Why Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong’s Nehru comments hit a raw nerve in India

New Delhi summoned Singapore’s High Commissioner and lodged a diplomatic protest while Lee’s remarks were hotly debated on Twitter

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviles Jawaharlal Nehru, whose descendants run the main opposition Congress party

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India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, with Mohandas Gandhi, the Mahatma, in 1946. Photo: AP

Published: 7:37pm, 18 Feb 2022

As a former Indian diplomat accustomed to dulcet exchanges, Gopalaswami Parthasarathy was taken aback at Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s apparent suggestion that the country’s parliamentary standards had declined since the time of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

But as a diplomat – he has served as India’s high commissioner to Australia, Pakistan and Cyprus – his response was also couched in mild language.

“I was surprised at why he should comment at all on India’s internal domestic issues such as the number of MPs with criminal charges and that too from a friendly nation like Singapore with whom India has pretty good relations,” Parthasarthy said.

The reactions that poured in to Lee’s opinions were along the expected political lines, reflecting deepening divisions fuelled by rising Hindu nationalism.

India lodged a diplomatic protest with Singapore and its Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) summoned Singapore’s envoy in New Delhi to express its displeasure.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Photo: Bloomberg

For the opposition Congress Party, led by Nehru and currently still run by his descendants, it was a time to exult in Lee’s praise for their venerated icon. Nehru was the leader of India’s movement to gain independence from the British and in his speech on Tuesday, Lee praised him and India’s other founding fathers for their “high ideals and noble values”.