ADVANI SAYS NEHRU WAS RELUCTANT TO SEND TROOPS TO KASHMIR IN 1947:
POSTED BY HABIB YOUSAFZAI, KASHMIR DIASPORA ALLIANCE
ASSALAM-O-ALAIKUM!
‘NEHRU FELT ISSUE SHOULD BE TAKEN TO UN’
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
New Delhi, Nov 7: After claiming
that Jawaharlal Nehru had called Sardar Patel a "total communalist",
BJP leader L K Advani Thursday stoked a fresh controversy saying the then prime
minister was reluctant to send army to Kashmir in 1947 even as Pakistani troops
approached, but the Home Minister prevailed over him.Quoting from an
interview of Sam Manekshaw (then a Colonel) by senior journalist Prem Shankar
Jha, Advani said in his latest blog that as the tribesmen- supported by
Pakistani forces-moved closer to Srinagar, a decision had to be taken on moving
Indian forces there. However, Nehru appeared reluctant and felt the issue
should be taken to the UN.
Referring to Manekshaw's claim in
the interview, Advani said Lord Mountbatten called a cabinet meeting soon
after Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession. This was attended
by Nehru, Patel and defence minister Baldev Singh. Manekshaw presented the "military situation"
in the meeting and suggested the Indian forces be moved there. "As usual
Nehru talked about the United Nations, Russia, Africa, God almighty, everybody,
until Sardar Patel lost his temper. He said, 'Jawaharlal, do you want Kashmir,
or do you want to give it away'. He (Nehru) said, ‘Of course, I want Kashmir.
Then he (Patel) said 'Please give your orders'.”
"And before he could say
anything Sardar Patel turned to me and said, 'You have got your orders',"
Advani said, quoting Manekshaw from the interview to Jha. The Indian
forces were then flown to Srinagar to fight the Pakistani forces and the Muslim
soldiers of Hari Singh who had defected to Pakistan. "This report,
involving Manekshaw and Prem Shankar Jha, provides a clinching confirmation of
the difference between Nehru and Patel over the Hyderabad action," Advani
said.
On November 5, Advani had written a
blog where he quoted from the memoirs of M K K Nair, a 1947 batch IAS officer,
to say that Nehru had called Patel a "total communalist" when the
latter said at a Cabinet meeting that "police action" will have to be
taken against Hyderabad as it was trying to join Pakistan.
Advani indicated that he wrote the
blog today to counter the Congress reaction to his last posting, based on
Nair's book, that the IAS officer's report about a clash between Nehru and
Patel on the issue of armed action against the Nizam is "all bunkum".
The senior BJP leader also claimed that Britain sought to thwart Jammu and
Kashmir's accession to India. Both the Indian and Pakistani army were headed by
British generals in 1947-48.Quoting from a website on Gen Roy Bucher,
the then Commander-in-Chief of the Indian army, Advani says he was opposed to
police action in Kashmir and told a Cabinet meeting that it is not possible to
bring the whole of Jammu and Kashmir under control as the British were
supporting Pakistan.
Pakistan suspected that the
Maharaja wanted to accede to India and tried to pre-empt his decision by
forcibly seizing the state. Gen Bucher told the Cabinet that if his advice
against police action in Kashmir was not followed he would resign."There
was a silence while a distressed and worried Nehru looked around. Patel
replied, 'You may resign General Bucher, but the police action will start
tomorrow'," Advani said, quoting from the website. The British did
not want a Indo-Pak war, he added.
"The British clearly did not
want the whole of Jammu and Kashmir to go to India. There was a widespread
feeling in London that if India was in control of areas contiguous to Pakistan,
the latter would not survive," Advani said.But the website gives
credit to Nehru, saying he had decided to strike at the bases of the raiders in
Pakistan though Mountbatten was opposed to this.
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