May 27 marks the 54th death anniversary of the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. On the eve of his death anniversary, we reflect on the changing times that have bought a significant shift to the way we used to see our leaders about two decades ago and how we look at them now. Till the 1900s, children were taught in schools about the great deeds of the leaders involved in our freedom movement and to respect and love the spirit of India. The definition of nationalism back then was very different from what it has now transformed into. The grown-ups of the late 1900s generation are today a part of the movement that is involved in the fight between what is and what isn't true nationalism.

Nehru has become the primary target of trolls. His fruitful deeds get overlooked, and mistakes highlighted. A year ago, in 2017, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi paid their tributes to Pandit Nehru, twitter trolls were quick to express outrage and fill the site with hateful comments. A lot of them went on to even say that Pandit Nehru doesn't deserve a tribute on his death anniversary. Here's a look at some of the replies he received-

 

Even otherwise, Nehru is often attacked with harsh words on social media. Everything about Nehru from his name to the cause of his death is under attack. Numerous unverified pieces of information are circulating online, and people are made to fall for hating the late leader. If you do a basic google search of these facts, you will be amazed to see how certain websites have written the following scandalous things about Jawaharlal Nehru and backed it with theories-

Amitabh Bachchan is the biological son of Jawaharlal Nehru.

Jawaharlal Nehru was born in a brothel in Allahabad.

Jawaharlal Nehru didn't die of a heart-attack but Syphilis.

Jawaharlal Nehru's name Jawahar is an Arabic word. His grandfather was Ghiasuddin Ghazi, a kotwal of the Mughals, who changed his name to Gangadhar Nehru whose son was Motilal Nehru and his son was Jawaharlal Nehru. So, Nehru isn't, in fact, a Kashmiri Pandit but a Muslim and have been lying about his origin.

Apart from this, several pictures of Jawaharlal Nehru and his closeness with women, especially Lady Mountbatten is a tool for continually trolling Nehru and even the Gandhi family. Bharatiya Janata Party's IT cell head Amit Malviya in November 2017, during Hardik Patel's controversy, tweeted a collage of Nehru's picture in a playful mood with several women.

Jawaharlal Nehru and Lady Mountbatten (Photo Credits: Twitter)
Jawaharlal Nehru and Mrinalini Sarabhai (Photo Credits: Twitter)
Amit Malviya tweeted a collage of pictures of Nehru with several women.
(Photo Credits: Twitter)

Such dynamics of politics from influential leaders like Malviya is one of the primary reasons for the state of affairs being such. Politicians are actively involving in social media trolling. Opposition frequently trolls even leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru who was crucial to our independence movement, our first Prime Minister and a revered leader.

Nehru isn't alone; even leaders as respected as the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi has faced the wrath of social media trolls. Also, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi and opposition leader Rahul Gandhi are often engaged in a war of words on social media. Their supporters are bound to follow suit and involve themselves in abusive and hateful exchanges online more than usual.

With the growth and popularity of social media, politics today is discussed more widely than ever before. Political parties are actively present on the digital medium and aggressively participating in online trolling. Their agenda is so strong that even on a somber occasions like a death anniversary a respectful tweet is twisted and attacked.

These incidents create a solid ground for us to reflect upon the times gone by. There was a time when we were motivated to remember and pay our tributes to our leaders on special occasions like an anniversary. But today our activities are driven mainly by which political ideology we favour.

From making sly personal remarks to calling our leaders names, we have collectively stooped to a level too low. The politics of hatred is overpowering our human sensitivity, and if not now, it will be too late for us to come back to a sane, dignified cultural group we once used to be. Isn't it?

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 26, 2018 07:04 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).