I'm Amit and today we present to you a very special lecture by Mr. Ramachandra Guha. This lecture is the second lecture of a new series called Baigam-e-Azadi, that the School for Democracy and NewsClick have started to commemorate the forthcoming 73rd anniversary of India's independence. I'll start with a brief introduction of the School for Democracy. The School for Democracy or Lokantar Shala has its campus in a small village called Bari Gavadia in Pilvada district of Rajasthan. Lokantar Shala is a non-formal institution dedicated to democratic learning, reflection, exploration, and experimentation. And it encourages people to participate in all its activities in an inclusive, participative, and non-discriminatory environment. Exploring issues related with the Indian Constitution, democratic structures, and institutions, rights of the marginalized groups and communities, and issues related with the socioeconomic, political, and cultural spheres of India are integral to SFD's vision. The activities of SFD can be divided primarily into two categories, on-campus activities and off-campus or outreach activities. Over the years, we have been organizing workshops, trainings, meetings, orientation, or reflection retreats on several important issues, like the right to education, health, right to information, NREGA, public distribution system, social security, governance, and digital service delivery, and so on. Organizations and institutions from different parts of India have participated or partnered in these activities through exercises like the UA Sunset, Mahila Sunset, Kisan Sunset, summer camps for small children, community libraries. Through all of these efforts, SFD attempts to provide a platform where people can learn and deepen their understanding of democracy, can exchange views without any inhibitions, learn and teach at the same time, and strengthen our democratic polity. Besides this, we have also organized several memorial lectures in formal or formal large or small-scale discussions on topical issues in Delhi, Jaipur, and elsewhere. And SFD also handles the Democracy Fellowship Program, under which more than 50 fellows across the country are working on different aspects of democratic strengthening. Recently, during the COVID pandemic, we also organized a webinar series in which we covered several important issues, like the post-COVID economy, changing labor laws, impact of COVID pandemic on Dalits, Adivasis, women, trans persons, elderly, et cetera. You can log on to our Facebook and YouTube pages to learn more about this. The links are in the description. So this new lecture series, Bagaame Azadi, is based on our freedom fighters, whose pioneering contribution made the dream of independence a reality. Looking back at our history becomes necessary so that we can not only learn from our past, but also inspire ourselves and figure out as to how did we reach the present juncture and where and how do we move ahead from here? And in the times of fake news, paid news, well-planned campaigns of misinformation and disinformation, and the post-truth political culture, perhaps it becomes even more necessary to set the record straight. When the transfer of power took place in 1947, it was only foreign rule from which we freed ourselves. And the constitution-making exercise was envisaged to make India a democratic republic, where all citizens had access to social, political, and economic justice could exercise liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith, and worship, and were provided with the equality of status and of opportunity. We have perhaps succeeded to some extent in establishing the sociopolitical structures and institutions that we wanted to establish in an independent India. But still the dreams of India's freedom fighters are far from being realized. In every lecture, we'll talk about one such personality and listen about their work, ideas, and vision from a special guest, so that we can know as to what inspired and guided these personalities. And today's lecture will be focused on Sri Javaharlal Nehru, independent India's first prime minister and a stalwart of the independence movement. To talk about someone like Mr. Nehru is a difficult venture, because after Mohandas Gandhi arguably, perhaps Nehru has been one of the most celebrated, glorified, as also vilified political personalities over the last few decades. And then there is another difficulty. There are far too many Nehru's to talk about. There's Nehru, the young England returned lawyer and congressman, Nehru, the socialist, Nehru, the exalted foreign policy expert and a tall world leader of the non-aligned movement, Nehru, the writer in prison and philosopher, Nehru, the architect of modern India, and Nehru, a disheartened, discredited and disillusioned man after 1962. And then these days, almost everything that ails our polity and society is also traced back to Nehru somehow or the other. So in today's lecture, we'll try and focus on Nehru, the freedom fighter, his inspirations, ideas, and vision for an independent India and the impact of his leadership on India after 1947. For this special lecture today, we have a very special guest with us, Dr. Ramachandra Guha. He's a renowned historian, author, columnist and a passionate chronicler of the history of environmental movements in India as also the game of cricket. He can safely be credited with making history accessible, relevant, and cool, as opposed to the state and humdrum manner in which historians usually write. And in fact, I may not be wrong when I say that without any compromise on the rigor, desired of professional historians, his books have made history something that any common person can read, discuss, and debate about, as against it being the sole preserve of some academic researchers who read and write poems in our universities. His most notable book, India After Gandhi, is perhaps one of the most widely read books written on the history of post-independence India. As a commentator and public intellectual, he has always been ready to point out the dogmas of both the left and the right. We are truly delighted to have him amidst us today to talk about Jawaharlal Nehru. Now without any further ado, I'd invite Ram Goharji to share his thoughts with us. Over to you, Goharji. Thank you, Amit. I'm really delighted to be part of this series organized by the School for Democracy, an institution that I've admired and whose founders and workers I've had many fruitful interactions with over the years, fruitful and productive interactions. So I'm going to talk about Jawaharlal Nehru, the life and legacy of Jawaharlal Nehru, whom as the introduction is already specified, is one of the greatest, the most renowned, and the most controversial of all figures in our history. I begin with some brief biographical background to refresh our memory of the basic facts of his life. He was born in November 1889 in the town of Alhabad. His father was a lawyer, a self-made and extremely successful lawyer called Motilal Nehru. Like many families in those days, Indian families are indeed still today. Regrettably, the boy child is given more preference than the girl child. And though Motilal and his wife had three children, Jawaharlal was the only son. So he was the pampered son. He was sent to a most prestigious British private school, Harrow, all across the seas to study. From there, he went to Cambridge, where he did a degree in science, interestingly, not in the humanities, but in science. But he was a very pampered, spoiled child of an affluent family. And he was also something of a drifter. He didn't really find his calling in life till very late. So this is something which should inspire young people who, at 20, don't know what they should study. At 20, at 5, don't know what profession they should take. Jawaharlal Nehru was a very confused young man. He was spoiled. He was adored. He was indulged. He studied in the most prestigious British school of the time and the Great University of Cambridge. He cultivated some interest in science, but he really didn't know what he was going to do. He joined his father's law practice, and he had really no interest in it. So almost till in his late 20s, he was a kind of law parva kind of chap. Didn't really know what he was going to do with his life. He had no mission, no focus in what he was doing, either professionally or personally. Of course, he got married. As it was customary in those days, he arranged marriage to someone from his community, a lady called Kamala. Now, in his late 20s, with really no deep interest in the law, unlike his father, who was a hugely successful barrister, who was in Northern India, maybe the most successful barrister with the most lucrative practice. Nehru was not either a good lawyer or an interested lawyer, though he had a law degree, accompanied his father to court, and so on. And he had two very important encounters that transformed his life. The first was with Mahatma Gandhi. In 1919, Mahatma Gandhi, who was then just turned 50, was leading the first of his major All India movements, the role at Satyagra. And in connection with that, this was followed by the non-cooperation movement next year. And in connection with that, he came to Alabad in 1919 and 1920. Bhootilal Nehru was a major figure in the town. And he stayed with the Nehru's. He met the boy, Jawaharlal, who was already a young man. And Nehru was, Jawaharlal, was completely blown off his feet by Gandhi. Gandhi gave him a meaning and a purpose. That meeting with Gandhi made him resolve that he would dedicate the rest of his life to fight for India's freedom. And he was so enthusiastic, so impressed, so admiring of Gandhi that he took his father with him. So at this stage, 1919, the Indian freedom struggle had three wings. So there was a so-called moderate wing, which was believed in incremental slow progress. They believed in writing polite appeals to the British. Give us more rights, make more Indians, bureaucrats, allow Indians to become judges in the High Court, not only white men. So there were the moderates who believed in slow incremental change by appealing to the good instincts of the British. On the other side, there were the radicals who believed in armed struggle, assassination, in terrifying the British to leave India. But Gandhi was neither a moderate nor an extremist. He did not believe in violent revolution. He did not believe in violence at all. Nor did he think merely polite appeals to the British would get them to concede rights, let alone grant freedom to India. So he was devising a new strategy, non-violent non-cooperation, that we will not cooperate with the British. We will not pay taxes, we'll oppose their unjust laws, but we will do it always to Satyagraha through peaceful street protest. And in this debate, Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal's father, the famous lawyer, was a moderate. He believed in incremental change. But Jawaharlal was really inspired by Gandhi to court arrest non-violently, and he took his father with him. His father, imagine, incredibly wealthy lawyer, accustomed to having his summer holidays in Paris, giving his children all the luxuries, you know, a houseboat in Kashmir, in the Dal Lake, and so on, that he not only courted arrest, but he took his father with him. Encounter that Nehru had, that the young Jawaharlal had, meeting Mahatma Gandhi inspired him to give up his rather indifferent law practice and devote himself wholly to the fight for India's freedom non-violently. The second major encounter happened a little later, in 1921. There was a Kisan Satyagraha, a present movement in Pratapgarh in Eastern UP. And it was a very interesting movement, which historians have written about, led by a Sadhu called Baba Ramchandra, who was mobilizing the Kisans against the Zamindars.  You know, for example, the taxes included such things as motorana, when the landlord brought a new car, he got the money from the peasants. Hathiana, he wanted a new elephant. So, you know, at the burden of these taxes, the peasants were immense, and they were really destitute and oppressed. And there was a protest movement, Kisan Satyagraha, for greater rights, for better wages, for emission of taxes, led by Baba Ramchandra. And Nehru went to Pratapgarh and met the peasants. So for the first time, he came face-to-face with real poverty, real destitution, real exploitation, and that made him a political radical committed to an egalitarian society. So these two encounters in 1920 with Mahatma Gandhi, which convinced him that his real calling, his life lay in fighting for India's freedom, and his meeting with the destitute and oppressed Kisans of Pratapgarh, which convinced him that feudal society, capitalist society was unjust, and free India must be built on the principles of economic and social equality. So from then onwards, his whole life was committed and devoted to the liberation of India from British rule. He spent many years in jail, more than a decade in jail. He was a jail in the 20s. He was jailed in the 30s. He was jailed in the 40s. And those who think that Nehru, those who doubt Nehru's nationalism or patriotism, just think of the many years he spent in very difficult conditions in jail. In between his jail terms, he was campaigning for India's freedom. How was he campaigning, traveling across India? He had then acquired confidence. He was a very fine speaker in Hindustani and in English. He was a master of two languages. Justice Gandhi was a master of Gujarati and English, or Babasav Ambedkar was a master of Marathi and English. These people knew how to communicate, both in the language of the masses and to converse across India. Because if you're from Alhava, as Nehru was, and you want to make an impact in the United provinces, Uttar Pradesh, you have to speak in Hindi. But if you want to speak to your colleague in Tamil Nadu who does not speak Hindi, you have to converse in English. So Nehru became quite soon a very eloquent speaker in Hindi and in English. He became the most, you could say, the rising star of the Congress party, as someone who took the message of freedom and nationalism across India and particularly appealed to the young. He also started traveling abroad quite a lot in the 1920s. He, you know, this is a time in between the wars when fascism is rising in Italy and Nazism, the first shoots of Nazism are coming up in Germany. The Soviet revolution is kind of taking its first steps. And Nehru was quite remarkable. It is appreciation and understanding of international events. Almost the only congressmen to have a deep understanding of global affairs and international events. Now, then in 1929, he's elected president of the Congress party for the first time. So the Congress is the major party of Indian freedom struggle. Gandhi has transformed the Congress into a mass movement before Gandhi came. The Congress was a party of middle class lawyers and doctors and professors, but Gandhi bought peasants, workers, women, artisans into the freedom struggle. And in 1929, Nehru becomes president of the Congress and it's in a sense, you could say, handing over of the baton from the older generation to the younger generation. Gandhi's already sort of, you could say, preparing Nehru to be his political successor. I'll come in a bit to why Gandhi chose Nehru and not anybody else as his political successor. Anyway, through the thirties, this is the short march, Nehru's arrested again. Again, in the 1930s, he goes to jail as a result of the protest movements led by Gandhi. As a result of the groundswell of the freedom struggle, the British are forced to grant some concessions in, there's a Government of India Act of 1935 in which elections, the first elections are held, the British are still ruling India, but elections are held under a limited franchise where Indians can elect their own leaders. So Bombay has its own chief minister. They were called prime minister and those is, Madras has his own, Uttar Pradesh has its own chief minister and Indian elected. And in the Indies, there are then nine major provinces of British India. And the Congress comes to power in seven out of nine. And above the, of course, the two major reasons it comes to power are Gandhiji's aura and Nehru's campaigning. Nehru is the vote gatherer for the Congress. In fact, one major Congress leader, K.F. Nariman of Mumbai says, Nehru is the Bradman of the Congress party. Bradman was the great, since you mentioned it, Bradman was even greater than Sachin Dandurkar. He always got a century and Nehru always won the elections. So in 1977, 37, the Congress comes to power. They rule for a few years. Then the war breaks out. Then negotiations between the British and you know, the Congress party break down and Gandhiji launches his last great struggle, the quit India movement, in which Nehru and his colleagues are in prison for many, many years. And then of course, independence comes in 1947. Now, why did Gandhi choose Nehru as his political successor? This is a very important question still debated. You know, why did he not choose Vallabhai Patel? Why did he not choose his Southern commander, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, who was a great scholar and thinker, a person Gandhi called the keeper of my conscience. So there was a kind of a three-moorthy. As you know, you could say these were his three closest, you could say associates, disciples. Vallabhai Patel, who came from Gujarat, who joined Gandhiji in 1917. Rajagopalachari, who came from Chennai, South India, who joined Gandhiji around the same time. And Jawaharlal Nehru, who joined Gandhiji in 1919. And these three were called the head, the heart and the hand of Mahatma Gandhi. Raja Ji was the head because he was a brilliant thinker and analyst. He had a deep moral sense. I mean, Raja Ji is known to many young Indians because of his great translations of the Ramana, the Mahabharata, he was a scholar and thinker. So he was the head. Jawaharlal was the heart, you know, sincerity, emotion, love, compassion. And Sartar Patel was the hand because he was the organization man. You know, he built the Congress party as an organization. If it was a Sartagar, I had to be done. Money had to be collected to find elections, it was Vallabai Patel. People had to be mobilized for a crowd. It was Vallabai Patel. So there was the head, Raja Ji, the heart Nehru and the hand Patel. And there were others too. There was the great thinker and scholar Maulana Azad, who was Gandhiji's closest Muslim follower. There was Rajendra Prasad of Bihar who had been with Gandhiji in his first Satyagraha in Jamparan in 1917. So there were many people, at least half a dozen people from whom Gandhi could have chosen his successor. Now it's very important, particularly for young Indians to understand why Gandhi chose Nehru and not any of the others. Now, there's a wonderful essay by Raj Mohan Gandhi, the biographer, in his book, The Good Boatman, Portrait of Gandhi, that essay is called Sons and Heirs and it explains this choice. I summarized why Gandhi chose Nehru and nobody else. Gandhi's greatness, and that's why we remember him today as the builder and the father of modern India, is that Gandhi refused to define citizenship on the basis of religion or language.  You did not have to speak Hindi to be a patriotic and proud Indian. Gandhi was the first person who recognized that India is a language, India is a big one. India is a country of many religions and many languages. And if you have to build a united freedom struggle to get the British out, you have to build bridges between these different religious communities and these different languages. Gandhi also was deeply interested in gender equality in the rights of women. And now are his followers. Nehru was the least parochial. Patel was really seen as a Gujarati. Rajagopala Chahri was seen as a Tamil. Rajendra Babu, Rajyan Prasad was seen as a Bihari. Nehru was seen as all Indian. After Gandhi, after Gandhi, Nehru was the next leader of the freedom struggle who was a Hindu, trusted by Muslims, a man who believed in equal rights of women and a North Indian who believed that South India was a very important and crucial part of the Republic. And it's because of this non parochial, pan Indian nature of Nehru's personality that Gandhi, which none of the others in Gandhi's inner circle match, they had other great attributes. As I said, Patel was a great organizer. Rajaji was a profound thinker, but Nehru had this universal appeal. He was also an international image. As I've said, he was someone who understood India's place in the world, not just India's place in a kind of frog in the well kind of approach. He also appealed to the young. He was a young people like him. He was a wonderful speaker. He was a compassionate, caring human being. So that is really why at Gandhi, for these various reasons, Gandhi chose Nehru as a successor, indeed as early as the 1930s and he repeated the underlying. And it's very important. One last thing I'd like to say on this, but this remains a very controversial kind of subject. Rajaji and Patel, who would also have been in the short list of Nehru, Gandhi's likely successors, did not at all mind that Gandhi chose Pandit Nehru. Rajaji and Patel recognized that unlike them, Nehru had this kind of cross-cultural, cross-regional, trans-regional appeal that he had an international perspective, that he had charisma and appeal and that he would naturally be the prime minister of independent India whenever freedom came. Now at 1947, when Nehru becomes a prime minister, his intellectual and political view, world view is already fully formed. He's someone whose ideas are very clear, whose philosophy, whose moral, political philosophy has already taken shape. And there are only four elements in this, in Nehru's world view in 1947, but India becomes independent and he takes office as our first prime minister. And what are these four elements, core elements on Nehru's world view? The first is economic modernization. India is a desperately poor country. Mass, scarcity, famine, destitution, stop the countryside. Even in the cities, the urban working class do not have dignified working conditions and getting rid of mass poverty through economic modernization would be the crucial task for an independent India. And the role of science in economic modernization. As I said, Nehru studied science in Cambridge and he always had a deep appreciation of how scientific research could enhance productivity and lead to human emancipation. So economic modernization, getting rid of mass endemic poverty through economic growth, particularly industrial and urban growth. The second element of Nehru's philosophy was social equality. I spoke of the fact that almost apart from Gandhi and even more than Gandhi, among the male congressmen, Nehru was committed to gender equality. Now it's a striking fact that when India became independent in 1947 and we framed our first constitution in 1950, we gave equal rights to women, including the right to vote. And this was unprecedented in the history of democracies. In America, in France, in Britain, women had to struggle more than a hundred years to get the right to vote. So gender equality was crucial to Nehru. Equality between, as I said, peasants and samindars. He hated economic injustice. He had maybe a blind spot. He was not as attuned to caste discrimination as he was to class and gender discrimination. The third core element of Nehru's philosophy was internationalism. That India has to have good relations with his neighbors and with the rising superpowers of the post-war era, the Soviet Union and the United States. India is not isolated. It cannot be alone. It has to negotiate and build bridges with the other countries of the world. So he had a kind of internationalist vision. And the fourth element of Nehru's philosophy was India must be democratic and it must be secular. They must be a multi-party system, freedom of the press, independence of the courts and the judiciary. And above all, India, the state of India, the government of India will not define itself with a single religion. As you know, Gandhi and others launched a long and arduous struggle for a free and united India. In August, 1947, they got a free India but not a united India. Rather, British India was divided into two countries, India and Pakistan. Pakistan defined itself as a Muslim homeland. So Pakistan's creation was explicitly religious. Nehru however said we will not define ourselves as a Hindu homeland. Whatever injustice Pakistan commits on its Hindu and Christian minorities in India, every Muslim and every Christian will have equal rights. So religious pluralism and democracy were the fourth, you could say building block of Nehru's political and social philosophy. Now, Nehru was prime minister from 1947 till his death in 1964. I've given you so far in my presentation and overview of his role in the freedom struggle. His social background, how he found meaning and purpose through his meeting with Gandhi, the evolution of his economic philosophy, his travels, his dealership, his campaigning, his emergence as the great leader of the Congress party after Mahatma Gandhi. And the second and concluding part of my presentation, I'd say a little bit about Nehru as prime minister. India becomes independent August 15th, 1947 and the first cabinet of free India is constituted. The freedom struggle was led by the Congress party. So naturally the expectation was that the first cabinet of independent India would be dominated by the Congress party. Indeed, the expectation was that all the members would be from the Congress party. For example, if someone wins an election today, I mean, Rajasthan, the Congress wins the election, all the ministers are from the Congress party. If in West Bengal, the Tirumal Congress wins the election, all the ministers are from Tirumal Congress. That was the expectation that the Congress led us fight for freedom and all the ministers would be from that party alone. But in a remarkable act of generosity, wisdom and magnanimity, Nehru and Patel decided that the first cabinet of free India would represent all parties because the constitution had to be framed and all the best minds of India had to come together to frame the constitution. So Dr. V. R. Ambedkar was not only not a member of the Congress party, but had been a bitter and implacable opponent of the Congress party through the 30s and 40s, had been in the Vice-Chair's Executive Council of the Liquid India Movement was on, was brought into the Congress because Nehru and Patel recognized that independence has come not to the Congress party but to India. And Ambedkar's legal and intellectual brilliance would be crucial in framing the constitution. Apart from Ambedkar, another opponent of the Congress party, the Chennai businessman, R.K. Shanmugam Shetty was brought in as finance minister because he was regarded as good for that job. And Akali, Baldev Singh was made defense minister. Sharma Prasad Mukherjee of the Hindu Mahasava, later founder of the Bharatiya Janssen was brought into the cabinet. So the first cabinet, you know, it's a mark of, you could say how far-sighted Nehru and Patel were that in the first years of independence, while the constitution was being framed, while the country was being united, while the princely states were being integrated, while a new economic and foreign and social policy was being designed for this free country, they got the best minds on a board to help them and to assist them.  So, 47, we become independent. There's a inclusive all-party cabinet with Nehru as prime minister and Sadar Patel as deputy prime minister. And they have, they're a great jugal mandi. They work together in a very coordinated and constructive way. In 1950, the constitution is framed. In the same year, Sadar Patel dies tragically. In 1952, the first elections are held and then Nehru, again, the main campaigner of the congress party, the Bradman of the congress party. And the congress comes to power in 1952, again in 1957 and again in 1962. And Nehru is prime minister for a full, almost fully 17 years, just a few months short of 17 years. He dies in office on the 27th of May, 1964. Now, I just briefly summarized because of the question of time, Nehru's great achievements as prime minister and his substantial failures as prime minister. The first great achievement was the nurturing of multi-party democracy. Free, open, transparent elections. Around us, Pakistan quickly became a military dictatorship. Nepal was run by a monarchy, an elected monarchy. China was a one-party totalitarian communist state. If you look at other ex-colonial countries across Asia and Africa, democracy did not take root anywhere except Sri Lanka, which is near us. And of course, Sri Lanka is not as large and complex as diverse as us. The establishment of multi-party democracy in such a large, diverse, complex and desperately poor country is Nehru's greatest achievement. It is unprecedented. And that alone should rank him as not only a great Indian, but a great world figure as a natural of the democratic ethos. And in his time, there was no question of the prime minister interfering with the appointment of secretaries. No question of the prime minister deciding what the Supreme Court justice would do. You know, his respect for his opponents. There's a lovely speech which actually I posted on social media maybe a month ago which Attabihari Vajpayee gave in 1998 in parliament about the respect that Nehru showed for the opponents in parliament, how he listened so attentively and learned to the critics and the disagreements that people like Vajpayee had with him. So the nurturing of multi-party democracy is Nehru's greatest achievement. The second great achievement was giving space, order and dignity to religious and linguistic minorities. You know, I am a South Indian. I am speaking to you from Tamil Nadu. And South Indians respected Nehru because he did not impose Hindi on them. You know, he recognized that the Tamils, the Telugu's, the Malayalis, the Kaldigas took great pride in their language. And if you want to communicate with them, English would be a neutral language in which you could communicate. English also was a window to the world. It was the language of scientific communication. So it has to be encouraged for that reason too. So he respected and understood the regional diversity of India. And as I've already indicated, he absolutely affirmed the rights of religious minorities. India would not be a Hindu state, Hindu raster in which Muslims would be second-class citizens, which is what many people on the right wanted. That's what the Johnson wanted. And that's what the Hindu Mahasabha wanted. That's what the RSS wanted. But he absolutely refused it. He did not want India to become a Hindu Pakistan. So that's his second great achievement. His third great achievement was creating an infrastructure for advanced scientific research and education. I said that Nehru recognized the importance of science in bringing India into the modern world, in enhancing productivity, in alleviating disease. And the IITs, the network of science institutions were really his creation. One can't think that, can't imagine that any of the other congressmen who had been prime minister would have given that kind of emphasis to the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, for example, Abhisnehru, who's, you know, development Nehru took such a close interest. So creating infrastructure for scientific research and higher education, which is crucial in the modern world, the 21st century, which is earlier century of knowledge. As we tackle COVID, as we handle the complex challenges of globalization, knowledge will be crucial. And again, if you compare India to other countries, to Pakistan, to Bangladesh, to Sri Lanka, you know, they don't have anything remotely like TIFRs or initial sciences or IITs, because their leaders did not recognize the crucial importance of advanced scientific research in ending poverty and in meeting the challenges of a complex interdependent one. So three major achievements, nurturing multi-party democracy, giving respect and security to regional, linguistic and religious minorities, encouraging and developing advanced scientific research and fourthly, the promotion of gender equality. Now this is again something very, very important, which perhaps we don't recognize, because today in 2020, at least educated Indians take it for granted that men and women should be equal, but that was not the case. India was a country in which women were oppressed and of course they still are, but historically, when Nehru comes to power, he comes to power, he and the Congress come to power in 1947, at a time where Hindu society is deeply conservative and patriarchal. Women don't have the right to choose their marriage partners. If one person has to be sent to college, it'll be the son and not the daughter. Women do not inherit property. Men can divorce and remarry, women cannot divorce and remarry. All kinds of restrictions and burdens are there of the women and Nehru, at least in law, transformed that through the constitution, through the granting of equal rights to the Hindu personal laws, Hindu women, at least, whatever vast majority of women in India, get equal rights under the law. They may still not have equal rights in practice in how they are treated in everyday life, but the promotion of gender equality in a deeply patriarchal conservative society is also one of Nehru's great achievements, which no one else really in his position is likely to have done. Now, set against these great achievements are some considerable failures. Now, Nehru is very controversial and when people today talk about his failures, some people talk about the fact that he did not encourage private enterprise and maybe slow down our economic growth. Other people talk about the problem of Kashmir, which has been underserved and which has been a flashpoint between Pakistan and India and we have fought for wars over this issue. But in my view, the economy and Kashmir were not really his major failures. I mean, I've written about this elsewhere that in the 1950s, India had to adopt an economic model in which the state would play a crucial role because private enterprise was not forthcoming in many sectors, particularly heavy infrastructure, energy and so on. Kashmir is something in which was basically part, it's a birth defect, you could say. India and Pakistan were born and because we were divided, Kashmir would always be a matter of dispute. It's between the two of us. Pakistan wanted to claim Kashmir, we wanted to claim Kashmir. So in my view as a historian, I would not conclude that Kashmir and the economy are Nehru's great failures. Rather, I would point to other failures. One is which people have written about that he was naive about China. China was the other great Asian power. It had also come out like India. It had come out of a long period of colonial domination, but it achieved political unity through the communist party. So independent India comes into being in 1947. Two years later, China is united under a communist dictatorship. And Nehru thought these two great civilizations had cultural links, philosophical links. They shared an appreciation of the Buddha, for example, and they would be what he termed Hindi-Chinese bye-bye and he was naive and even one would say foolish about Chinese intentions and certainly he gave much less emphasis to defense preparedness on the China border than he should have. So that's his first great mistake that he was a rather romantic and starry-eyed about our relations with our greatest and most powerful neighbor. The second major failure of Nehru's tenure as prime minister and in some ways this is the most crucial failure is the lack of attention to primary education. As I said, Nehru admired higher education. He started the IITs. He had a deep appreciation for cutting-edge scientific research. So he started the Tartar Institute of Fundamental Research. But primary education, sending every girl and boy to school, removing illiteracy, which would have been a crucial emphasis of independent India. And I believe if Gandhiji had been alive, he'd not been so brutally murdered a few months after independence, Gandhiji would have turned Nehru towards the attention of focusing on primary education as much on higher education because if the entire energy to the freedom struggle, all the social activists who had been nurtured during our great movement for freedom had after independence, devoted their attention to ballishing illiteracy to creating a good common school system in which girls and boys could have equal access to education in which there'd be integration of all the subjects along with crafts and so on. I believe a lot of our later problems, our social inequalities on the lines of caste and region would have been minimized. So in my view, he was naive about China. He should really have focused much more on primary education than he did. And finally, his last great failure was that he stayed on too long. Now I think this is a very important lesson for many people to learn, not just in politics. Powerful people, successful people, particularly if they happen to be male, think they're immortal and can never be conquered and indispensable. They think they're immortal and they're indispensable. So if you look around you in spheres outside politics, Sachin Tendulkar should have retired after we won the World Cup in 2011, but he kept on and on and on for four more years when he really was a burden on the team. Varghese Kurian, the great builder of India's white revolution who started Amul stayed on till his 80s when manifestly he should have gone. In our corporate world, Ratan Tata as the leader of the Tata should certainly have retired long before he actually retired. And it's a tendency among powerful, successful males particularly, let's throw among females to see themselves as indispensable and immortal. And Nehru unfortunately succumbed to that same vanity and weakness. In 1958, in 1958, after Nehru had been 11 years in office, he thought of retirement. He said, enough is enough, someone else must take over. A younger person must take over. There must be a transition. And he went on a holiday in Kashmir and he was seriously contemplating giving up the job of prime minister and letting an organic growth from below. Someone else in the Congress party. There were many outstanding cabinet ministers, the young politicians. There was Vaibhichawar in Maharashtra. There were Darbhadra Shastri in North India. There were people in South India. And he was seriously considering retirement but he was talked out of it. He changed his mind. He went on a holiday, fully determined to retire. He came back from the holiday and stayed on in office. Now why he stayed on in office? It may have been vanity. He may have thought he's indispensable. He sometimes may have told him, this country will not survive without you. And if he had retired in 1958, we would remember Nehru very differently. Many of his great failures come after 1958. After 1958 is the fiasco with China. After 1958 are the first signs of corruption in his government, such as in the Munra scandal. In 1959 is the dismissal of the Kerala government, left front government in Kerala, which is a blot on his democratic record. He also falls sick after that. He doesn't have the focus, the energy and so on. So in my view, he stayed on too long. You know, it's a very important lesson for many people to learn, not just in politics, that you must know when to retire. Now, I have spoken, I've given you a kind of a broad biographical, historical and analytical perspective of Jawaharlal Nehru as a freedom fighter, as an administrator, as a thinker, as an inspirational figure. And he was a remarkable and great human being, not with running his failures. I think India was very fortunate that we had him and no one else as prime minister in 1947, because the roots of our democracy, the basis of our industrial growth and our scientific research and above all, the crucial and vital commitment to diversity and pluralism, we owe to Jawaharlal Nehru. I'll end with one real remark and then a couple of book recommendations for people who want to read more. The remark is that among the reasons Nehru is so vilified today is that he's identified with his biological descendants. There is, apart from their genes, there is virtually nothing in common between Rahul Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru's posthumous reputation has been solid, ruined and probably destroyed by the misdeeds of his daughter, his grandson, his granddaughter-in-law and now his great grandson. And one should not confuse the dynasty with Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru would have been appalled that Rahul Gandhi soon again become president of the Congress party. He would have wanted an organic growth from below and he had absolutely no interest in nurturing the dynasty. In 1964, when he died, Indira Gandhi was about to migrate to London where two children were studying. So in many ways, that's the, I'd like, as a historian, I'd like to distinguish Nehru's contributions and his failures for whatever those people, those family members have done after. And I believe that a true objective, fair, balanced, considered assessment of Jawaharlal Nehru's life and legacy will only be possible when the last Nehru Gandhi exists on politics. So we can see him in an as-clear-eyed and objective way as we should and not confuse him and his work and his legacy with what the Congress party is like today. Just a couple of book recommendations I'll end with. What should people read about Nehru? It's quality analysis, not propaganda, not ideology. On Nehru, there's an outstanding three-volume biography by S. Gopal, published in the 1970s. It's still unsurpassed. It's the, in terms of factual information, it is very detailed, very rich, thorough. It has a national and an international perspective. It gives equal attention to Nehru, the freedom fighter, and Nehru, the prime minister. But it's three volumes, so it's about a thousand pages. It's rather long and laborious and detailed. This is a short book by an Australian diplomat called Walter Crocker. That is the best one-volume book on Gandhi, or Nehru, I beg your pardon. It's called Nehru, a Contemporary's Estimate. It was published in 1966. And it's a very perceptive, objective analysis of Nehru's achievements and failures. Walter Crocker was Australian High Commissioner in Delhi for seven years in the 1950s and early 60s, and observed Nehru at close quarters. And it's a very rich, scholarly, and objective account of Nehru. It was recently republished with an introduction by me. I wrote a long introduction to the book. So Crocker's Nehru, a Contemporary's Estimate, would be this one-stop, one-volume work on Nehru. We want more detail, more nuance, more facts, read Gopal's three-volume work. And finally, my last recommendation, read Nehru himself. Nehru was a great writer. He was also a wonderful speaker. And his emotions, his words, his phrases were his own. They were not those of a ghost writer or a copywriter. He wrote three great books. The first was called Glimpses of World History, which is letters to his daughter from jail. The second was his autobiography. And the third, and in my view, the best, is called The Discovery of India. It was written while he was in Eman Nagar Fort between 1942 to 1945. And it's a beautifully rich, moving, insightful, cultural, philosophical, social, architectural, literary history of India. It's Nehru's Discovery of India. And it shows you that book communicates better than anything else. His love, his understanding, his deep engagement and commitment to the land that he made his own, and of which he was such a noble exemplar and leader. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Gohab, for that insightful and interesting discussion. It's almost incredible that in such a short time you have covered the various aspects of Mr. Nehru's life, his early years, his association with Gandhi, his contribution to the freedom struggle, his achievements, and I think most importantly, his failures as the independent India's first prime minister and the architect of modern India. I'm sure our listeners would benefit a great deal from it. We'd also put the book recommendations in the description so that more people can access it. Thank you once again and hope to see you on more of our lectures and discussions. Thank you. Great privilege and pleasure to be part of this series. It's a great honor. Thank you so much. My pleasure, sir.


Yr item gweithio y byddwn i gael â Grant Cymru yn gwneud yr ystyried sefydliadau o ffOM 2909 i gael Stephen Kerr o fynddrach, o gwybodaeth leionwyr 70 ystod, o fod yn cymhwy fynddiad gyda'r eistedd Gwent Elizabeth II. Fy dysgu ni'n gwneud ei gweld y bydd yn ei ddyflen o beth. Rwy'n wrth ar Самon Cymru, ac ydym yn yr eistedd yn ddyfiadau, ac rwy'n eistedd i'wwad Fylldo yn gweithio yn gwneud yr ystyried sefydliadau i gael â methu'i golw. I think that this debate is a real honour for me to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the accession to the throne of Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth, an occasion when we celebrated together as a nation on Sunday 6 February. For the past 70 years Her Majesty has been the head of state of our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, crown dependencies on British overseas territories and the head of the Commonwealth. Throughout Her O'r rhain yw, mae'n iawn o'r gwaith y gwneud y byddiau yn gwneud, yn gwybod, yn cyd-fyrdd, yn cael gwaith, yn cael ei ddweud yn cael ei ddweud, ond ond mae'n gyda'r ffrindiau yn ei ddweud o'r ddweud sefydliadau, fe yna'r 70th anfertyf yng nghymru yng nghymru, King George VI. Rydyn ni'n credu o'r prinsys Elizabeth i chi gynnyddu o'r haesbwn i Ducwb Edinborough Fe ar mwybarth ar dymu, petriliau Llywodraeth drwng Llywodraeth pwrdd wedi drwng Llywodraethסfydig, perthygol iawn, fel Llywodraeth sef yr unrhyw o rhan o 14 Prifysigol i gyfreaddadol darparu yn Rhaidon Llywodraeth. A oedd ddych yn ardaloddau i'r Cyfredinol, dr Kate Williams, rhaidon Llywodraeth yn rhaidon lyth o brydiau llwyddoedd Cymru i gymryd, i wybodaeth i chi', i ddidwodraeth a wedi'n ddod, i'n gofaceitio ddysgu ei hun i chyno. those is despite Her Majesty was the mother of two children. Through paying attention to detail park dedication and professionalism. Her Majesty ensured has shown us iawn. Mae'r amser iawn i ganai gynnig iawn i ddiogelu ddigonais iawn i gynnig iawn i gynnig iawn i gynnig iawn i gynnig iawn i unailliau i ddim yn yr anodd panwympol covid-19, Jasoni, os ystyried, oherwydd i gydigodd-)h sealingawr ddech chi dim oes ynän. Oes flynyddol coreisiau ydw i ddwygen i dddwni Dикasol yn ddodw i ddweud y ddwg eu yr anodd mawr i grwpiau yn gweithio, i adlockisiau, i unrhyw rwyntau sy'n cynnydd mewn gyntafol. According to those reports, Her Majesty declined legislation saying that not only was this exemption unfair for everyone else in the country that had lost her loved one during the pandemic but she wanted to set an example for the nation Even at one of the most difficult and painful moments of Her life Her Majesty put the national interest first and showed true leadership not through words but through action The spirit with which Her Majesty undertakes her duties as sovereign can be summed up with the letter that she published to mark the beginning of her platinum jubilee. The focus of the letter was about the future of the crown, asking the British people to give her son, the Duke of Rossie, our full support when he becomes king. The letter also reflects on the importance of partnership with Her Majesty, reflecting on the loving support that Duke of Edinburgh gave her during her marriage. It was on this reflection that Her Majesty announced that she would like her daughter-in-law, the Duchess of Rossie, to become queen consort when Prince Charles becomes king. Her Majesty turned an occasion about her into a moment to support others and ease succession to the throne, highlighting the selflessness that has been a core characteristic of Her Majesty's reign. Her Majesty signed off her platinum jubilee letter with the words, you're servant. This says it all. In recent decades, leadership has often been associated with assertiveness, popularity and calculation. Her Majesty reminds us that this definition is false. Service is at the heart of leadership. It is this service that allows Her Majesty to unite our country in a way that no politician ever can. During the Covid-19 pandemic, despite thousands of speeches given by numerous politicians, the speech that the British people remember was the one given to us by Her Majesty. In her speech, Her Majesty focused on unity, saying that, if we remain united and resolute, then we will overcome it. Her Majesty also reflected on the virtues that characterise Britain, self-discipline, a quiet, good-humoured resolve and fellow feeling. Every politician in our United Kingdom, regardless of political party, has a responsibility to uphold those virtues. One of my favourite quotes from King George VI is, The highest of distinction is service to others. Over the past 70 years, Her Majesty has shown that she is the perfect example of her father's words. Some argue that the concept of monarchy is antiquated, but Her Majesty has shown that it is needed more than ever. With the loving support of her late husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, Her Majesty has modernised the royal family while upholding the values that we are proud of as a country—duty, sacrifice and service. In those times of division, nobody can unite our country the way that Her Majesty does. Talks surrounding the royal family is often portrayed as the person who is cast aside for the interests of the crown. Her Majesty the Queen turns the narrative on its head. It is because of the personal qualities of Her Majesty the Queen. The qualities of duty, sacrifice and service that the crown prospers today and will continue to prosper in the future. A platinum jubilee is a once-in-a-lifetime event. In the months ahead, may people across Scotland and across our United Kingdom celebrate it accordingly. Remembering the personal service of our remarkable monarch, God Save the Queen. I congratulate Stephen Kerr on bringing this motion forward today, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the accession to the throne of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of England and the First Queen Elizabeth of Scotland. Regardless of our differing views on the monarchy in a modern day Scotland, the debate is rightfully a moment to celebrate a unique achievement by a woman who has given her life to serving others, reflected in the fact that she is the longest-draining queen living and the longest-draining monarch living. Last week, the platinum jubilee celebrations got under way across the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and around the world as communities came together to celebrate the Queen's 70-year long reign. I am sure that many loyal fans and royal watchers will be relieved and hopeful that the pandemic will not inhibit the celebrations. Anticipating the popularity of the debate today and the likely reference by many members to the number of countries that the Queen has visited, miles she has travelled, trees she has planted, hands she has taken and hats and handbags she owns, I shall instead take a brief walk back in time. My first memory of the Queen was a Sunday drive in our family Austin A40 from my home in Aberdeen to see the Queen's holiday home, Balmoral Castle. While my sister and I could only see the roof of the castle from the road, that was enough for us. We were in awe. During the 70s, 80s and 90s, my family were true royal fans following every wedding, birth, christening, divorce, death and scandal. The connection that the Queen has to the north-east is lifelong. It is not unusual to encounter her walking, riding or driving around the side clearly at home and always wearing her headscarf. My husband then, a serving police officer, returned from decide security duties one evening, advising me that he had to apologise to the Queen earlier that day after blocking her in on an estate road as he and his colleague assisted a royal watcher changing her flat tire and, graciously, the Queen had offered to help. Throughout my own working life, I too spent many hours undertaking security duties when royals were in residence. Many royal watchers arrived at numerous venues where she was undertaking public engagements and official visits and, of course, at Balmoral 2. Some in full military uniform, many claiming to be the Queen's long-lost second cousin and some, of course, were the genuine thing. A light-hearted moment of reminiscing, but one that reflects a life of military precision. Every public engagement planned, coordinated, rehearsed, tweaked and diligently undertaken. While the debate over the cost to the public purse continues, there is absolutely no question as to the contribution that the Queen has made to the lives of many who hold a special place in their lives for her, but also local groups, charities, organisations, businesses and many others that have benefited from her popularity and presence. Members will all have their own memories of the Queen visiting their constituencies and regions. That is no less the case in Aberdeen, where she visited in the six days during an outbreak of typhoid, the seventies when she pressed the button to start oil flowing from the North Sea to Grangemouth 2012 to open the University of Aberdeen's Sir Duncan Rice Library, and 2017 to open the Robertson family roof garden at Aberdeen royal infirmary, and, of course, to my constituency visiting the Sue Rider devue court neurological centre. Of course, her many local patronages include voluntary service Aberdeen and the Royal Hall to Corticultural Society of Aberdeen. To conclude, I wish Her Majesty the Queen well as she celebrates such a milestone. The 70th Jubilee celebrations are a fitting acknowledgement of a life of service to others, and I look forward to an extra bank holiday in June and hearing more about the platinum pudding competition. I now call on Alexander Stewart to be followed by Rachel Hamilton for around four minutes. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. It is a great privilege for me to speak in support of my colleague Stephen Kerr's business debate in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the session to the throne of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. Sadly, however, this anniversary also marks 70 years since the death of her beloved father, King George VI. The event was the catalyst for his daughter's accession to the throne and we stood upon her while she was only 25. There were numerous undertakings that she needs to take and the responsibility of someone so young. Almost overnight, the young princess Elizabeth became Queen, head of state of the United Kingdom and Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories and the head of the Commonwealth. As an aside, it is interesting to note that the first Queen Elizabeth was also 25 when she became Queen in 1558. Queen Elizabeth, as the oldest daughter of the king, was in line to the throne and was in Kenya at the time of her father's death and swiftly returned to the United Kingdom. Before leaving, she penned many letters of apology to potential hosts for having to cancel her long-awaited visit, which was actually her father's visit. She also became the first sovereign in over 200 years to assign to the throne whilst abroad. Following her coronation on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey, which was the setting of all coronations since 1066, her majesty became the 39th sovereign to be crowned and swiftly took up the mantle. Her great dignity and the journey that she has taken as Queen. She promised in a broadcast during her 21st birthday on the 21st of April 1947, while on a tour to South Africa with her parents and her youngest sister Margaret, that I declare before you all my whole life whether long or short shall be devoted to the service and the service of our great imperial family, to which we all belong. Service defines the Queen, the Deputy Presiding Officer. More than three and a quarter centuries before, she had spoken at the age of 18 when she joined the Auxiliary Territorial Services, the ATS, and she did that because she wanted to be part of that process. She did not take any other rank other than as Secretary of State because her father wanted her to have an opportunity to serve. However, over that time and since that time, her majesty's resolve, her determination and her immeasurable loyalty to our country has shown through. The celebrations that we will see marking the monarch for her 70th anniversary and the realm that she has, I will commence during this year. The first of all will be a four-day bank holiday that will take place from 2 to 5 June. The Jubilee bank holiday will be an opportunity for individuals to celebrate the length and breadth of the country. In addition, we will see the Queen's Green canopy, a unique tree planting initiative that is created to invite people across the United Kingdom to plant trees for the Jubilee. The platinum pudding competition has already been mentioned, and that will be chaired by the celebrity chef, Mary Berry. There will be the big lunch opportunity, the big Jubilee lunch, which commemorates and will give opportunities to individuals, as I say, the length and the breadth, to encourage communities to get together to know each other better. There will be many other events that will take place across the country, and we will all, I am sure, participate in our own constituencies, in our own regions and across the country. In conclusion, Deputy Presiding Officer, I very much welcome the Queen's words during the platinum Jubilee message last Saturday, 5 February, when she said that she would mark this anniversary and it gives her great pleasure to renew to our country the pledge that she gave in 1947, that her entire life will always be devoted to our service. I echo her, I very much hope, especially during this time of division, that this Jubilee will bring families, will bring friends, will bring neighbours and communities closer together, all as one. The Queen is the only British monarch to reach the 70-year milestone, surpassing Queen Victoria's 63 years and 216 days, and joining a small handful of kings and queens around the world. As we have heard from other people in the chamber today, Princess Elizabeth was in Kenya when she heard the news that her father had died. Just 25, she flew home knowing that her private life would never truly be her own again. Her husband, Prince Philip, would never finish his naval career but would take on the role as her selfless consort. She knew how important his role would be, having witnessed her mother dedicate the same sense of duty to her father during his reign. Over the past 70 years, the Queen has shaped her role as head of state to 15 sovereign countries, and over seven decades she has seen extraordinary social, cultural and technological progress. She has responded extraordinarily to difficult situations. She has been calming and reassuring, and she has reassured us certainly during the Covid crisis that we faced. A fine example she was at that point to us all. In Hollywood's magazine in the February edition, I was asked who I would invite to my fantasy dinner party, and of course I said the Queen. But to women and girls across the world, she is an inspiration as a leader, a proud mother, eager conservationist and dedicated philanthropist. The Queen is so popular that the Royal Palace this year advertised for a new full-time employee to read the post back and provide a timely and welcome response to the well wishes from thousands of long-term admirers. Her unwavering devotion to the country is unparalleled by any other monarch or world leader. Therefore, isn't it ironic that everyone else gets a holiday to celebrate her extraordinary hard work, commitment and service? During the time I have, the short time I have, I want to briefly touch on the Queen's love of countryside and animals. It's no secret that the Queen loves horses. She's been an avid equestrian and was famously photographed riding one of her fell ponies in 2008, aged 92. Her interest in fell ponies, a British native breed, dates back to her early childhood, but fell ponies aren't the Queen's only love. She also raised Highland ponies under the Balmoral prefix and Shetland ponies. While Shetland ponies need no introduction in the United States, the Highland pony is very rare. In Scotland, the Highland pony was historically used on small farms, and it was Queen Victoria's interest in the breed that sparked the Royal Family's Association with the Highland ponies. Lest you think that the Queen only enjoys diminutive equine species, be assured that she's also fond of the thoroughbred horse. She attends each week of the week-long Royal Ascot event, and she has bred many thoroughbreds and achieved success in racing over the years. The Royal Farms also are home to trio of cattle breeds, the Highland, the Jersey and the Sussex. The Queen has raised Highland cattle since 1953 at her home at Balmoral, whilst her Sussex cattle reside at her estate in Windsor. Farming and the countryside has always been the passion of the Queen, with her spending a considerable amount of time in Scotland at Balmoral, all Sandringham, as well. It is therefore a fitting tribute that British farmers are being invited to like beacons across the country at 9.15pm on 2 June to mark the Queen's platinum jubilee, and around 1,500 beacons will be lit right across the UK to support the celebrations across the four-day bank holiday weekend. In conclusion, I want to reflect on the words shared by the Queen when she opened the Borders Railway as the longest-reining monarch in 2015. She said, inevitably, a long life can pass by many milestones. My own is no exception. In her platinum jubilee, may we all wish Her Majesty the Queen good health and thank her for her selfless duty throughout her fantastic 70 years of reign. Thank you. Can I also start by congratulating Stephen Kerr on securing this important debate this evening and commend him for the content of his speech? Let me also add my congratulations to Her Majesty the Queen as she celebrates the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne. This is a monumental achievement for a British monarch, unlikely to ever be repeated. As Stephen Kerr reminded us, she's endured 14 prime ministers so far. Our country has changed so dramatically over the last 70 years. In 1952, the average cost to buy a house was just under £2,000. Now it's almost 100 times greater. Forget mobile phones, and only around 14 per cent of households even had a landline, and the country would still have to cope with food rationing for a further two years. There was no Netflix. In fact, there wasn't even colour TV, so that is all unimaginable to us today. However, the one constant that our country has had throughout has been Her Majesty. She hasn't just been a constant for those born and brought up in the UK because members may be aware that I was born and grew up in Hong Kong. As Hong Kong remained a British colony until 1997, the Queen was very much regarded as her monarch too. She was in fact the first ever British monarch to visit Hong Kong in 1975, which I have to tell you caused huge excitement, which I remember not least for me at the tender age of 11. Please don't get your calculators out to work out how old I am now. However, she was accompanied on that visit, as with so many other visits, state openings and trips by her husband Prince Philip. I cannot begin to imagine the strain that was put on such a young couple, their new marriage, when the 25-year-old Princess Elizabeth suddenly became queen following the untimely death of King George VI. Together they went through incredible highs and lows, both in their roles as heads of state and as parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. Not that we need any more evidence of Her Majesty's exceptional taste and impeccable judgment in visiting Hong Kong, but let me be parochial for a moment, because the chamber may be interested to know that, shortly after succeeding to the throne, in 1953, Her Majesty visited the wonderful constituency of, and you guessed it, Dumbarton. The new monarch arrived by train into Dumbarton's train station, no doubt on a service much more reliable than those that go through the station today, but she was welcomed by 5,000 cheering local school children. As I would encourage everyone to do, Her Majesty and Prince Philip took in the many sites that my constituency has to offer and ended the day visiting the historic Dumbarton castle. She was in fact the first British monarch to visit the area since her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria visited Dumbarton in 1867. As any visitor to Dumbarton will tell you, one trip is never enough. That's why Her Majesty and Prince Philip returned to Dumbarton in 1965, this time taking a trip on the made-of-the-loch paddle steamer up Loch Lomond, visiting Helensburgh and meeting with the doctors and nurses at the Vale of Leven hospital. Her Majesty returned again to open the new shivers regal bottling plant at Kilmeled, and I'm told enjoyed a wee sample. There is an ever-dwindling group of us in this chamber who have been here since 1999, which means that there are few who have attended more state openings in the Scottish Parliament than myself. When Her Majesty opened the building that we are in today, she described the Scottish Parliament as a landmark for 21st century democracy. At the most recent state opening in October last year, Her Majesty spoke of her deep and abiding affection for Scotland. Those are feelings that, I'm sure we can agree, are entirely reciprocated. On behalf of the Scottish Labour Party, I wish to thank Her Majesty for the 70 years of dedication and commitment that she has given to serving her people and country, and we wish her the very best on her platinum anniversary. I now call on Tess White to be followed by Brian Whittle for in four minutes, Ms White. Thank you, Presiding Officer. It's an honour today to celebrate the 70-year reign of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reining monarch in our history. I pay tribute to my colleague, Stephen Kerr, for securing the time for this debate. We all know the history of our Queen and her love for Scotland. She's descended from the royal house of Stuart on both sides of her family. She spent many summers at Balmoral Castle in Royal Deeside Aberdeenshire in my region. So many of us, our parents and our grandparents, have family memories of events in the last 70 years. As a little girl, I remember the silver anniversary in 1977 and more recently the Diamond Jubilee in 2012. It was a time of national celebration and affection. From as far back as the Second World War, the Queen has been the country's constant servant, unrelentingly dedicated to her work, even at the age of 95. Since she came to the throne, the Queen has sent almost 300,100 birthday messages and close to 900,000 diamond wedding anniversary cards. What I'd like to do today is share a personal history of two photographs and two certificates hanging on the wall in my home. For my family, like so many others, they represent how Her Majesty the Queen and the royal family are so often interwoven in our stories and histories. The two certificates proudly hanging in our hallway speak of the hard work, learning and service to others. One of the certificates is the Duke of Edinburgh's Gold Award presented by the Queen's Consort, who stood by her side for most of her 70 years of her reign. The other, the Girls Brigade Queen's Award. One presented at the Palace of Holyrood by Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth and the other presented in Dundee. Both special life events for my wife and her family, as for so many young people in the Girls Brigade, Boys Brigade, Guides and Scouts. There are two photographs in the entrance hall. Isabel, a florist all her life, regularly made the arrangements for the launch days of ships in the Clyde from where she worked on Buchanan Street. In 1959, one of Isabel's arrangements became the Queen Mother's Christmas card that year. That picture proudly hangs in our home. The other, my wife's parents, George and Isabel, who are watching today, celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary in 2018, were personally presented by the Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire Lady Susan Hawhey with a diamond wedding anniversary card from Her Majesty the Queen. That day was a celebration of their life and one made memorable by the Queen and her representatives. I'd like to take a moment also to acknowledge Lord Lieutenant's, who work in a voluntary capacity to represent the Queen in communities across the UK. Last week, I was delighted to meet the Lord Lieutenant of Kincardenshire, Alistair McPhee, and to learn about his role. George and Isabel, now in their late 80s, are so fond of these pictures and they make sure they had pride of place when they came to live with us when Covid-19 hit. The pictures give them daily joy. I suggest today that it's not just Her Majesty the Queen's life and reign that we celebrate. It's those personal family ties and the celebrated moments that bring us all together as one nation and one family. Before calling the next speaker, I'm conscious of the number of colleagues who still want to contribute to the debate, so I'm minded to accept a motion. I notice under rule 8.14.3 to extend the debate by up to 30 minutes and I invite Stephen Kerr to move such a motion. Are we all agreed that the debate be extended by up to 30 minutes? Excellent, right? That is agreed. I call the next speaker, which is Brian Whittle, to be followed by James Dornan for around four minutes. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I thank Stephen Kerr for bringing this debate to the chamber and allowing me to sneak in and make a few comments on the 70 years of ascension of the Queen to the throne. As has already been said, she was in Kenya at the time, I think, in the Treetops hotel in Kenya when she'd heard early in the morning of the death of Father King George VI, February 6, 1952. The young woman then, who had much of her teenage years, had been mired in World War II. Her ascension to the throne, during that period of time, she has seen, as we have heard, 14 Prime Ministers. She has seen 13 US presidents during her reign, starting with, incredibly, Winston Churchill and Harry S Truman. Her role in diplomatic relations cannot be overstated. Having welcomed so many world leaders to the United Kingdom, some very controversial, we would say, and her tireless travels representing our country, and the warm welcome she receives wherever she goes is testament to her world standing and the way she can bring communities together, as I think Stephen Kerr said. I often think, Deputy Presiding Officer, that sometimes she is valued and welcomed around the world more by some of her own subjects here in the United Kingdom. I have been lucky enough to have met Her Majesty on several occasions, starting away back in 1986 at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. Standing in line at a young Harry Scots boy in a kilt was extremely nervous about what I could possibly say to Her Majesty, but I am not worried. Her Majesty has the ability to engage with anyone, be that a young athlete to the heads of state, and making them feel special, making them feel they are the only one in the room. It is a remarkable gift from quite a remarkable lady. We all have a huge debt of gratitude for the lifetime of service to our country, and I am glad that I have had the opportunity, just for a couple of minutes, to pass on my best wishes to Her Majesty, the Queen of the Deputy Presiding Officer. I now call on James Dornan, who joins us remotely to be followed by Pam Gossel for around four minutes. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I would like to thank Stephen Kerr for bringing this motion to the chamber. I would also like to start by wishing Queen Elizabeth the very best after seven years in public life. Purely at the age of 95 and having just lost her husband of many years, she is entitled now to some time for a bit of peace and quiet. Having said all that and meaning it sincerely, I have to speak on behalf of the half of Scotland that supports the Republic and wonder why we are having this motion in this place at this time. It appears to me that this is primarily a motion congratulating longevity. Surely, if that is the case, we all have others, as if not more, worthy of this accolade.  Next year, when the Queen celebrates her 70th anniversary of her coronation, my mum will be celebrating the 70th anniversary of my birth. Whilst the Queen has had every support known to mankind during her last 70 years, my mum and dad brought me and my two young brothers up firstly in a single end, then a room and kitchen, struggling to make ends meet with low and sometimes no wages. I ask again what is so special about any single individual that deserves this motion. The Queen has been very fortunate in that she does not have a difficult life. She has a life of public service and I accept that, and it can always be easy. However, there are not many royals that are willing to swap places with people who are benefits of the other benefit system. The one that does not treat you as if you are special but as if you are less inhuman should be grateful for the pittance that the state gives you to try to exist on. The Queen, like all of us, has a family full of flaws. I am always a bit amused that the reverence is bestowed on this one family. However, given that that reverence exists, I wonder about the hypocrisy of the Tory soul. This motion comes from the party that lied to the Queen to get Parliament illegally pro-rolled, had a couple of parties as she mourned and then waited to bury her husband, and then they have the gall to submit this motion. I make no bones about the fact that I believe in the Republic. No family should have the right to be treated as superior because of an accident of birth. There are simply people, hampered by this class ridden society, but still only people. The UK is as clear from the narrow range of schooling of so many of our leaders, and it is still a class-based society to the detriment of those at the bottom end of the skewed measurement of work. The Queen is, of course, at the peak of this pyramid of entitlement. We have a housing crisis whilst we have multiple houses with massive lands attached. We have food banks whilst we have banquets. We have people on benefit chased up for every penny whilst they are given tax breaks to protect their wealth and property. Mr Dornan, can I just stop you briefly? I have a point of order in the chamber. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I do believe that Mr Dornan has gone slightly off topic. I do not think that that is a point of order, and I do not believe that he is deviated from the topic, even if he is deviated from the spirit of the other contributions in the debate. Mr Dornan. Yes, I am happy to accept both those points. I read that the Queen is considering retiring next year, and that makes perfect sense to me. However, at that point in the debate should not be, should we skip a generation because we do not like Charles and Camilla and do like Will and Kate? It should be as a anachronism that is the royal family running its natural course and is at time for a republic. I respect anyone who has continued to work until the age that she has and I sincerely wish her well, but it is time that Scotland and the rest of the UK had a grown-up debate about how we wish to be perceived, as subjects of Charles and Camilla are citizens in the Scottish Republic. Thank you. Thank you, Mr Dornan. I now call on Pam Gosel to be followed by Megan Gallow for around four minutes, Ms Gosel. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am honoured to contribute to today's member's business motion, rightly brought to Parliament by my colleague Stephen Kerr. I would like to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the accession to throne of Her Majesty the Queen, not only as our longest reigning monarch, but as an inspiration woman across the world. Her Majesty's professional accomplishments are something to be marvelled, so we often forget how she has been a champion in paving the way for the modern women. Her Majesty has been a wife, a mother, a grandmother, yet garnered the respect of world leaders at a time when it was still uncommon for women to be in a leading role, let alone head off an entire nation and the Commonwealth. As a young woman, she was thrown into a role that carries immense responsibility and yet has never second guessed her decision to put the crown and country first. She has been a constant source of stability, comfort, identity and inspiration for the whole nation. Her Majesty is an expert in many things and has a great sense of humour and is exceptionally quick-witted. Although most of us will never get the chance to know her personally, does it not feel like we all do, nor in some level? Her Majesty stands at the heart of British values and at the core of our identity as a nation. I know that I do not just speak for myself when I say that Her Majesty is an inspiration to all of us women. As we approach international women's day next month, Her Majesty is the perfect role model that many women like myself look up to. Her Majesty has become an icon for women. She earned the respect of the entire nations by proving that she is a born leader—intelligent, diplomatic and level-headed. We need not even consider her gender, for it has never stood in her way. Her Majesty is quite powerful, for we need not hear from her how she has normalised female leaders. We see it. I hope that everyone in this chamber will join me in congratulating Her Majesty on her 70 years of loyal service. To me, she is not just a leader, she is the mother of the United Kingdom. I thank my colleague Stephen Kerr for bringing this debate to the chamber, so we can all join together in celebrating the remarkable achievement of a platinum jubilee for Her Majesty the Queen. Her Majesty has become the first British monarch to have reigned for 70 years, and in that time there have been many extraordinary firsts. On 23 May 1953, Everest was conquered for the first time by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. News of this incredible achievement would reach the United Kingdom on the morning of Her Majesty's official coronation on 2 June 1953. In 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk the surface of the moon. On 9 November 1989, the Berlin Wall came crashing down in a resounding victory for freedom and democracy that was rejoiced the world over. There were also advancements in technology, medicine, human rights, international trade and global travel. The selfless dedication to duty, a commitment to upholding the values of freedom and democracy, are a testament to everything that Her Majesty seeks to achieve in her daily life. The list of titles and responsibilities invested in Her Majesty would be enough to fill this chamber ten times over, and for that reason I will pick out one or two due to the time that I have this evening. As head of the British Armed Forces, Her Majesty has overseen the finest military men and women in the world has ever seen. Our military personnel hold a very special place in the heart of the nation and throughout the last seventy years, those traditions have been expertly handled by Her Majesty and her role as commander-in-chief of the British Armed Forces. For many, trooping the colour has always been a special highlight of the British summer. However, for me personally, the event that is clearest in my memories is having watched Her Majesty leave the nation in Remembrance Day services at the Cenotaph. Then there is Her Majesty's close and personal connection with Scotland. Here Her Majesty is known as the chief of chiefs and it is always a pleasure to see the royal company of Archer's resplendent in their uniforms of Green Velvet providing an official bodyguard on state visits such as the reopening of our own Scottish Parliament that we all attended a few months ago. However, it is not the official state visits that are most clear as to my memories. What stands out is the footage of Her Majesty, Prince Philip and her young family at Barmwarrow enjoying many happy days here at home in the Scottish Highlands. The loving affection that Her Majesty holds for Scotland is unrivalled and we have always held a special place in Her Majesty's heart. It is important that we remember Her Majesty's words always. I have spoken before of my deep and abiding affection for this wonderful country and of the many happy memories Prince Philip and I always held of her time here. It is often said that it is the people that make a place and there are few places where this is truer than in Scotland as we have seen in recent times. I will close by echoing the words of David Cameron, who, as Prime Minister eloquently led the House of Commons on the occasion of Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee celebration. He said that, on her first address to the nation is Queen, Her Majesty pledged that, throughout all her life and with all her heart, she would strive to be worthy of the people's trust. Does she achieve beyond question? The nation holds her in its heart not just as the figurehead of an institution but as an individual who has served this country with an airing grace, dignity and decency. I think that we can all agree that there is no finer tribute to Her Majesty on her platinum jubilee, God Save the Queen. Thank you, Ms Gallagher. I now call on the cabinet secretary to respond to the debate. A generous seven minutes. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. First of all, I congratulate Stephen Kerr for securing this debate and for his speech. It is a rare event. I agree with every word that he spoke in his address. I am pleased to take part in this evening's proceedings, as the Scottish Government Minister with responsibility for the royal household, as a member of Her Majesty's Privy Council and as a member of the Scottish Cabinet, which this week sent its appreciation for the long and distinguished service of our head of state. This evening's debate allows me to provide a brief update to the Parliament on this year's platinum jubilee in Scotland and to reconfirm the Scottish Government's recognition and commendation of Her Majesty the Queen's remarkable legacy and dedication to duty during the 70 years of her reign here and in the 15 other independent states around the world where she is head of state, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Her Majesty the Queen is bound to Scotland by ties of both ancestry and affection, so it has already been noted that a direct descendant of the royal house is steered on both sides of her family, her personal relationship with the people of Scotland and our country began in childhood and has deepened during her many private and official visits during the seven decades of her reign. This is an apt time to recall some of the milestones of Her Majesty's visits and engagements in Scotland through the last seven decades. Her Majesty's first state visit to Scotland as Queen came on the 24th of June 1953, just weeks after the coronation, cheering crowds, witnessed a magnificent procession accompanying the royal carriage bearing the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to St Giles for the National Service of Thanksgiving. There, for the first time since 1822, the honours of Scotland were carried before the monarch and presented to Her Majesty. In September 1967 saw Her Majesty visit John Brown's shipyard at Clydebank, birthplace of the Royal Yot Britannia, RMS Queen Mary and RMS Queen Elizabeth. On this occasion, she christened the new Cunard liner, the QE2. In 1977, it was the year for Her Majesty's silver jubilee, and in Glasgow around 200,000 people welcomed her on her tour of Scotland. Further north in Dundee, 10,000 Dundonians waved as she passed through, and I'm told in Aberdeen the crowds waiting to see her were 20 deep on the pavements. On 24 July 1986, Her Majesty opened the Commonwealth Games here in Edinburgh, and, undertaking, she performed again in 2014, when Glasgow hosted the games. In July 1999, which saw the return of Scotland's Parliament for the first time in nearly 300 years, Her Majesty formally opened the Parliament, then housed in the General Assembly Hall, and gifted a special commission mace, which stands before us, marking the Parliament's authority. In her speech, she commented this, a society in which the qualities of co-operation learning, entrepreneurial skill and national pride run deep. Before also mentioning the grip, the determination, humour and forthrightness, above all the strong sense of identity of the Scottish people, all qualities which occupy a personal place in her own and her family's affections. In 2002, the golden jubilee year, Her Majesty visited Scotland opening the jubilee wheel at the Millennium Link in Falkirk and the Space Scottish School of Contemporary Dance in Dundee. She travelled to the Isle of Skye and to Lewis and attended the borders gathering at Melrose. The 2010s saw Her Majesty open major infrastructures, which have benefited the people of Scotland. In 2015, she saw the opening off the borders railway. The Queen's Fair Crossing was officially opened by her in September 2017. This was also the decade of Her Majesty's diamond jubilee when 2012 saw Perth have its city status restored by the Queen. Most recently, there has never been a clear indication of Her Majesty's selfless dedication to duty and her love of Scotland and its people, then her attendance at the opening of the sixth session of the Scottish Parliament in October last year, just a few short months after she lost her consort of 73 years. Her Majesty congratulated Parliament for marking the new session safely in a very trying period in her words, while noting that Parliament had been at the heart of Scotland's response to the pandemic. Her Majesty then told the chamber of her deep and abiding affection for this wonderful country and of the many happy memories that she held off her time here. She added that the new session brought a sense of beginning and renewal and urged us all to work together, despite any differences of opinion. We strongly hope to see Her Majesty again in the summer of this year during Royal Week, while she is in residence at the Palace of Holyrood House and holding summer court at Bellmoral. Throughout her reign, the Queen has demonstrated commitment and support to a diverse group of organisations spanning the length and the breadth of Scotland. This various list includes the Aberdeen Association of Social Service, the Highland Association and Coment Geltacht, the Peebroch Society, the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, the Scottish Football Association, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra could go on. Her Majesty also holds a number of appointments within the armed forces in Scotland, including being Colonel-in-Chief of both the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and the Royal Regiment of Scotland. Through those patronages, Her Majesty has provided vital publicity for the work of those organisations and allows their enormous achievements and contributions to society to be recognised. Her Majesty is one of the longest-serving monarchs in the world ever, having recently overtaken that of Emperor Franz Josef of Austro-Hungary. This year, we will see her platinum jubilee celebrated throughout the land. We have ensured that the people of Scotland have access to the long weekend in early June in which to enjoy community-led events. Those include the big lunch, dedicated Highland Games, Guinness World Record attempts and we will also see the return from previous events of the Lighting of Beacons. I have recently been advised that a tune composed for the occasion by Piper Stewart Liddle of Inverary will be played throughout the Commonwealth as the sun sets on June 2. There is also great engagement with the Queen's Green Canopy, as this initiative to plant a tree for the jubilee has been taken forward by schools, by communities, by scout and guide troops and individuals to name but a few. Plantings range from single trees to platinum crowns of silver birch and the dedication of ancient trees to the platinum jubilee all will be an enhancement and a benefit to their local areas. We are indebted to the work carried out by Scottish Lord of Tenants, community and local councils and local authorities in engaging with their communities and developing all of these activities. Her Majesty's selfless dedication to and affection for Scotland and its people as head of state and as steadfast friend of our Parliament since its establishment in 1999 is beyond question. Her Majesty the Queen has led us forward through remarkable innovations such as can be seen in technology and medicine while providing a firm foundation for us through the difficulties of a changing climate and a worldwide pandemic. I would like to invite the chamber to join me in noting our respect for Her Majesty the Queen's immeasurable dedication and affection for Scotland and its people and in offering our unreserved thanks for her selfless and dutiful service to our country.


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