Sardar Patel was the undoubted leader of the Congress party at the time of independence who was poised to become to the prime minister of the newly independent nation. However, Nehru cleverly pulled strings to lean on Gandhi to make himself the party president and then the prime minister. Patel was never power-hungry and he simply stepped aside for Nehru. He then took the responsibility of merging the 565-odd principalities to India as the minister in charge of the newly formed States ministry. Vappala Pangunny Menon (1893 – 1968), an official from Kerala and the secretary to the ministry, ably helped him achieve the impossible. V P Menon was a master in any field he touched upon. He was the Reforms Commissioner to three viceroys, drafted the plan of partition, Patel’s right hand man and secretary to the States ministry. With a mix of subtlety, gruff charm and ruthlessness, VP cajoled, coaxed and threatened rulers into joining the newborn Indian union. Even though politicians made impassioned speeches about Swaraj, nobody realized the sheer amount of work that went into making a modern nation. VP handled the tedium and technicality of the dream to be made reality which was stupendous. Narayani Basu is the great-grand daughter of V P Menon and is a historian and foreign policy analyst. This is her second book.
V P Menon’s life is amazingly brilliant, perhaps one in a billion, in which a person from a very disadvantaged background rose to the top positions of bureaucracy. He ran away from home at 13, after failing an exam and in revenge burning the school down. He worked in the Kolar Gold Fields and did all sorts of jobs in Mumbai, including selling towels on the streets. A kindly Englishman recommended him as a typist in a government office. VP never looked back and reached the pinnacle by sheer hard work. He never bent his back and was sometimes even blunt almost to the point of rudeness. Even as a lower level officer, he announced his ideas without demur and confidently argued his point in the middle of meetings. Along with surprise, this generated a mix of resentment and grudging respect among the British superiors. Racism was rampant in the colonial bureaucracy, but what mattered to VP was not titles, but authority; the authority to help guide his country on its path to freedom. With this extra care given to his official matters, he failed to bond with his children. He was emotionally distant with them and his sons addressed him ‘Sir’ at home, even as grown men!
This book reveals V P Menon’s
attitude to some of the Congress’ agitation methods which is filled with
post-independence hyperbole. The Congress launched non-cooperation and Satyagraha
against the Raj in the 1920s. This was a systemic war which involved the return
of decorations and honours, withdrawal of children from government schools and colleges,
boycott of law courts by lawyers and litigants alike and the boycott of
elections. The next stage anticipated the resignation of all officials and
soldiers and non-payment of taxes. This seemed the height of folly to VP
especially since he felt he could do something constructive from within the walls
of the imperial secretariat. He always felt that the Congress policy of
non-cooperation was a total mistake (p.149), especially with reference to the Second
World War. The resignation of the Congress-led provincial governments in 1939
and refusal to join the Viceroy’s Executive Council in 1940 in effect gave Pakistan
in a platter to the Muslim League. This book also points to VP’s opinion on the
Moplah Rebellion of 1921 in Kerala which is trumpeted as a chapter of the
freedom struggle but was in fact a one-sided communal riot in which thousands
of Hindus were killed, looted, raped and forcibly converted. VP’s neighbourhood
was the worst hit. On the audio tape of his interview, his voice crackles and
breaks for a minute as he talks about the devastation in his native village. He
remarked that the Khilafat leaders were communal and were merely making use of Gandhi
for their own purpose (p.60).
V P Menon maintained good working
relationship with all the people he had had to serve. His dedication to Patel was
complete. Patel reciprocated the feelings. During the winter of 1946, VP
persuaded Patel to let go of his fond hopes for a united India. Except through Partition,
there was no agreement possible and therefore no emancipation from Britain. Patel
had no desire to govern India along with Jinnah who put obstacles on every
move. VP entered Mountbatten’s inner circle because he was close to Patel, who
was the real power in the Congress even though Nehru was its titular head. Another
curious fact was also seen here. Both Nehru and Patel had a Menon as their
trusted aide – VP for Patel and V K Krishna Menon for Nehru. Even Edwina Mountbatten
once intervened to prevent VP’s resignation as Constitutional Advisor when he
felt that he was being sidelined.
Basu gives a detailed narrative of
the events in May and June 1947 which had a profound significance on the nature
of the country’s birth as a free nation. Mountbatten’s announcement of 4 June
that India will be granted independence on Aug 15 was a bolt from the blue. He
gave only ten weeks for the preparations to undergo in the background. A
program called Menon Plan was chalked out for the transfer of power to
partitioned states. This was prepared hastily in Shimla in four hours. Mountbatten
appropriated the plan for himself in his meetings with senior officials at London.
The author also investigates the tall claims by the Viceroy in sorting out the Partition
issues and comes out with a possible answer. VP and Patel pandered Mountbatten’s
enormous ego. They knew that their plans would work only if the Viceroy was not
just on board, but its ambassador too. At different points in 1947, he was told
deferentially that the only way history could move forward was if he played his
part. It worked well.
The author also notes the strong
undercurrent of spite in Nehru-Patel relations. Nehru was always obsequious to Gandhi
while Patel never agreed with his wild ideas once he took office (p.225). Nehru
had nearly omitted Patel in the list of ministers in India’s first cabinet. Basu
wonders whether this was out of fear of the Sardar who could govern India
better than himself. He wanted to fill the cabinet with his cronies and had
already dispatched his sister Vijayalakshmi Pandit to Moscow as India’s
ambassador. In short, Nehru lost no time in stuffing positions of power with
his hand-picked people. VP heard of this and implored Mountbatten to intervene
with Nehru to revise the list.
A detailed narrative on the
integration of Indian native states to the Union is included, with special
references to Junagadh, Hyderabad and Kashmir. This was VP’s life’s work for
which the nation still remembers him with respect and gratitude. He tried all
tricks up his sleeve to coerce the petty rulers to part with their fiefs and
sign it away to the nation. The book also describes some tactical moves made by
VP to bolster India’s position on Kashmir. He pretended that the Instrument of Accession
signed by its ruler was dated Oct 26, 1947. On the next day, Indian troops
crossed the border to drive out Pakistani tribesmen and disguised soldiers out
of Kashmir. Basu hints that the treaty was signed on Oct 27, in fact after the
military intervention had taken place. She further claims that both VP and Patel
were of the opinion that Kashmiris would opt for Pakistan if a plebiscite was
held at that time and VP is said to have implied this in a discussion with Chaudhury
Muhammad Ali and Lord Ismay (p.380). However, Pakistan’s refusal to pull out
its troops negated the very first condition for plebiscite in the Valley as
stipulated by the UN.
The first part of the book is
riddled with many historical errors. It claims that during the First World War,
1.3 million Indians signed up for the army and ‘Mohandas Gandhi, then a young
barrister in London, declared that every Indian should think imperially and began
preparations to recruit an Indian Ambulance Corps’ (p.31). Probably the author
is confused with the Boer War in South Africa in which Gandhi participated in
this way. In another instance of goof up, the author claims that VP witnessed Gandhi
arriving at St. James’ Palace for the first Round Table Conference in 1930 (p.97).
In fact, Gandhi attended the Second Round Table Conference the next year which VP
didn’t attend. It is also shown that the Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed on 5 May
1931 (p.84). The correct date is 5 March 1931. These wrong facts don’t affect
the flow of the narrative, but the author’s credibility is imperiled.
The book is successful in bringing
to light the man and bureaucrat who V P Menon was. She has relied on the
reminiscences of family members and the original soundtrack of audio interviews
given by him in the 1960s.
The book is highly recommended.
Rating: 3 Star
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