Somnath Parv<\/a>, to mark 1000 years since the first attack on the temple, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) highlighted how PM Jawaharlal Nehru wrote more than 17 letters opposing the construction of Somnath Mandir.<\/p>\nBJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, in a post on X, wrote: \u201cIn the past, Somnath was looted by Muhammad Ghazni and Khilji, but in independent India, Pandit Nehru harbored the greatest hatred toward Lord Somnath. See the biggest example of this: Pandit Nehru wrote a letter to Pakistan\u2019s Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan on April 21, 1951, addressing him as \u201cDear Nawabzada,” and in it, he described the story of Somnath\u2019s doors as \u201ccompletely false.” Pandit Nehru wrote to Liaquat Ali Khan, in a way surrendering, that nothing like the construction of the Somnath temple was happening.”<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this wasn\u2019t the politics of blind appeasement and the glorification of Mughal invaders, then what was it,” asked Trivedi.<\/p>\n
The letters to the President and Cabinet Ministers questioned the need for reconstruction of Somnath Mandir and heavily discouraged them from attending the inauguration. A letter to Pakistan Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, addressing him as \u201cDear Nawabzada”, downplayed the importance of the reconstruction. The PM purportedly issued instructions to public broadcasters to minimise coverage and downplay the significance of the reconstruction of Mandir.<\/p>\n
Letters to Indian Chief Ministers, written twice, termed the reconstruction \u201crevivalist” and \u201cpompous”; complained it harmed India\u2019s image abroad. Instructions to Indian embassies explicitly prohibited assistance to the Somnath Trust, including requests of waters from river for consecration ceremony.<\/p>\n
Taken together, these letters reveal Jawaharlal Nehru\u2019s sustained opposition and discomfort he felt due to reconstruction of the Somnath Mandir<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n