Independence Day: In one of the early televised interviews, the first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru shared interesting perspectives on India’s stance in a post-independent world. As India celebrated its 76th Independence Day, BBC Archives on Sunday shared Jawaharlal Nehru's appearance on BBC in 1953.
A press conference was televised titled ‘Series in which men make news, which answers impromptu questions from men who write the news. The show’s anchor William Clark introduced Jawaharlal Nehru as one of Asia's prominent statesmen in the show.
The conference aimed to focus on the developments in Asia. The former Prime Minister Nehru was flanked by Kinsley Martin, the editor of The New Statesman and Nation and HV Hodson, the editor of The Sunday Times including Donald Mclachlan, foreign editor of The Economist.
When asked about his first appearance on television, Nehru quipped: "This is the first time I am facing this ordeal. In fact, I know very little about television except what I have heard about it."
In the first question posed by The Economist Editor, Nehru was asked about his participation in the Coronation to which he replied: “It was very impressive in many ways. The most impressive thing to me was apart from it being a great spectacle were the crowds here and the way they behaved and one begins to like more and more the London crowds. There was criticism when I came and there will be no doubt when I go back but I don’t think it will amount to much.”
Responding to a question on the Commonwealth conferences: "The significant feature of such conferences are different viewpoints come up maybe if you like slightly clash but in a friendly way. I mean may lead to a better understanding."
He was asked to explain the remarkable phenomenon of forgiveness.
"Well partly we don't, I suppose, hate for long or intensively, but chiefly I think because I think because the background that Mr Gandhi gave us during all these past decades," he said during his interview.
On asked about being in prison for 16 years and he expressed not to have any resentment about it. "I think it's a good thing for a person to go to prison for a short while," he said.
Sharing his experience in the last seven years as Prime Minister, Nehru then said: “I think we have certainly achieved much and there has also been well, a lack of achievement. We haven't done what we wanted to do so it's both satisfactory and unsatisfactory. On the progress of political democracy in India, Nehru said, “We have advanced the unity of the country. we have put an end to all princely states. We have had these general elections which were remarkable on a tremendous scale and we have built up a good democratic structure.”
However, Nehru pointed at the troubles on the economic side saying, "I believe we have made progress. I should like the progress to be much faster."
BBC Archive also shared snippets of Nehru's speech in which he addressed the nation evening before he was sworn in as newly independent India’s first Prime Minister 75 years ago on August 15.