Nehru was reluctant to send troops to Kashmir in 1948: Advani

[Vishwarupa]

After claiming that Jawaharlal Nehru had called Sardar Patel a "total communalist", BJP leader L K Advani today said the then prime minister was reluctant to send army to Kashmir in 1948 even as Pakistani troops approached, but the Home Minister prevailed over him.

Quoting from an interview of Sam Manekshaw (then a Colonel) by senior journalist Prem Shankar Jha, Advani said in his latest blog that as the tribesmen- supported by Pakistani forces- moved closer to Srinagar, a decision had to be taken on moving Indian forces there.

However, Nehru appeared reluctant and felt the issue should be taken to the UN.

Referring to Manekshaw's claim in the interview, Advani said Lord Mountbatten called a Cabinet meeting soon after Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession. This was attended by Nehru, Patel and defence minister Baldev Singh.

Manekshaw presented the "military situation" in the meeting and suggested the Indian forces be moved there.

"As usual Nehru talked about the United Nations, Russia, Africa, God almighty, everybody, until Sardar Patel lost his temper. He said, 'Jawaharlal, do you want Kashmir, or do you want to give it away'. He (Nehru) said,' Of course, I want Kashmir. Then he (Patel) said 'Please give your orders'.

"And before he could say anything Sardar Patel turned to me and said, 'You have got your orders'," Advani said, quoting Manekshaw from the interview to Jha.

The Indian forces were then flown to Srinagar to fight the Pakistani forces and the Muslim soldiers of Hari Singh who had defected to Pakistan.

"This report, involving Manekshaw and Prem Shankar Jha, provides a clinching confirmation of the difference between Nehru and Patel over the Hyderabad action," Advani said.

On November 5, Advani had written a blog where he quoted from the memoirs of M K K Nair, a 1947 batch IAS officer, to say that Nehru had called Patel a "total communalist" when the latter said at a Cabinet meeting that "police action" will have to be taken against Hyderabad as it was trying to join Pakistan.

Nehru was reluctant to send troops to Kashmir in 1948: Advani | Business Standard

 

[sayareakd]

This kind of things happen only at election and all persons who can say anything are dead. Ofcourse minutes of cabinate meetings are state secret.

 

[Shirman]

Well sir Advani is firing Missiles after missiles on Beloved Chacha Nehru here was another one :-

Link :-http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-11-05/india/43693109_1_sardar-patel-rajaji-nehru-and-patel

Nehru had called Patel a 'total communalist', Advani says
PTI Nov 5, 2013, 12.10PM IST

NEW DELHI: BJP on Tuesday raked up another controversy over Sardar Patel with LK Advani quoting a book to allege that then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru called his home minister a "total communalist" when the latter suggested that army be sent to take over a defiant Hyderabad after Independence.

In his latest blog posting, Advani has referred to extracts of a book - "The Story of an Era Told without Ill Will" by MKK Nair which deals with the "sharp exchange" between Nehru and Patel in a Cabinet meeting before "police action" against Hyderabad.

The Nizam, who wanted to accede to Pakistan, had sent an emissary to the neighbouring country and transferred a huge sum of money to the government there.

The Nizam's officials were reportedly heaping atrocities on locals.

"At a Cabinet meeting, Patel had described these things and demanded that army be sent to end the terror-regime in Hyderabad. Nehru who usually spoke calmly, peacefully and with international etiquette, spoke losing his composure, 'You are a total communalist. I will never accept your recommendation...

"Patel remained unperturbed but left the room with his papers," Advani says, quoting from Nair's book.

BJP has of late been trying to appropriate Sardar Patel as a leader close to the Hindutva ideology.

On Patel's 138th anniversary on October 31, Advani had heaped praise on India's first home minister at the inauguration of a project to build a 182 metre tall statue- the tallest in the world- of the leader.

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, who is behind this endeavour, said India needs Patel's secularism which united people and not the "vote bank secularism" that is being practiced today.

Both Advani and Modi have sought to fashion themselves as inheritors of Patel's legacy.

BJP has also alleged that Sardar Patel contribution was never hailed by the Congress and that it only eulogized the Nehru-Gandhi family. In his blog, Advani says then governor general Rajaji prevailed over Nehru to send the army to Hyderabad.

As the situation continued to worsen, Rajaji called Nehru and Patel to Rashtrapati Bhawan to discuss the issue. Meanwhile, the army was kept battle-ready.

During his meeting with Nehru and Patel, Rajaji used a letter from the British high commissioner protesting against the rape of 70-year-old nuns of a convent two days earlier by Razakars of Hyderabad.

V P Menon, a bureaucrat and close aide of Patel, had given this letter to Rajaji before the meeting.

"Rajaji in his typical style described the situation in Hyderabad. He felt that, to safeguard India's reputation, a decision should not be delayed any longer. Nehru was concerned about international repercussions. Rajaji then played his trump card - the letter from the British high commissioner.

"Nehru read it. His face turned red... Anger choked his words. He shot out of his chair, slammed his fist on the table and cried out, 'Let's not waste a moment. We'll teach them a lesson," Advani said, quoting from the book.

 

[drkrn]

"Rajaji in his typical style described the situation in Hyderabad. He felt that, to safeguard India's reputation, a decision should not be delayed any longer. Nehru was concerned about international repercussions. Rajaji then played his trump card - the letter from the British high commissioner.

"Nehru read it. His face turned red... Anger choked his words. He shot out of his chair, slammed his fist on the table and cried out, 'Let's not waste a moment. We'll teach them a lesson," Advani said, quoting from the book.

typical nehru.always thinks of opinions of foreigners.
his wish to become an international leader have costed india a lot..

 

[Ray]

Shorn of the natural deifying instinct of Indians of their leaders, Nehru, was too consumed in his self image, and hence there may be truth in the statement that he was not keen to send troops to Kashmir.

This attitude is also borne out by Nehru's toeing the Western line to agree to the UN ceasefire, when Indian Army was on the move and recapturing parts of Kashmir usurped by Pakistan.

Who, in his right mind, would hold back a force that is winning and not letting them succeeded and instead agree to a ceasefire?

 

[sayareakd]

It is good that LKA wake up to find this now..........instead of these non issues, he should point out development and future plans to take India ahead.

 

[Ray]

It is good that LKA wake up to find this now..........instead of these non issues, he should point out development and future plans to take India ahead.

The issue of Patel was raised by the Congress and so I presume he is reacting to the same.

 

[Abhijeet Dey]

L K Advani is saying this before November 14 Children's Day which is also Pandit Nehru's birthday.

 

[Coalmine]

If something would have been said about modi in advani's blog media would have gone hammer and tongs against modi.
We dont see much brouhaha in media over this now.

 

[Simple_Guy]

General Nathu Singh Rathore also said same thing about Nehru.

Nathu Singh was promoted Major General, and appointed GOC Deccan Area, where he was involved in the planning of the Hyderabad operations, which took place later. While he was there, he was called to Delhi, to attend a briefing, so that he could take over command of the operations in Jammu and Kashmir, which had already commenced. Due to some reason, he could not reach Delhi in time, and Brigadier Kalwant Singh, who was then Director of Operations at Army Headquarters, and familiar with the situation, was promoted Major General, and despatched to Jammu and Kashmir, as GOC Jammu And Kashmir Force.

When Nathu Singh reached Delhi, he went to the Operations Room, and came to know of this development. After studying the situation, he went to meet the Prime Minister, which was then a normal practice, for senior Army officers. When he reached the Prime Minister's house, he found him sitting on the lawn, talking to some ministers, and civilian officials. Presently, Nehru got up and went inside. The others present there asked Nathu Singh for his views, on the best way to deal with the crisis, in Kashmir. Nathu Singh replied that if he had his way, he would use the minimum troops, to hold the passes, and with maximum force, attack and capture Lahore. This would force Pakistan to withdraw, and vacate all occupied territory in Jammu and Kashmir. The civilians were impressed by the logic of this argument, and when Nehru returned, they told him that the General had a good plan, to throw out the invaders. When Nehru asked him to repeat what he had said, Nathu Singh demurred, saying that he would rather not, since he knew it would not find favour.

But Nehru insisted, and Nathu repeated what he had told the others. Nehru became angry, and said that a responsible senior officer like him should not have thought of such a foolhardy scheme, which could cause an international crisis. It is interesting to recall that in 1965, a similar plan was approved by Lal Bahadur Shastri, who was then the Prime Minister, and it was the threat to Lahore which saved Kashmir, from Pakistani aggression.

Nathu Singh Rathore

 

[Decklander]

The Kashmir policy of Nehru used to be made on the bed of Edwina. The decision to over rule the cabinet and unilaterally announce a ceasefire and agree to UN intervention when Pak troops had nearly run out of supplies and money to fight the battle further, was also taken the previous night on the bed of Edwina.

 

[Yusuf]

Advani losing credibility day by day. His claim the other day was called out as false by people with better grip on history

 

[Ray]

Advani claimed that Nehru called Patel 'communal'.

Well, Patel was a 'no nonsense' man and some of the things he said or advocated were not very palatable to many. Some could find it. Communal & some, as being a nationalist.

Perceptions!

But Nehru was woolly headed in so far as issues of strategic prowess.

This euphoric trance that Nehru exhibited cost India dearly as far as its territorial integrity is concerned.

 

[ersakthivel]

Shorn of the natural deifying instinct of Indians of their leaders, Nehru, was too consumed in his self image, and hence there may be truth in the statement that he was not keen to send troops to Kashmir.

This attitude is also borne out by Nehru's toeing the Western line to agree to the UN ceasefire, when Indian Army was on the move and recapturing parts of Kashmir usurped by Pakistan.

Who, in his right mind, would hold back a force that is winning and not letting them succeeded and instead agree to a ceasefire?

Nehru's idea of stopping the war in Kashmir when the situation was favorable to IA and rushing to UN is one of the most stupid moves for any leader to make.

he was so full of himself to get any worthwhile military advice from any credible source and signing the Indus water treaty without asking Pakistan to openly recognize that Kashmir is an inalienable part of india is icing on the cake.

we had all the cards in our hands on kashmir at that time the legitimate accession pact with maharaja Hari Singh , The mass based National Conference fully supporting Kashmir's accession to India , yet he blew it all with so called article 370 and Un imbroglio which puts Indian diplomacy in a quagmire with respect to kashmir.

And his Hindi-Chini boy boy without even asking china to recognize the whole of kashmir as Indian before accepting Tibet as chinese territory would have sent any other leader any other nation thrown out of office.

The prophetic warning on China by pragmatic leaders like Patel fell on deaf years. Nehru's visceral dislike for Indian armed forces as a tool of British imperialism clouded his views on national security.

If such a quid pro pro along with reasonable border alignment with china was pursued earlier we would not have the sorry state of India recognizing Tibet as part of china while chines wink at us on kashmir,

His stupid non alignment which consumed his dogmatic mind made India a bitter critic of US moves and pushed us towards the hollow to the core Soviet style planning system.

The economic reforms unleashed by Rao govt with wafer thin majority and subsequent faster growth of India prove h how wrong nehru was on economic front,

Infact what is derisively called as Hindu rate of growth of 2 percent is actually Nehru growth of rate under his myopic economic policy. Hindu rate of growth 6 plus percent for two consecutive decades revealed itself to the world when Rao govt liberalized India.

Most of the dirt poor poverty we see in India is all due to this stupid economic policy of nehru.

Also when TATA broached the subject of family planning , the idea was promptly dismissed by nehru with a view more population is more power, which was proved as abject false hood now with India having more than 400 million people below poverty line.

 

[Decklander]

Death of Sardar Patel while Nehru lived was really bad for India as that allowed Nehru to do whatever he wanted as no one was left in Khangrass to challenge him.

 

[natarajan]

The Kashmir policy of Nehru used to be made on the bed of Edwina. The decision to over rule the cabinet and unilaterally announce a ceasefire and agree to UN intervention when Pak troops had nearly run out of supplies and money to fight the battle further, was also taken the previous night on the bed of Edwina.

These people love is costing us lot,first nehru did blunders in kashmir and china war ,now rajeev's love is costing the whole nation.

 

[Blackwater]

Nehru did only one good thing. that was land reforms in india. rest he was useless fellow

 

[Decklander]

These people love is costing us lot,first nehru did blunders in kashmir and china war ,now rajeev's love is costing the whole nation.

did you notice the love for white Pus**es by all male members of Nehru dynasty. And love for non hindu Indian Di*ks by all their women?

 

[Simple_Guy]

Nehru had paranoia of military coup: General VK Singh

 

[ersakthivel]

did you notice the love for white Pus**es by all male members of Nehru dynasty. And love for non hindu Indian Di*ks by all their women?

This is too personal and below the belt. We should focus on political issues not personal preference.

no one can blame Nehru family alone for this. Illiterate people of india chose to ignore all this and we are paying the price.