Review: INDIA'S BISMARCK: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
INDIA'S BISMARCK: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
DNA
May 31, 2008
A faithful friend and a formidable foe REVIEW BY Vidya Vencatesan, Head, Department of French, Elphinstone college, Mumbai
INDIA'S BISMARCK -Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel: Balraj Krishna; Indus Source Books, P.O. Box 6194, Malabar Hill PO, Mumbai-400006. Rs. 300.
India's Bismarck by Balraj Krishna is no mere biography of India's Iron Man. It tells the story of a less familiar chapter in Indian history —the period when India was on the brink of independence. We are privy to the debates, disagreements and personality clashes within the Congress party at this time. We also learn of Winston Churchill's masterful imperialist strategy to balkanise India into Hindustan, Pakistan and 'Princestan' or a third dominion which would be an independent confederation of princely states.
Sardar Patel's contribution to those tumultuous times were three fold: he fostered administrative unity with the creation of the Indian Administrative Service; he ensured that the new nation of Pakistan did not include the Hindu parts of Punjab and Bengal and predominantly Hindu Assam; and he convinced rulers of small states to sign the Instruments of Accession. All this contributed to the creation of a united India. What Bismarck did for Germany, Patel did for India.
This book also includes rare and unpublished correspondence between important historical figures such as Lord Mountbatten, KPS Menon and others who had interacted meaningfully with Sardar Patel and the author. These letters describe personal tête à têtes and little known incidents, and offer intimate insights into the life of a very private man.
The initial chapters of this well-researched book deal briefly with Patel's early life and his rise to become Gandhi's most fearless satyagrahi. It is from the fourth chapter that the narrative picks up momentum. Sardar Patel, a born administrator, realised that to dismantle the imperial ICS (Indian Civil Service) without quickly developing an Indian Administrative Service would spell chaos. He won over the loyalty of the Indian members of the ICS to efficiently implement the transfer of power on behalf of the departing colonial masters, and simultaneously put in place the IAS to ensure effective administration of independent India.
The fifth chapter discusses the original partition plans proposed to the Congress by a war weary Britain unwilling to relinquish control over the subcontinent — plans that were most unfair to India. Territories to be made over to Pakistan included the states of Punjab and Bengal, both of which had sizeable Hindu populations, not to mention Assam, which was predominantly Hindu. Sardar Patel asked for a division of the Punjab and Bengal, insisting that the predominantly Hindu areas will remain with India. This led to him being maligned as the man behind the partition of India by some members of his own party.
The most interesting chapter in the book is the one that tells us how Sardar Vallbhbhai Patel successfully got 565 state territories and principalities to accede to the Indian Union. All he had were his persuasive powers, his oratory, and his unflinching will. This great statesman of India was as faithful a friend once the political differences were resolved as he was a formidable foe across the negotiating table.
A very enjoyable part of the book consists of snippets from conversations and a peek into closed door meetings. Sardar Patel was known for his keen intellect, no less sharp tongue, quick repartee, and speaking his mind without fear or favour. When one of the princes threatened to take a legal opinion about retaining his sovereignty, Patel calmly informed him: "Your Highness may consult the lawyers, but I make the law." He liquidated princedoms, and freed the people but let the princes keep their palaces, handsome privy purposes, and their titles.
The chapters on Sardar Patel's stand on Kashmir, Nepal and Tibet are very pertinent to us today. "The tragedy of it is that the Tibetans put faith in us; they chose to be guided by us; and we have been unable to get them out of the meshes of Chinese diplomacy or Chinese malevolence" he writes to Nehru in 1950. Nehru's dithering, Sheikh Abdullah's Machiavellian games, and Mountbatten's playing on Nehru's close friendship to advance Britain's imperial cause are all discussed threadbare.
While the rest of the historical figures are realistically portrayed (Sir CP Ramaswamy Aiyar is called a "super egotist" who played "rogue elephant politics"), Sardar Patel remains a rigid cardboard cut out, inaccessible because wart-less. This excessively hagiographic style spoils the narration somewhat. Similarly, calling Sardar Patel the proverbial shepherd who herded the flock of princes, or St John the Baptist who baptised people to Gandhi's ways in a book of written in 2007 is anachronistic. A more critical and unbiased approach would have made the man who missed Prime Ministership by a whisker more human and therefore easier to relate to for the reader. Full of valuable information, this book remains a useful history textbook, no more.