Did Jawaharlal Nehru Say That He Was Not Involved In The Fight For Independence? Here’s The Truth.

A video of an interview with India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru is going viral on social media with the claim that he said that he did not take part in the fight for independence. 

The video was sent to our 24*7 Factline number 9049053770 with the Hindi caption “एक दुर्लभ वीडियो फुटेज है जिसमें नेहरू एक ब्रिटिश पत्रकार को इंटरव्यू दे रहे हैं नेहरू खुद स्वीकार कर रहे हैं कि यह सच्चाई है मैं कभी आजादी की लड़ाई में हिस्सा नहीं लिया फिर पत्रकार पूछता है यह क्या महात्मा गांधी जी देश का बंटवारा चाहते हैं थे ? तब नेहरू का रहे हैं नहीं महात्मा गांधी जी देश का बंटवारा बिल्कुल नहीं चाहते थे लेकिन मैंने सोचा देश का बंटवारा हो जाए क्योंकि हिंदू और मुस्लिम साथ नहीं रह सकते हैं और देश के बंटवारे पर मैं गांधी जी को राजी किया” (There is a rare video footage in which Nehru is giving an interview to a British journalist. Nehru himself is admitting that this is the truth, I never took part in the freedom movement. Then the journalist asks, did Mahatma Gandhi want the partition of the country? Then Nehru says, no, Mahatma Gandhi did not want the partition of the country at all, but I thought that the country should be partitioned because Hindus and Muslims cannot live together and I convinced Gandhiji to partition the country). 

In the video, the subtitle read, “I was not involved in the fight for independence, at all. In fact, you opposed it. The Muslim League was an was a started. About 1911 I think. It was started really by the British encouraged by them. So as to create fractions in our eggs, they did succeed. To some extent and ultimately there came the partition. Now had you and Mr Gandhi been in favor of that? Mr Gandhi was not in favor of it right to the end. Even when it came he was not in favor of it. I was not in favor of it either but ultimately I decided like others did many others. It is better to have partition than this constant. Um, Trouble”. Jawaharlal Nehru can also be heard saying similar words.

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The same video was shared on Facebook too.

Archived Link.

Other posts can be seen here and here.

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However, as we investigated, we came to know that the viral video was edited. Here’s the fact check.

Fact Check

We started our investigation by taking some screenshots of the viral video and conducting a reverse image search. As a result, we found the same video on the YouTube channel Prasar Bharti Archives. The caption of the video read, “Jawahar Lal Nehru’s Last TV Interview in 1964”.

There Jawaharlal Nehru can be heard saying, “Mr Jinnah was not involved in the fight for independence, at all. In fact, he opposed it. The Muslim League was started in about 1911, I think. It was started really by the British, encouraged by them so as to create factions in our ends, they did succeed to some extent. Then ultimately, there came the partition…”

Archived Link.

Moving forward, using relevant keywords we found the full version of the interview on the YouTube channel Prasar Bharti Archives which was uploaded on 14 May 2019. The description of the video read, “Full video recording of what was perhaps Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s last significant interview to American TV Host Arnold Mich. Jawaharlal Nehru’s last TV Interview – May 1964e his death. Another book by Chandrika Prasad provides a date of 18th May 1964, when the interview was aired in New York, this is barely a few days before the death of Pandit Nehru on 27th May 1964”.

From the timestamp 14:51 to 15:47 the viral video can be seen.

The same video was uploaded on the Facebook page “Nehru Centre for Social Research” on 1 December 2021.

From this, it’s clear that in the video Jawaharlal Nehru was talking about Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The word “Mr Jinnah” has been replaced by “I” in the viral video.

Conclusion 

From our investigation, we can say that the viral video is edited. In the original video Jawaharlal Nehru was talking about Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The word “Mr Jinnah” has been replaced by “I” in the viral video.