After CM Yogi's Speech, Social Media Users Revive a Quote Misattributed to Nehru

Adityanath said that people whose ancestors called themselves "accidentally Hindus" cannot call themselves Hindus.

Speaking at a public rally in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in the state, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, saying that people whose ancestors called themselves "accidentally Hindus" cannot call themselves Hindus.

...तो वह 'हिंदू और हिंदुत्व' में भेद नहीं करते।

इनके पूर्वज कहते थे कि हम तो ​'एक्सीडेंटली हिंदू'​ हैं। pic.twitter.com/a5UnDevcnE

— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) January 3, 2022

Though Adityanath didn't name anyone, the statement was seen as an apparent reference to a quote which has been famously misattributed to India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Soon after the rally's clip was shared on social media, several users reshared the quote attributing it to Nehru.

CLAIM

The quote reads, "I am Christian by education, Muslim by culture and Hindu only by accident."

Archived versions of more recent claims on social media can be seen here, here, and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

The Quint had previously published a fact-check by Alt News debunking the same claim in 2018.

In the story, it was found that there was a reference to this statement in book titled 'The Nehrus: Motilal and Jawaharlal' by writer BR Nanda, Mahatma Gandhi's biographer. As per Nanda's book, the quote was actually made by NB Khare, then-leader of the Hindu Mahasabha, who had made the statement to describe Nehru.

Nanda had referred to the same quote in another book, attributing it to a 'critic'. Further, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also alludes to this quote in his book 'Nehru: The Invention of India' and attributes it to Khare.

Speaking to The Quint, former BJP minister MJ Akbar had corroborated in a 2018 article, that the statement had been made by NB Khare.

"The president of Hindu Mahasabha in 1950, NB Khare was only repeating an old story when he called Jawaharlal Nehru 'English by education, Muslim by culture and Hindu by accident'".

MJ Akbar

Akbar added that though Nehru "preferred his father's intellect over his mother's tradition," he had never expressed contempt towards religion.

The Rumour's Origin and Nehru's Religion

In a book titled 'A Study of Nehru' published in 1960, on page number 215, Khare attributes the quote to Nehru by saying that "he himself explained" the quote in his autobiography.

However, when we looked through his autobiography, we did not find any such remark, but found remarks on Nehru being a "Brahman."

Speaking at the Aligarh Muslim University in 1948, Nehru explicitly said, "You are Muslims and I am a Hindu" while referring to the growing communalism in India, as per The Hindu.

Clearly, there is no official record of Nehru making the statement. The only reference to this remark has been made by Hindu Mahasabha leader NB Khare.

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