R. MURALI Senior Superintendent Tamil University Thanjavur
THE KASHMIR PROBLEM AS REVEALED FROM SARDAR PATEL'S LETTERS
One of the foremost and outstanding personilities of India who played a prominent role in the national struggle for Independence and after it, was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. He was a towering personailty equal in stature to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, though he had to take the second place because of the Mahatma's preference for Nehru. But for Sardar Patel, India would have remained fragmented with hundred of states, big and small, which were left free to make their choice whether to merge with India or Pakistan or to remain independent.
Patel dreamt of a united India strong and powerful. He won over the princes by tact and firmness. Ultimately all the 538 states excepting Kashmir, became a part and parcel of United India.
He achieved this with the help of his Secretary V. P. Menon, and it earned for him the well-merited title 'Iron man of India' and 'Bismarck of India'. But for him, as already said, India would not have been one. He was a great patriot of the country. He was a hard-headed realist who did not believe in mere theories but maintained always an objective attitude. His robust realism and his iron will worked wonders in those early turbulent days after partition. He was a simple person who could lead India with his rock-like will power. He was a total contrast to Jawaharlal Nehru who was an aristocrat and a dreamer. Sardar Patel was rooted in the soil and knew how to win over men. Altogether his personality and character were such as to make people say: "Had Sardar been alive today our country would not have seen such hard days."
In the process of integrating the Princely States, Sardar Patel had to face problems, only in regard to three of them; காகிதச்சுவடி ஆய்வுகள்
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