This is apropos a Business Recorder op-ed "G-B's status" carried by the newspaper on Thursday. The writer, Muhammad Waqar Rana, has presented a highly informed perspective to the newspaper readers by arguing, among other things, "Britain deliberately left undecided the fate of princely states under the Indian Independence Act, 1947 because it suited India with a big army and huge resources with the tacit support of Clement Atlee and Louis Mountbatten to forcibly and illegally incorporate them into the Union. Hyderabad, Kashmir, Junagadh and many other states were forcibly occupied or coerced to join Indian Union. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and V.P Menon were (in) famouslycalled the architects of this plan. All is documented in Menon's 'the story of integration of Indian States' and Patel's papers. Patel's large statue built by Narendra Modi laughs at humanity and minorities of India."

In my view, the RSS-BJP combine demonizes almost the entire Indian Congress leadership except Patel. It has to do it because of a variety of reasons. First and foremost is the fact that none from the Sangh Parivar played any role in the Independence Movement per se. Idolizing Patel is an effort, however feeble, on the part of the present rulers in India in order to make themselves relevant to the events that preceded the partition of sub-continent. They have no other option although it was Patel who placed a ban on RSS following the assassination of Gandhi by Nathuram Ghodse, who was an active RSS member.

Sudhir Chawla (Dubai)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020