Ahead of Modi's visit to to Austria, the Congress party reitarated on Jawaharlal Nehru's pivotal role in the establishment of a sovereign and neutral country in the early 1950s and urged prime ministers to remember his contributions.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh noted that the Republic of Austria was fully established on October 26, 1955, celebrated as its National Day. He emphasized that Nehru was instrumental in making this a reality, despite Modi's frequent criticisms of him.
"Dr. Hans Kochler, a noted Austrian academic, has written about the key role Jawaharlal Nehru played in the early fifties in the emergence of a sovereign and neutral Austria after a decade of occupation by the victorious World War II powers," Ramesh said.
One of Nehru's most ardent global admirers was the legendary Bruno Kreisky, who was Chancellor of Austria during 1970-83, he said.
"In 1989, Dr. Kreisky recalled Nehru thus: 'When the history of this century is written, and that of the men who have put their stamp on it one of the greatest and finest chapters will be the story of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. It will be a part of India's most modern history... Very early Nehru had become one of my instructors," Ramesh said.
The Congress leader also shared Kochler's retrospective for those interested in diplomatic history.
"Those suffering from Nehruphobia - like our non-biological PM and, especially since 2019, our erudite and dapper External Affairs Minister - will also do well to recall it," Ramesh said in his post on X.
Sharing the thread, Shashi Tharoor said, “Nehru ji played a major role in devising the “neutrality” formula that persuaded the Russians to agree to Austrian freedom. He was a rare visionary on international issues, as his role the following year in the Suez crisis confirmed.”
After concluding his engagements in Russia on July 9, Modi will leave for Austria on the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to that country in over 40 years.
