Nehru: an out of fashion icon By Haider Nizamani

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, summarising Nehru’s political qualities, wrote: “Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s charismatic personality swayed the people of India. He exercised compulsive power over the crowds. People flocked to hear him. Nehru was like opium to them; he drugged them into total submission. He enchanted them and from their adoration he drew his strength. At his best, he could make them believe anything.” It was Nehru who championed the idea of secularism in a deeply religious society.