The opening line “THE LAST SUN of the century sets amidst the blood-red clouds of the West and the whirlwind of hatred” of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s poem “Sun Set of the Century,” composed on the eve of new year 1900 resonates in India when hate on the basis of faith targeting minorities and their places of worship has been routinised by BJP leaders and Hindutva forces. Prime Minister Narendra Modi maintain deafening silence without uttering a word of condemnation indicates his insensitivity to such pressing issues.While Tagore was locating the “whirlwind of hatred” in the context of “blood-red clouds of the West,” India, after 126 years, on the eve of new year 2026, is ominously confronting incessant peddling of hatred by BJP and Hindutva leaders who with impunity unleash violence on Indians based on their faith, food and racial features and even language.Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta’s piece “2025 Saw the Politics of Hate Triumph Over Voices of Conscience” published in The Wire on the eve of New Year 2026 poignantly gives an account of the sinister manifestation of hate at the behest of powers that be. He remarks with pain that “Hate has come to be normalised…” and “ 2025 was a year that saw the cementing of such a trend.” While noting people’s valiant efforts to protect children from air and water pollution he asks with a heavy heart,“…how long should we wait for them to stop becoming robotic witnesses to the injustices and hate that has come to dominate public life?”Tagore’s concernsOn December 31, 1899, Tagore wrote in his aforementioned poem that people bereft of material strength and robbed even of their modicum of self-esteem should fearlessly stand up to those who ruled over them and imposed their authority.“Be not ashamed my brothers to stand before the proud and the powerful, With your white robe of simpleness,” he remarked summoning his moral authority in face of the crude display of raw power. He reminded people in his majestic poetic style, “And know that what is huge is not great and pride is not everlasting”.Tagore’s impactful poem composed on December 31, 1899 deserves to be quoted on the occasion of every new year and more so, on January 1, 2026 when its salience assumes greater significance in the context of routinisation of hatred by Modi regime.Nehru’s invocation of Tagore on new yearIt is salutary to note that India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru was so keen to use a painting of Tagore in his new year greeting card for the year 1961, that he wrote a letter on September 18, 1960 to one S.R. Das, seeking permission to reproduce it. Padmaja Naidu with the help of Kshitish Roy and Prithwis Neogy chose that painting with a lamp and some writing by him in Bengali and English. The English rendering read,“The night has ended. Put out the light of the lamp of thine own narrow corner smudged with smoke, the great morning which is all appears in the East. Let its light reveal us to each other who walk on the same path of pilgrimage”.Tagore wrote those hopeful lines in 1932 and Nehru chose to use them to greet people of India on the new year day of 1961 when Tagore’s birth centenary was celebrated.Nehru, while inaugurating a slum dwellers’ colony in Bombay (now Mumbai), on January 1, 1961, addressed the children and said, “All days are equally good but New Year’s Day always reminds us of what we need to do and people make all kinds of resolutions on this day”. While remarking that all should resolve to serve the nation according to one’s ability he said, “The best service to the nation is to behave with amity and friendship towards everyone”.“There are different religions, provinces, castes and languages in India. But all the people belong to one family,” he asserted upholding unity of Indians regardless of their faiths and languages.That vision of India celebrating all faiths and their festivals and upholding unity has been shattered by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Hindutva forces who have attacked Muslims and Christians on the occasion of Eid and Christmas and even snuffed out lives of many of them by lynching so many people professing Islamic faith. It is rather tragic that Tagore’s usage of the words, “whirlwind of hatred’ is now getting played out in India on the occasion of new year 2026.K.R. Narayanan invoked Nehru on the occasion of new year 2000Twenty-six year back, on the occasion of new year 2000, Nehru was invoked in the greeting card by then president K.R. Narayanan. The card was designed on the instructions of Narayanan and its inner cover had Nehru and Einstein’s photograph and below it was printed a quote from Nehru’s Discovery of India. It stated that in future, there would be an alliance of science and humanism out of which would emerge scientific humanism.That new year card conveyed a worldview, anchored in science and humanism, both of which are now indispensable to counter superstition, bigotry and hatred promoted by BJP leaders and Hindutva forces out to destroy the idea of India and the Constitution.The “Whirlwind of Hatred” which Tagore cautioned about, is sweeping India and his appeals to people to counter it by standing up to the powerful along with Nehru’s scientific humanism, are indispensable to celebrate new year 2026 free from toxicity of hatred.S.N. Sahu served as Officer on Special Duty to President K R Narayanan.