15th edition of Jaipur Literature Festival concludes with a debate on Nehru's legacy

The 15th edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival concluded with a closing debate on India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's legacy.

Author Tripurdaman Singh, National Spokesperson of the BJP, Shazia Ilmi, noted lawyer Pinky Anand, writer Purushottam Agarwal, Lawyer, Professor and Political Economist AVi Singh, former Chairperson of the National Commission, Wajahat Habibullah along with journalist, author and columnist, Vir Sanghvi discussed whether Nehru was India's greatest Prime Minister.

During the debate, Agarwal noted, "...He (Nehru) was the greatest Prime Minister because of the challenges he had in heritage... the Partition..the per capita income....the British economic exploitation of the country..". Singh opined, "Look at where India was when Nehru left, there had been a faltering planned economy, the second Five Year Plan was in the doldrums. his foreign policy tinged with a quite potent mix of vanity and fantasy left to such an extent that even someone like Ambedkar, who I would call pretty close to Nehru in thought, was forced to really critique it."

As a flame of the nationalist and anti-imperial struggle, a visionary of democratic socialism and secularism, and as India's first and longest-serving prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru is inextricable from the discourse surrounding modern India.

Any idea of contemporary India that we choose to subscribe to is influenced in great measure by a towering figure of the 20th century - Jawaharlal Nehru.

The curtains for the 15th edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival dropped on Monday. This year, the event hosted around 600 speakers, artists and performers from all across the Indian subcontinent and the world.

From debates ranging from language, war, politics, environment to climate change, gender issues, business, science and technology, history, cinema, art and travel, the Festival featured conversations on wide-variety of topics. Also, it had numerous events namely A Majestic Heritage Evening at Amer Fort and The Jaipur Music Stage among others in the Pink City.

The Festival is made possible with the support of partners who are committed to promoting this platform and believe in the value it brings to its audiences and literature lovers from across the world.

This year, the Festival has been 'Protected by Dettol' and supported by Rajasthan Tourism, LIC, Department of Women and Child Development - Government of Rajasthan. This year's Venue Partners are Bank of Baroda and the Jan Michalski Foundation. Etsy, Embassy of Italy in India & Istituto Italiano Di Culture, The British Council, Embassy of Ireland, United Nations, the Escorts group and the Australian High Commission have joined hands with the Festival as Session Partners.

The JCB Prize for Literature, Hawthornden Literary Retreat, Hero Future Engineering and the US Embassy and Consulates in India will support the Festival as Series Partners. Amazon India will be the Online Sales Partner this year. Media Partners are Amar Ujala, Business Standard, The WEEK, Sakal, New Indian Express, Dainik Bhaskar, Rajasthan Patrika and ABP. One India will be the digital media partner and Daily Hunt will be the Online Streaming Partner. RED FM and Chumbak will be Radio Partner and Gift Partner respectively. The Festival will also have a country partner - The Royal Norwegian Embassy. Other key partners are Penguin Random House India, Mahindra World City and the High Commission of Canada. Fortis Hospital will support as the official Hospital Partner.