Nehru’s reservations about a narrow form of nationalism predate his years as in office. On 14th December 1932, writing to his daughter Indira from prison, he remarked:

‘Nationalism is good in its place, but it is an unreliable friend and an unsafe historian. It blinds us to many happenings, and sometimes distorts the truth, especially when it concerns our own history. So we have to be wary, when considering the recent history of India, lest we cast all the blame for our misfortunes on the British’.