Nehru's 97 Major Blunders

by Rajnikant Puranik

When Abdullah launched the ‘abusive and mischievous’{BK/375} Quit Kashmir agitation against the Maharajah in May 1946 leading to his arrest (Blunder#27), Nehru decided to go to the Valley in June 1946 to free Abdullah. Though prohibited to enter the State, Nehru decided to defy the ban. He proclaimed that he wanted to take on the autocratic and the feudal rule that prevailed in Kashmir. Autocratic and feudal rule prevailed in the other 547 Princely States too that ultimately merged with India: Did Nehru go to any of those 547 states to similarly protest—especially the recalcitrant Nizam-ruled state of Hyderabad, where Hindus had been brutally at the receiving end of the Razakars? Nehru did not seem to realise that the support of the princes and their collaboration would be indispensable in the coming months for persuading them to accede to India. To take on the Maharaja at that stage, and that too as Congress president, was politically wise. Sardar Patel and others tried to dissuade him, yet he went.