'Gandhi, Nehru, Ambedkar had disagreements, but were unanimous on progressive India'

New Delhi: Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and BR Ambedkar, regarded as founding fathers of the Indian republic, may have had disagreements in their ideologies but their dream for a progressive nation was unanimous, Sahitya Akademi President Vishwanath Tiwari said on Thursday.

"They had agreements and disagreements, they had different followers, there have also been debates on their varied ideologies but they had a common goal which was the progress of India," Tiwari said at the Akademi's seminar on "Gandhi, Nehru, Ambedkar: Continuities and Discontinuities" organised at the ongoing Festival of Letters here.

The hour-long seminar which was inaugurated by noted scholar Kapila Vatsyayan shed light on the roles of the three doyens who were instrumental in shaping the 20th century India.

Tiwari said Nehru, despite being a follower of Gandhian philosophy, was radically different from Gandhi in his approach towards achieving his goal.

"Nehru was never a hard core Gandhian. In fact he opposed Gandhi's stalling of the non-cooperation movement after the Chauri Chaura attack in 1922," the Hindi poet said.

Contrary to that, he said, non-violence formed the basis of Gandhi's very existence and he believed "non-violence was greater than truth itself."

While Gandhi was strictly against centralistation of powers in the hands of the state, Nehru was largely influenced by the Western civilisation and believed that power to the state and industrialisation was imperative for the growth of the country.

"Gandhi was a believer of a state-less society, much like Marx. He was against centralisation of power with the state. While Nehru supported industrialisation. He incorporated scientific thinking to make India modern," Tiwari said.