India acquired Kashmir by lawful means only. He expected danger from Pakistan soon. In the same speech he spoke thus :
"A fighting is going on in Kashmir and the ulcer of Hyderabad still continues to spread poison in the rest of India....
Again he said:
"Three states alone remained outside Junnagadh, Hyderabad and Kashmir and it was in these three states that Pakistan found an opportunity to intervene. We warned them not to intervene in our domestic matters like thieves and dacoits, but they did not heed us".
Pakistan had always given trouble to India right from the beginning because of the "Two Nations theory" propounded by M.A. Jinnah. The leader of the Muslim League. The nationalist leader of Kashmir Sheikh Abdullah assured that Kashmir's future lay only with India, and Kashmir can maintain its individuality onlly if it acceded to India. If it merged with Pakistan, it will lose its identity.
Thus it may be seen that it was Sardar Patel who was responsible for the making of a united India by bringing together the 538 independent states which could have created many problems if they had been allowed to remain independent or merged with Pakistan, because of contiguity or their muslim population or their muslim rulers. This earned for him, the title the 'Bismarck of India' after the great German statesman who unified the Germany in the 19th century.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel died in December 1950, But in the forty months, he was in office, he had worked wonders for the new nation. Had Sardar Patel lived a few more years economic and social position would have been different, the country would have been stronger and Kashmir problem would have been settled long ago. But instead, we are still facing the potential danger of war with our neighbour still, because of Kashmir.
References
1. Nandurkar, Sardar's Letters - Mostly Unknown, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Smarak Bhavan, Ahmedabat, Vol. I to V, 1978. 2. Panjabi, K.L.. The Indomitabb Sardar, Bharatiya Vidhya Bhavan. Bombay, 1962.
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