Dr. H.V. HANDE
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s birthday was celebrated as “National Unity Day” with great enthusiasm by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Kevadia in Gujarat and others all over the country on October 31.
However, Congressmen keep on asking why PM Modi makes so much ‘fuss’ about Sardar Patel? The answer is simple. Please read the following from my book on Kashmir — Who created the Kashmir Problem? — written 20 years ago when I was the president of Tamil Nadu BJP unit’s Intellectual Cell.
In my book I have written that “Kashmir problem was created by Pandit Nehru because he kept it as his personal preserve. If only Pandit Nehru had allowed Sardar Patel to handle the accession of Kashmir, too, along with 500 odd states that Sardar Patel dexterously handled, there would have been no Kashmir Problem today. Even in the case of Kashmir, if Sardar Patel had not suddenly butted in and woken up Pandit Nehru, we would have lost the whole of Kashmir, along with Srinagar.”
Prem Shankar Jha in his book ‘Kashmir 1947’ – page 135 – Oxford Press has the following to say ‘Field Marshal Manekshaw was, in 1947, a Colonel. He had accompanied Shri V. P. Menon ICS, to Kashmir when the latter had gone to secure the Instrument of accession of Jammu and Kashmir. As the Colonel serving in the Directorate of Ministry of Defence (Planning), after returning to Delhi, he accompanied Shri V. P. Menon ICS, to the Prime Minister’s residence on the morning of 27 th October 1947. Pandit Nehru was closeted with Lord Mountbatten and Sardar Patel, Field Marshal Manekshaw has the following to say in an interview given to Shri Prem Shankar Jha at New Delhi on 15 th December 1994.
Field Marshal Manekshaw states “At the morning meeting, V. P. Menon ICS handed over the (Accession) thing. Mountbatten turned around and saw me. ‘Come on Manekji (He called me Manekji instead of Manekshaw)! What is the Military situation? I gave him the Military situation, and told him that unless we flew troops immediately, we would lose Srinagar, because going by road would take days, and once the tribesmen got to the airport in Srinagar, we couldn’t fly troops in. ‘Everything is ready at the airport’ Manekshaw continued, ‘As usual, Nehru talked about the United Nations, Russia, Africa, Godmighty, everybody, until Sardar Patel lost his temper. He said, ‘Jawaharlal, do you want Kashmir, or do you want to give it away ? He ( Nehru) said, ‘Of Course, I want Kashmir’. Then Patel said, ‘ Please give your orders’. And before Nehru could say anything, Sardar Patel turned to me and said, ‘You have your orders’.
“I walked out, and we started flying troops at about 11 O’ clock or 12 O’ clock. I think it was the Sikh regiment under Ranjit Rai that was the first lot to be flown in. And then we continued flying troops in. If the operation had been delayed by a few hours, not only Srinagar but the entire Jammu and Kashmir would have been occupied by Pakistan’, concludes Colonel Manekshaw”.
There are several situations, like for instance in the case of Hyderabad, when Sardar Patel saved the Nation by overriding Pandit Nehru. This is why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has resurrected from History, the tall figure, the Iron man of India, conveniently forgotten by the Congress, because he does not belong to the ‘dynasty’.
The author Dr HV Hande, a medical practitioner and politician, served as the health minister of Tamil Nadu from 1980 to 1986. He was credited with improving the rural healthcare and strengthening the system to ensure access to good healthcare in Tamil Nadu.
