Jawaharlal Nehru

My government could not prevent Partition from producing mass displacement and communal killing.

I inherited the Kashmir crisis, and the first war ended without a permanent settlement.

I took the Kashmir dispute to the United Nations, but a final political settlement never materialised.

My government’s First Amendment narrowed free-speech protections only four years after independence.

My Panchsheel agreement accepted China’s position in Tibet without resolving our disputed border.

Reorganising states by language settled some demands but triggered new border disputes and violent agitation.

My government dismissed Kerala’s elected Communist ministry, setting a disputed precedent for central power.

Chinese incursions at Longju and Kongka Pass exposed how badly my border assumptions had failed.

My talks with Zhou Enlai failed to produce a border settlement while the military danger kept growing.

I backed a forward policy on the China border without giving the military the preparation it needed.

India suffered a devastating defeat in the war with China after ignored warnings and weak preparation.

My defence minister resigned after the China war, and public faith in my leadership was badly damaged.

The state-heavy licence system I built left India with bureaucracy, weak competition and persistently slow growth.