The Unheard Words Of Wisdom: Revisiting Pandit Nehru After 70 Years

Nehru

By Saumya Liyanage –JUNE 12, 2021

Dr. Saumya Liyanage

In 1950, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), the Prime Minister of India, was invited to deliver a keynote speech at the annual convocation ceremony at the King George’s Hall, the University of Ceylon, Colombo. He had been invited to deliver the talk at the ceremony, perhaps with the invitation sent by the first Vice Chancellor of the University (1942-1954), Sir Ivor Jennings (1903-1965). The Chancellor, Lord Soulbury (1887-1971), would have been in the audience, waiting to hear his talk. Celebrated academics such as Prof. G. P. Malalasekera (1899-1973), Prof. E. F. C. Ludowyk (1906-1985), and, of course, Prof. Sarachchandra (1914-1996) might have been on stage, with other academics, behind Nehru, wearing their professorial cloaks and funny headdresses. Academics and graduates would have been highly excited and ambitious to hear the talk delivered by one of the most charismatic and powerful orators at the time.

I have never heard of such a high ranked diplomacy that had been invited to deliver a convocation speech at a degree offering ceremony in Sri Lanka since the 70 years of Sri Lankan independence. From the 1950s to the present, more than thousands of keynotes have been delivered at convocation ceremonies in the 16 national universities in the country. Hundreds of thousands of graduates may have been graduated. Yet, I have not heard such a powerful and thought-provoking talk, with such wisdom and vision that one has presented, predicting the fate of a country futuristically. Today, while some of the keynote speeches at degree awarding ceremonies are a frivolity, and entertain audiences with Sinhala pop songs, (ignoring other nationalities in the audience), it is remarkable that 70 years ago, Pandit Nehru had the courage and wisdom to view a tapestry of truth which speared the consciousness of Sri Lankan intelligentsia that lasted for decades.

Pandit Nehru delivered this visionary talk at the King George hall on the 12th of January1950 to congratulate the degree holders who were about to receive accolades for their hard work. Nehru was preparing to talk to these young academics, their parents and the faculty who were eagerly waiting to hear the words of the first Prime Minister of India. Yet, surprisingly, his speech addressed some of the issues that have been neglected and still prevail in this country after 70 years of his speech. This talk he delivered may have undoubtedly ignited many thoughts among listeners, some might have been disappointed, and others, excited. His speech was simple yet deep and philosophically rich. In his talk, he shared visionary guidance for our educators and administrators to run our Universities and provided a philosophy to build a cohesive and restrained society that can absorb the changes and challenges in the new world. But alas…..his words went down the drain.

Yet, after 70 years of struggle, hatred and communal rivalries, we failed to achieve what Pandit Nehru had envisioned in his talk. We have produced graduates who are introverted and technocratic, who would perhaps suit the propagation of liberal economic policies adapted by our ruling governments to run businesses. Yet, we have not been able to produce people who can see life, the future of the country and our relationship with the world through a bird’s eye view, which helps us to see the clear picture of how we started, what we have been doing, and where we are heading. We have not been able to produce graduates who would soar in the sky, enabling them to see the land and the people in a critical and constructive way. We have failed to produce academics, who can understand worldly phenomena in cohesive and integrated ways, which helps us to find solutions to the issues that our people face today.

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