Sardar Patel : The Best PM India Never Had

by Rajnikant Puranik

Sarila points out: “Another factor that distinctly influenced the situation was Nehru’s offer to Mountbatten to chair the Defence Committee of the Indian Cabinet. It was this committee and not the Indian Cabinet as a whole that made decisions on Kashmir war policy. This power gave the governor-general enormous power to influence the course of fighting.”{Sar/357}

Despite what China did to Tibet, India signed ‘The Panchsheel Agreement’ with China on 29 April 1954. The agreement itself was titled “Agreement on Trade and Intercourse between the Tibet region of China and India” thus acknowledging Tibet as a part of China.

“Common talk among the members of the Indian Civil Service post-Independence used to be: ‘If the dead body of the Sardar were stuffed and placed on a chair, he could still rule.’”{BK/xi, xii} —Balraj Krishna

Rustamji also wrote: “The one test which Nehru applied to men whom he took into the inner circle was loyalty to him. It did not matter if a man had no mind of his own. He must, however, have enough intelligence to avoid irritation. He should be able to understand what the PM said, and if he asked questions, he should do so intelligently so that an opening may be provided for JN to amplify his points for another half an hour or so… He must put all his faith in Nehru, believe in Nehru, admire and adore Nehru, and say worshipful things now and again which could be brushed aside with gratified indifference…”{Rust/194} Rajaji

MKK Nair, an IAS officer who was close to both Sardar Patel and VP Menon, states in his book ‘The Story of an Era Told Without Ill-will’: “Incessant differences of opinion between Nehru and Patel caused Nehru to treat Patel with personal animosity. If the great Nehru was not above harbouring personal hatred, he would not have done two things he did on the day Patel died. He sent two orders to the Home Ministry and they arrived at V P Menon’s desk. The first was that the Cadillac car that Patel used should be returned the very next morning to the Foreign Ministry. Patel died in Bombay. Nehru’s second memo asked officers who wished to attend his funeral to travel at their own expense. V P Menon called officers of his Ministry and, without divulging Nehru’s order, asked who all were interested to attend the funeral. About a dozen officers wanted to. He bought their air tickets at his expense. When Nehru learnt about it, he was annoyed even more.”{MKN} {Adv/157}