Sardar Patel opts for Partition of India
·
On 25
December 1946, Vallabhbhai was willing to see India divided
·
Churchil advised
Jinnah on the ‘moth-eaten and truncated Pakistan’
Dr.
Hari Desai’s Weekly Column “Back to Roots” in Asian Voice, the Newsweekly of
ABPL Group, London
9
December 2017 Web Link : http://bit.ly/2iQff21 Blog : haridesai.blogspot.com
·
“Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel,
the two big Congressmen in the Interim Government, accept Partition on the
understanding that by conceding Pakistan to (Mohmmad Ali) Jinnah, they
will hear no more of him and eliminate his nuisance value, or, as Nehru put it
privately, that by ‘cutting off the head we get rid of the headache.”
·
Almost six month before
officially accepting the formula of Partition of British India, Patel had made
up his mind to get rid of Jinnah by accepting his demand for Pakistan,
Rajmohan indicates in his “Patel : A Life”. By the announcement of Prime
Minister Clement Attlee on 20 February 1947, the indication of Partition
was clear. “About two months earlier- ‘late in December 1946 or early in
January 1947-, Menon had outlined to him(Patel) a scheme for transfer of
power on the basis of partition and Dominion status, and Patel had
responded with approval.
·
Sardar Patel told the Constituent Assembly : “I give you this
inner history which nobody knows. I agreed to Partition as a last resort,
when we had reached a stage when we could have lost all. We had five or
six members in the Government, the Muslim League members. They had already
established themselves as members who had come to partition the country. At
that stage we agreed to Partition; we decided that Partition could be
agreed upon on the terms that the Punjab should be partitioned-they wanted
the whole of it-that Bengal should be partitioned-they wanted Calcutta
and the whole of it.”
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