Nehru once described himself thus. He combined in himself the very best of both the traditions. Writing on the Future of Freedom, Fareed Zakaria, the editor of 'Newsweek International' reviews the practice of democracy with an accent on the post-war period all over the world. He sees them as liberal democracies and illiberal democracies. India receives a great attention of the writer.
The Congress Party and the British constitutional institutions were the bulwark of the democratic tradition during the Nehru years. Indian Parliament, even the 'Question Hour', the cast of committee life of the Congress Party, the independence of the judiciary, the personal integrity of the leadership, and a host of other things were exactly modelled on the British experience. The Englishman was the model down to the right pronunciation of his language. Prime Minister Lloyd George, speaking next to Rt. Hon. V.S. Srinivasa Sastri said he was shy to speak his own mother tongue after listening to the chaste delivery of Sastri.
Nehru's father was fully Anglicised. Sri Aurobindo's father never wanted his children to hear Bengali spoken and put them into English schools at the early age of 7. The Europeans, especially Englishmen are men of character, integrity, self-respect, individuality, and independence. They practise the work ethic of Protestantism and work tirelessly. Modern science, the several empires, post-war development, and conquest of disease are the direct result of these VALUES, all of which are spiritual in origin and content. Nehru was an embodiment of these values on the foundation of what is sacred in the Indian Spirit, the quest for Truth, or the seeking of Brahman. Young men who desire to be practical will do well to be practical idealists, which is the Idealism of the Spirit in Life.