Jawaharlal Nehru made it possible for a 'chaiwala' to become PM: Shashi Tharoor

NEW DELHI: Lauding country's first premier Jawaharlal Nehru for strengthening democratic institutions, Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, while taking a jibe at Narendra Modi, has said that a 'chaiwala' (tea seller) could become a Prime Minister only because of him. Speaking about Nehru on the eve of his birth anniversary, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said: "If today a 'chaiwala' is the Prime Minister, it is possible because Nehru shaped the institution of the country in such a way that a common man could dream of sitting at the top post." Tharoor was speaking at an event to relaunch his book 'Nehru: The Invention of India' where he praised Nehru for strengthening democratic institutions and always encouraging "constructive criticism". Narrating an anecdote, Tharoor said Nehru was asked by an American editor as to what he wanted his legacy to be, to which the first Indian prime minister said: "330 million people capable of governing themselves." "A number of post-colonial heroes in other ex-colonies had gone the opposite way. They started off as democratically popular heroes and headed in an authoritarian direction...Nehru ji never fell into that trap. "So if today, we have a chaiwala as prime minister, it is because Nehru ji made it possible to create the institutional structures through which any Indian can aspire to and rise to the highest office in the land," PTi quoted Tharoor as saying. Tharoor said a concerted campaign of vilification, calumny and an astonishing amount of lies was being spread on the internet against Nehru. "If today, the government can boast about Mangalyaan, ask who created ISRO. Who decided that even a poor Indian can dare to aim for the skies. Who created the IITs who send so many bright young men to the Silicon Valley. "All of this in the poor country was optional. You had to have the vision to say we need to do all these things. We need to lay the foundations to build India of the future," Tharoor said.