Picturing Nehru

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has made no secret of his disdain for India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru - going so far as to say that it was the wish of every Indian's heart that Vallabhbhai Patel, rather than Nehru, had become prime minister in 1947, and that the fortunes of the country would have been completely different if he had. Given that, more than a few eyebrows were raised at a photograph (which can be accessed at https://bsmedia.business-standard.comwww.narendramodi.in) that the Modi-for-prime minister campaign released earlier this month. It showed the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate working on a cellphone in his office; but, on the wall behind him, was a small, instantly recognisable photograph of Nehru.