Hodson wrote in 1969: “Pandit Nehru’s first list for his post-independence Cabinet omitted the name of Sardar Patel.”

Three pages of Narayani Basu’s 440-page biography of her great grandfather, V.P. Menon has caused a flurry. These pages, 281-283, are part of this engrossing and gripping book. Why have these pages produced such a cargo of excitement and interest? Because these highlight the untidiness of life. They are about Nehru, Patel and V.P. Menon and an event of historical significance.

My reaction is that Jawaharlal Nehru not including Sardar Patel’s name in the list of those whom he wanted to be members of his Cabinet is old hat. I first read about it in H.V. Hodson’s book, The Great Divide, published in 1969. Hodson wrote, “Pandit Nehru’s first list for his post-independence Cabinet omitted the name of Sardar Patel” (in a footnote he says, “Possibly on the advice of Mr. Gandhi”).

Hearing this no doubt from Patel himself, V.P. Menon hurried to the Viceroy and warned him: “This will start a war of succession in the Congress party and split the country.” Nehru had great influence with the masses, and some of the supra-political appeal of Mahatma Gandhi had rubbed off on him, but Patel, as party treasurer and chairman of the committee which selected parliamentary candidates, had immense power over the party machine, and in a showdown with Nehru might even win. Lord Mountbatten conveyed this alarm to his Prime Minister, though he (Mountbatten) would have had no official information of the plan to drop “the strong man of the Congress”.

I have two queries. I knew Lord Mountbatten reasonably well. We exchanged letters for a number of years. He was endowed with the many splendid qualities but his idea of truth was somewhat flexible. The story of an empty sealed envelope being handed over to him by the Prime Minister makes little sense. It is most probably Mountbatten’s invention. He was given to this habit most of his life. Every care would have been taken by Nehru’s staff to ensure that the list of Cabinet Ministers was put in the envelope before it was sealed. Nehru’s meticulously efficient private secretary, M.O. Mathai would never have allowed an empty envelope to be sealed. I have some knowledge of the care with which such vital communications are scrutinized before being dispatched.

What happened to the empty sealed envelope which had Lord Mountbatten’s name and designation on it?

Mountbatten not only had an excellent memory, he had a freakish one. When Hodson wrote to Mountbatten to verify the Menon story, His Lordship, to begin with, evaded replying not once but twice. The author writes at a later date “Mountbatten’s memory was miraculously restored”.

S. Gopal, in volume two of his biography of Nehru writes, “that the list from the start, included Patel a fact which would not require mentioning but for the story that Jawaharlal had decided to omit him but was persuaded by Mountbatten to do so. Were this so, Jawaharlal would have been lacking not only integrity and loyalty but common sense…..”

I am aware of Nehru’s many failings and character flaws. However, this is not the occasion to catalogue them.

This is a book worth reading. Some of it revelations are captivating and of lasting interest. One glaring error. Sardar Patel died on 15 December 1950. Not on the 14th.

I reproduce here the list of ministers written by hand by Jawaharlal Nehru himself on 14 August 1947 (see image).

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Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is now among the front rank politicians in India. His political skill, his understanding of the temper of the time, his connect with the people, and the development work his government did left the arrogant, over confident BJP breathless. Even till now the most loudmouthed offenders of the party—their names are well known—have not been suspended from the party. They did immense damage to their party. This the Home Minister has acknowledged.