become increasingly distanced from her husband, Feroze, but remained
married to him until his death in 1960; Nehru had disapproved of their
marriage, but according to his own principles of romantic love and
freedom of choice could hardly have opposed it too strongly – a victory,
ironically, of his own principles over his personal wishes.) This was for
Nehru the closest he ever came to a fulfilling domestic life: living with his
daughter and two grandsons. Indira’s presence on his overseas diplomatic
visits from early on in Nehru’s prime ministership had invited some
adverse comment in the political press; her control over access to Nehru
at Teen Murti Bhavan had also been noted – in his early years as prime
minister, Nehru would meet members of the public and accept petitions
and comments from them in person. Now, even members of his party were
said to need to go through Indira as an intermediary. Most observers
were therefore content with the attribution of guilt to Indira over the
Kerala episode. The fact remained, however, that Nehru had at a crucial
juncture supported his party, and his daughter, over his principles. For
those who chose to see patterns, this could be another in his long line of
surrenders, allegedly despite himself, to right-wing opposition.
The strongest exoneration of Nehru came, paradoxically, from E.M.S.
Namboodiripad himself. Namboodiripad pointed out the deep internal
differences within the Congress, the dangers of the triumph of the trends
opposed to political democracy that had led to the dismissal of his
government, and the increasing divergence under Nehru’s government of
India’s political and economic path from ‘the goal set by him and all
of us’. But he listed Nehru’s achievements: ‘development’ had progressed
as far as it could ‘in the circumstances’, and Nehruvian secularism was a
great achievement, especially when seen ‘in contrast to the medievalism,
obscurantism and ideological backwardness shown by the leaders of
certain other newly-independent but underdeveloped countries’.^9 Here
was a judgement that made explicit the differences between Nehru him-
self and his party. (In the mid-term polls following the dismissal of the
Kerala government, the allegedly secular Congress had allied with the
Kerala Muslim League to keep the communists out of power.)
It was around this time that the hitherto sparsely populated right
wing of Indian politics began to look a little more crowded. A strong
leftward shift in Indian politics, or at least an apparent one, became the
catalyst for the emergence of a conservative force. The 1950s were seen
as a period of communist ‘unrest’ throughout the country; the CPI victory
HIGH NEHRUVIANISM AND ITS DECLINE, c. 1955–63 233