Somnath Amrut Mahotsav: Know why Jawaharlal Nehru opposed the reconstruction of Somnath Temple

Highlighting how India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, opposed the reconstruction of the Somnath Temple after Independence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, May 11, slammed the “appeasement politics” during his address at the ‘Somnath Amrut Mahotsav’ in Gujarat’s Gir Somnath district.

The celebrations on May 11 marked 75 years since the reconstructed temple was inaugurated in 1951.

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Addressing a large public gathering after participating in religious ceremonies at the Somnath Temple, Prime Minister Modi said that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Rajendra Prasad had faced opposition during the reconstruction effort.

“After Independence, one of the first responsibilities was to restore the Somnath temple, and therefore Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Dr Rajendra Prasad made immense efforts for it. But we all know how much opposition they faced from Nehru Ji… I will not go into detail today, but it was Sardar Patel’s determination that, despite all opposition, he did not waver. The Somnath temple was rebuilt, and the country washed away centuries of humiliation,” he said.

How Jawaharlal Nehru opposed Somnath Temple’s reconstruction?

After India got Independence, the Nawab of Junagadh, where Somnath is located, had made the decision to accede to Pakistan. This was done even when several of his subjects opposed the decision. Soon after, the Nawab had to flee in the face of rebellion. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the then Home Minister of India, later visited Junagadh on November 12, 1947.

During a public gathering, he announced the decision to reconstruct Somnath Temple, while this was endorsed by the Union Cabinet headed by Nehru.

However, when Sardar Patel, Congress leader K M Munshi and others conveyed the decision to Mahatma Gandhi, he suggested them that instead of the government funding the project, the money could be taken from the people, according to The Indian Express.

Later on, a Trust was set up for the purpose under Munshi. By the time when the temple was reconstructed, Sardar Patel had passed away.

Jawaharlal Nehru’s letters to Rajendra Prasad

Historian Romila Thapar, in her book “Somanatha: The Many Voices of History,” wrote that when Munshi approached Prasad for the temple’s inauguration, Nehru opposed the same.

In March 1951, he wrote a letter to Prasad and said, “I confess that I do not like the idea of your associating yourself with a spectacular opening of the Somnath Temple. This is not merely visiting a temple, which can certainly be done by you or anyone else, but rather participating in a significant function which unfortunately has a number of implications.”

However, Prasad asserted that there was nothing wrong with him attending the event.

Later on, Nehru again wrote to him, “My dear Rajendra Babu, I am greatly worried about the Somnath affair. As I feared, it is assuming a certain political importance… In criticism of our policy in regard to it, we are asked how a secular Government such as ours can associate itself with such a ceremony which is, in addition, revivalist in character.”

He even took a stand when reports came out that the Saurashtra government had contributed ₹5 lakh towards the ceremony.

“At any time this would have been undesirable, but at the present juncture, when starvation stalks the land and every kind of national economy and austerity are preached by us, this expenditure by a government appears to me to be almost shocking. We have stopped expenditure on education, on health and many beneficent services because we say that we cannot afford it,” Nehru wrote to Prasad.

In May 1951, Nehru even wrote to the Chief Ministers that it should be “clearly understood that this function is not governmental and the GoI has nothing to do with it…We must not do anything that comes in the way of our state being secular.”