facets of the same personality. "I enjoyed writing a large number of books in the last 10 years. I enjoyed researching, going to the archives. Topics that had been on my mind that I could write and which I wrote on. So each role is different.
I enjoy being an MP, I enjoy raising questions on environment and I enjoy writing," Ramesh said. Ramesh also credited Rajiv Gandhi for the beginning of his journey in full-time politics. Asked how he entered full-time politics, he said, "That's entirely because of Mr. Rajiv Gandhi you know through Mr. Sam Pitroda, we had worked with the then prime minister on technology missions and then Mr. Gandhi lost the election and in 1990 sometime Mr. Pitroda and I had spoken to him and Mr. Gandhi said come and work with us full-time for the party because elections are around the corner," he said. "So that's how it started and then I continued. So this is my 35th year with the Congress party," Ramesh added.
He said he had worked for Rajiv Gandhi's government in the ministry of industry, in the Planning Commission, and then directly with him through Pitroda on the technology mission. "So, he (Rajiv) was the inspirational figure and he was the one who encouraged a lot of younger people from non-political backgrounds. I come from a completely non-political background. So he encouraged all this and no doubt that he was the inspiration, the starting point," Ramesh said. In the interview, Ramesh combined political remarks with personal reflections on his career, his writing and his years in the Congress. Ends
The BriefWire