Fact Check: Jawaharlal Nehru Never Said He Was ‘Unfortunately Hindu’, Fake Claim Viral

New Delhi (Vishvas News). A post about the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru is going viral, in which it is being claimed that he had once described himself as “a Christian by education, Muslim by culture, and Hindu by misfortune”.

Vishvas News investigated this post and found the claim to be fake. Reports and books suggest that the viral statement was made by Hindu Mahasabha leader NB Khare about Nehru, not by Nehru.

What is going viral?

Facebook user Jago Hindustani shared the post on November 11, 2024. It reads… “I am a Christian by education, Muslim by culture, Hindu by misfortune. – Jawaharlal Nehru”

See the archive version of the viral post here.

Investigation

While searching with keywords, we found a copy of the Hyderabad edition of the Deccan Chronicle newspaper, in which this statement was published on November 18, 2018, attributing it to Nehru. The paper later retracted the claim and published a correction on November 25, 2018, which reads – “The quote, “I am… a Hindu only by accident of birth”, was erroneously attributed to Jawaharlal Nehru on the ‘360’ page published on Nov 18. It was an allegation made by Hindu Mahasabha leader N.B. Khare in 1959. We deeply regret the error”.  

We followed this up with additional research and found a mention of the viral statement in the book ‘Nehru: Motilal and Jawaharlal’ by historian Bal Ram Nanda. According to Nanda, Hindu Mahasabha leader NB Khare had described Nehru thus. 

We also found this statement in Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor’s book ‘Nehru: The Invention of India’, where it is mentioned that Khare made the remark in an attempt to tarnish Nehru’s image.

We reached out to senior journalist Piyush Babele, who has authored the book ‘Nehru Mithak Aur Satya’ on Nehru, for clarification. He said, “This statement was not made by Jawaharlal Nehru. The remark by N.B. Khare is being falsely presented as Nehru’s.”

We also contacted Mridula Mukherjee, former Chairperson of the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University and former Director of the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library. She said, “This was said by N.B. Khare.”

The viral claim was shared by a Facebook user named Jago Hindustani. This page has 100 followers.