The Forgotten Iron Man

There's a border crisis brewing between India and its mighty neighbor, China. The governments of both the countries are working round the clock to come to a solution diplomatically. But when has diplomacy ever truly resolved any situation? Being in my final semester at an engineering college, and having at my hand nothing but free time, I got to reading about the case. And, as it always has been with me, started researching the depths of history to look for an answer. 

But then, as social media would have it, I stumbled upon the release of the latest Iron Man movie. Hmm, Iron man, that's an interesting name for a superhero. Wonder whether any person had been called that in real life. Why yes! Long ago, there existed an Iron Chancellor. A man of Blood and Iron who united the various small German states into the mighty German Empire! Fast forward to the 1940's and change the location to India. The actions of another great Son of the Soil will lead his contemporaries to label him as the Iron man of India or India's Bismarck. Yes, this post is about that great founding Father of the Republic of India. Who, through his undeterred will and Gandhian principles would defy the wishes of a dying superpower and religion fanatics, to make a new born nation strong enough to stand on its feet. 

World War 2 has just ended. Independence is not far away now, one can almost smell it! But, wait. Are you so naive as to think the British would hand it over so easily? They propose a plan to divide India into- Hindustan, Pakistan and Princestan(comprising all the 560+ princely states). Enter: Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel, or Sardar Patel as called by his supporters. He was quite popular in his times, as is evident from the fact that Congress members voted for him to be the new party President, and by default, the first Head of the government. But, he gladly stepped down when Gandhi asked him to do so in favor of Nehru. Patel was the Saviour and Builder of Modern India.

• Saviour: Sardar Patel's Iron will was all that stood in the way of British interests and Jinnah's demands. The Cabinet Mission of 1946 came up with the proposal of Pakistan which included entire, undivided Punjab and Bengal, besides Assam. Gandhi favored this plan, as this would lead to a satisfied Jinnah and an end to the incessant rioting. Patel was the only leader to openly oppose this proposal, despite Gandhi's approval. His firm stand was the most important deterrent which limited the size of Pakistan.

• Builder: Patel's most significant gain was the concession that Britain would not interfere in the settlement with the princes. Who, according to Churchill's original plan, were to be clubbed into a third nation- Princestan. After Independence, Patel was made in-charge of the Home Ministry. What laid in front of him was the next to impossible task of integrating 560+ princely states of varying geographies, cultures and people into the United Union of India. Patel had to deal with states like Travancore and Junagadh, which wanted to be independent and could have afforded to do so, given their coastlines and sizeable economies. Or the likes of Bhopal, who were Pro-Jinnah and wanted to merge with Pakistan and were constantly pressurizing other states like Jodhpur to join them, as it would give them a direct land link with Pakistan. Hyderabad finds a special mention here. Hyderabad was a huge, landlocked kingdom, sitting right in the heart of India. It was ruled by a Muslim nobility, which wanted independence from India as well as Pakistan. After the transfer of power in 1947, Hyderabad sent its envoys to other countries including Pakistan and India and also had a representative at the UN. By December 1947, the Nizam signed a standstill agreement with India, but in reality he was only buying time to acquire weapons from Pakistan and Portugese controlled Goa, for a war with India which seemed inevitable. The situation worsened in 1948, when the Razakars, a Muslim militia began wide spread rioting against the predominantly Hindu population. Mountbatten proposed referring the case to UN. He also had Nehru convinced of the same, to find a peaceful solution. But Patel denied any such possibility. He argued that doing so would tarnish the image of India and the case would be lost to International Politics. Patel initiated Operation Polo in September 1948, a military invasion of Hyderabad. The entire operation took just 5 days, and India took complete control of Hyderabad. Congratulatory messages poured in from the world, to acknowledge this great feat the Iron Man had single-handedly achieved.

• The entire scenario of Political Integration is too vast to cover in this post. Please refer to the following link for further reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_integration_of_India .

Sardar was not some ruthless conqueror who set out to seize power from the smaller Kings and Nawabs. He didnt just strip the princes of their powers and leave them on the streets. He declared most of them as the nominal heads of their kingdoms, allowed them to retain their palaces and wealth and also offered them handsome pensions to live on. Such was the impact of Sardar, that his staunchest enemies, the princes and their nobles(Hindus and Muslims alike) grew to become his closest friends and supporters. Every soul that came in contact with him, described him as gentle and persuasive, firm and determined. The Maharaja of Gwalior even went on to say that, "If we Princes have to have our throats cut again, we will undoubtedly choose the Sardar." 

Next we come to the current scenario: the Border issue with China. As far back as 1950, Sardar Patel had predicted of this problem. Thousands of copies of a map was distributed in the various Himalayan kingdoms of Sikkim, Nepal etc. by the Chinese. The map showed Tibet(which was at that time, a Sovereign kingdom) and China as the palm of a human hand, and Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh as its five fingers. Nehru brushed aside this news and replied that he was building a diplomatic relation with China. Even when China annexed Tibet, Sardar pleaded Nehru to intervene and help Tibet maintain its sovereignty, but to no avail. Sardar was of the opinion that Tibet should exist as a "buffer state" between the two great powers: India and China. But, Nehru was busy building his "diplomatic relations" with China. Boy, did he get the shock of his life when China came invading into India in 1962. Only if the government had taken Sardar's warnings seriously and had acted on it, the situation today wouldn't have been so bad.

I guess, in the end, the whole point of "History" is to remind us of our mistakes, learn from them and never repeat them again. To remind us that such great men walked among us and we should be forever grateful to them. Men of action, like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Without whom, Gandhi's ideas would have had less practical influence, and Nehru's idealism less scope. Patel, who proved to be Shiva, to Nehru's Vishnu. Sardar Patel, who is often forgotten and relegated to the background in History books. Patel, without whom, this is what modern India would be like:

 

Green: Pakistan

Orange: India

White: Princely States; most likely to remain Independent

Disclaimer:

It is not my intention to hurt the feelings or sentiments of any individual or group. I merely wish to generate awareness about the Great Iron Man of India.

References:

[1] India's Bismarck: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel;  Balraj Krishna.
[2] Sardar(1993); A Biopic directed by Ketan Mehta, starring Paresh Rawal as Sardar Patel.