Patel was 'a great captain of our forces in the struggle
for freedom, a tower of strength to wavering hearts'

Fifty years after India won freedom, the myth that Sardar Patel was anti-Muslim persists. In this fascinating essay, Dr Rafiq Zakaria, the respected scholar, reveals the truth about Patel and India's Muslims.

Patel replied to Nehru the next day, in fact three days before Tandon did, with his letter dated August 9, 1950 and suggested that Nehru should try to bring round Tandon, who had the deepest affection for him, and discuss personally 'his faults with him,' adding, 'some might even find it strange that matters have come to a head only at the time of his candidature, when the malady was deep-seated.'

More letters were exchanged between Patel and Nehru and when Patel learnt that in the contest for the Congress presidentship, which by then had become inevitable, Nehru was favouring Acharya Kripalani against Tandon, Patel was amazed. Kripalani was much more anti-Muslim than Tandon. In his last letter to Nehru on this controversy dated August 27, 1950, Patel wrote, 'I regard Kripalani as having taken in the past, with reference to the points you hold against Tandonji, a more destructive and critical role against you than Tandonji has ever done.'

In this unfortunate episode, what was surprising was that while Rafi Ahmad Kidwai and Mridula Sarabhai were actively influencing Nehru, Azad and Rajaji, whose secular credentials were impeccable, were siding with Patel. In the election Tandon won; Nehru took Kripalani's defeat so much to heart that he offered to resign from the prime ministership. But the storm blew over.

Patel prevailed upon Rajaji and Azad to bring about a reconciliation between Nehru and Tandon. In the annual session at Nasik, over which Tandon presided, Patel took care to see that every resolution, including the one on the communal question, as drafted by Nehru, was passed unanimously; he also helped to cool much of the heat generated during the contest.

Nevertheless some close friends suggested to Patel that he should let Nehru quit, and take over the prime ministership. They assured him that the party was solidly behind him. Patel had a hearty laugh. He told them, "you are right. The party is with me; but the people are with him."

Soon thereafter, the Sardar passed away in Bombay on December 15, 1950. In a moving tribute in the Lok Sabha Nehru recalled their long association and described Patel as "a friend and a colleague on whom one could invariably rely." He was, to use Nehru's picturesque words,''a great captain of our forces in the struggle for freedom as well as in moments of victory.. a tower of strength to wavering hearts."

Azad was no less eloquent in his praise of a life-long comrade, with whom he might have had his differences, but whose valour was ''as high as the mountains" and whose determination was ";as strong as steel."

The final verdict on the attitude of the Sardar to Indian Muslims was pronounced by Gandhiji, who was a better judge of it than any of us. "He lived and worked to remove the divide between Hindus and Muslims. He gave his life for it," he declared, "I know the Sardar ... His method and manner of approach to the Hindu-Muslim question, as also to several other questions, is different from mine and Pandit Nehru's but it is a travesty of truth to describe it as anti-Muslim. The Sardar's heart is expansive enough to accommodate all."

Excerpted from Sardar Patel and Indian Muslims, by Rafiq Zakaria, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1996, Rs 125, with the author's permission. Readers interested in buying a copy of the book may write to Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Kulapati K M Munshi Marg, Bombay 400 007.