Dr. Munshis historic letter to Pandit Nehru: VPMenon calls it a masterpieceOctober 11, 2013, 4:42 PM IST LK Advani in LK Advani's Blog | India | TOI

In one of my earlier blogs I had dealt at length with how Sardar Patel, his close colleagueVP Menon and Lord Mountbatten had acted in perfect concert to integrate India afterthe Britishers left. In that I had relied not only on the two remarkable books written byVP Menon, whom Sardar Patel had named Secretary of the States Department, but yetanother more recent book authored by a lady named Alex Von Tunzelmann titled IndianSummer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire. This lady is primarily a researchereducated in Oxford who now lives in London. Menons two books which I have beenrecommending to all book lovers are Integration of the Indian States and The Transferof Power.

But the tailpiece in that blog was taken from a news report in the Pioneer of 30thOctober, 2012, that is, on the eve of Sardars birth anniversary last year. The newsreport was about a sharp exchange that took place in a Cabinet meeting between Nehruand Patel just a few weeks before GOIs operation in Hyderabad. Pandit Nehru wasopposed to the army action which Sardar Patel had decided upon after receiving reportshow the Nizams private army, the Razakars, were committing atrocities on innocentcitizens.

Pandit Nehru wanted to refer the Hyderabad issue also to the U.N. as he had done in thecase of Kashmir ? that too against the advice of Patel.

The news report filed by Pioneers Chennai correspondent was based on a book writtenby a 1947 IAS official by name MKK Nair and carries the title With No Ill FeelingTowards Anybody.

The report also said that following the bitter exchange between the Prime Minister andDeputy Prime Minister, Sardar Patel had walked out of the meeting angrily. That onSeptember 13, 1948, the army action, named Operation Polo did take place andculminated successfully on September 18, is now history.

But since the time I wrote that blog I have been desperately searching for the book

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which, I thought, may possibly fill up the gaps in the countrys knowledge as to whatactually transpired during the interlude. The author, I gather, is no longer alive. Norhave I been able to locate the book at any bookstore, or even in any Library. Throughthis blog I would like to appeal to all my readers that I would feel greatly indebted towhosoever can procure the book for me. Pioneer Editor Chandan Mitra also has beentrying, but has not succeeded as yet.

My last blog was about Pandit Deendayal Upadhyayas birth anniversary on September25 and the two major BJP events that are connected with this anniversary, events whichI cannot forget. The first was my Somnath to Ayodhya Yatra in 1990. The second wasthe record gathering of over six lakh BJP activists in Bhopal, who will be managing theover 53000 polling booths in the State when Madhya Pradesh goes to the polls onNovember 25 this year.

I have mentioned in this blog (October 8,) that as Sardar Patel who was to inauguratethe Somnath Temple after it had been reconstructed, passed away on December 15,1950, the Temples formal opening was done by Rashtrapati Dr. Rajendra Prasad I havementioned that he did so even though the Prime Minister had opposed the move. Andthereby hangs one more interesting episode worth recounting at this point. The episodecommences with a clash in the cabinet not very different from the Army-action joustbetween Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel.

* * *

It was Sardar Patel who had been the first to visit Junagarh after the popular revoltagainst the Nawab who had announced the states accession to Pakistan. Terrified bythe peoples anger, the Nawab fled to Pakistan. Sardar Patel was given a rousingreception by the people. At a huge meeting Sardar Patel declared that the SomnathTemple, foremost among the twelve Jyotirlingas, would be reconstructed at its originalsite, and the Jyotirlinga reinstalled.

After returning to Delhi he secured Gandhijis blessings for the move and had PanditNehru have it endorsed by his Cabinet. The Cabinets decision implied that Governmentwould incur the expenditure. But that evening itself when Sardar Patel, Dr. Munshi andN.V. Gadgil went to Gandhiji to apprise him of the Cabinets decision, Gandhijiwelcomed it but added: Let the people and not the Government bear the expenditure.

Pandit Nehrus cabinet had decided to reconstruct Somnath in 1947. But in January1948, Gandhiji was assassinated.

In December 1950, Sardar Patel breathed his last. After the demise of these twoveterans, a change came about in Pandit Nehrus attitude. After a Cabinet meeting inearly 1951, Panditji called Dr. Munshi, who was Food and Agriculture Minister in theCabinet and said to him: I do not like your trying to restore Somnath. It is Hindurevivalism.

Kanhaiyalal Munshi did not utter a word in reply. He came back home and prepared along letter whose text has been reproduced in his famous book Pilgrimage to Freedom.Dr. Munshi wrote to Pandit Nehru:

Yesterday you referred to Hindu revivalism. You pointedly referred to me in the Cabinet asconnected with Somnath. I am glad you did so; for I do not want to keep back any part of myviews or activities.I can assure you that the Collective Subconscious of India today ishappier with the scheme of reconstruction of Somnath sponsored by the Government of Indiathan with many other things that we have done and are doing.

Emphasising the social reform aspect of Somnaths reconstruction, Munshi added:

The intention to throw open the temple to harijans has evoked some criticism from theorthodox section of the Hindu community. However, the objects of the Trust Deed make itclear that the temple is not only to be open to all classes of the Hindu community, but,according to the tradition of the old temple of Somnath, also to non-Hindu visitors. Many havebeen the customs which I have defied in personal life from boyhood. I have laboured in myhumble way through literary and social work to share or reintegrate some aspects ofHinduism, in the conviction that that alone will make India an advanced and vigorous nationunder modern conditions.

Dr. Munshi concluded his letter with words that deserve to be preserved in perpetuity:

It is my faith in our past which has given me the strength to work in the present and to lookforward to our future. I cannot value Indias freedom if it deprives us of the Bhagavad Gita oruproots our millions from the faith with which they look upon our temples and therebydestroys the texture of our lives. I have been given the privilege of seeing my incessant dreamof Somnath reconstruction come true. That makes me feel makes me almost sure that thisshrine once restored to a place of importance in our life will give to our people a purerconception of religion and a more vivid consciousness of our strength, so vital in these days offreedom and its trials.

On reading this letter, V.P. Menon, the legendary civil servant who assisted Sardar Patel

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in the gigantic task of the integration of the princely states, wrote a missive to Munshi. Ihave seen your masterpiece. I for one would be prepared to live and, if necessary, die bythe views you have expressed in your letter.

TAILPIECE

When the Somnath Temple was ready, Dr. K.M. Munshi approached the first President,Dr. Rajendra Prasad, with the request that he inaugurate the temple and ceremoniallyinstall the Jyotirlingam. He was apprehensive that Rajendrababu might not agree. Afterall, the President was aware of Munshis correspondence with the Prime Minister.

To his delight Dr. Rajendra Prasad readily agreed. I would do the same with a mosqueor a church if I were invited, he added. This is the core of Indian secularism. Our stateis neither irreligious nor anti-religious.

Pandit Nehru protested the Presidents decision. But Rajendrababu disregardedPanditjis objection, and kept his promise.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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