INDIA'S BISMARCK: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

Saviour of Kashmir from Pakistani Raiders

It was the beginning of November 1947. Extreme wintry conditions gripped the valley. The people of Srinagar could ward off biting cold by remaining indoors, and warming themselves with burning coal in their kangaris under their woollen overalls. But they faced another, far worse fate. Four miles outside the city limits, the Pakistan-backed tribal raiders were amassing for their final assault. People shivered with fear, awaiting with certainty the fate that had befallen Baramulla a few days earlier: large-scale looting, indiscriminate burning, brutal murder and rape of innocent women. All the victims were Muslims. Confident of the capture of Srinagar, Jinnah was at Abbotabad “expecting to ride in triumph into Kashmir”. A “personally outraged” Sheikh Abdullah felt tormented by “ancestral recollections of previous incursions up the same route”. Was history repeating itself? It would have, but for Patel’s timely help.

At such a critical moment in Kashmir’s history, Patel arrived in Srinagar on 4 November to save the people from the ordeal they faced. He had brought with him the defence minister, Baldev Singh, so that his decisions could be given effect to without delay. The journey was hazardous. Weather was cruel. Conditions could deteriorate to render visibility poor. The plane could have moved into Pakistani territory, the air-passage between Jammu and Srinagar being so narrow. Consequences could have been serious. However, the landing was safe, and Patel immediately plunged into the job for which he had come: to assess the military requirements of the army. Conflicting reports from the valley had confounded New Delhi. This had upset Nehru so much as to make him say that “to receive two diverse reports on the situation in the Kashmir Valley over a matter of hours was more than he could tolerate”.

Patel moved to the control room for a briefing by Brigadier L. P. Sen, in charge of the 161 Brigade engaged in the operations. Sen has an interesting story to tell: “Sardar Patel had closed his eyes soon after I had begun the briefing, and I assumed that he was feeling the effects of air journey and had fallen asleep. The briefing completed, I looked at Sardar Baldev Singh and asked him a direct question, ‘Am I expected to eject the tribesmen from the Valley regardless of the fate that may befall Srinagar, or is the town to be saved?’ Sardar Patel stirred. The Tiger had not been asleep, and had heard every word of the briefing. A strong and determined man and one of few words. ‘Of course, Srinagar must be saved,’ he snapped. ‘Then I must have more troops, and very quickly . . . some artillery (as well).’ ‘I am returning to Delhi immediately,’ he said, ‘and you will get what you want as quickly as I can get them to you.’ . . . That evening I got a message that two battalions of infantry, one squadron of armoured cars and a battery of field artillery were being despatched to the Valley by road . . . Sardar Patel had lived up to his reputation as a man of action.” And, thus, Srinagar and the valley were saved from falling into the hands of the raiders.

General Roy Bucher, the British commander-in-chief of the Indian Army, was opposed to Patel’s taking a great risk by flying to Srinagar. But Patel simply “ordered an aircraft . . . to be placed at his disposal.” Bucher conceded: “This flight did result in reinforcements being sent to Kashmir.” Earlier, immediately after the Maharaja’s accession to India on 26 October, the cabinet had to sanction airlifting of troops to Srinagar. Nehru, as usual, vacillated, worried by international opinion.

According to Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, then a brigadier in charge of military operations: “Panditji’s long exposition about accession of the State and the United Nations was cut short by the impatient Sardar Patel with the question: ‘Jawahar, do you care for Kashmir, or not?’ ‘Of course, I do,’ thundered Panditji. The Sardar turned to me and said, ‘Go, you have your orders’.” And thus Patel put an end to such vacillation, and the airlifting took place the very next morning of the twenty-seventh. Delay would have helped Pakistan, not only to capture Srinagar, but to take over the whole state as constituted before the transfer of power. She would have had international support, as later events proved.