THE assertion of Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi that (the then Prime Minister) Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru prevented (the then) Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel from fully integrating Kashmir into the Indian Union (in 1947-48), makes a strong case of a very serious exercise of reinvestigation of the details of the history of those tumultuous years when the British rule ended the reigns of the country came into Indian hands. Such an exercise may ruffle quite many feathers, all right, and the common people may have to reconsider who the actual heroes of the India of those times were.

 

No matter that, it is essential today that the entire truth about who played what role in India’s struggle for Independence is brought out in public domain -- so that the succeeding generations of the Indian people are privy to correct information about the nation’s history -- around the time the country gained Independence and earlier. There is no doubt that many leaders became national heroes as stories about their role in the freedom struggle got known to common people. Most of those stories were correct and gave the people a fair idea of the role great personalities played in those days. However, it was equally true that many stories were artificially woven into public memory by dishing out purposefully wrong information about how great some leaders were. In the process, some leaders’ names and images were maligned as well as part of a well-planned propaganda to publicise some specific persons’ contribution over and above that of some others.

 

Unfortunately, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (who passed away in 1950) became a victim of such a propaganda. Many others, too, suffered a similar fate. Unfortunately, such propagandism gave the nation a wrong idea of what actually happened behind the scenes during those stormy days around 1947. This unfortunate reality makes a strong case for a reinvestigation of history’s hidden truths -- so that the nation knows what actually happened (good, bad, or indifferent). The purpose of such an exercise should not be to malign some personalities in the name of bringing out the actual story of those times. The purpose should be to tell the story of those times again with right facts -- without any slurring of images of any person/s. That will be an academic exercise all right, but with an idea of erasing wrong impressions the common people have carried of those times.

 

It is common knowledge that Sardar Patel suffered from a negative political propaganda. But those who studied the details realised later that much of Sardar Patel’s good work got broomed under the carpet in an attempt to glorify some other leaders. Those realities need to be brought out into the open. This situation is not about only Sardar Patel, but also involves many other names (including that of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose -- who should be rightly given the status of India’s first Prime Minister since he freed parts of India before 1947 and formed a Government of Independent -- Azad Hind -- India). We have always insisted upon such an exercise as a national necessity. We repeat our demand with a clear conscience that we do not wish to malign any leader in whatever manner. When a country knows its correct and complete history, its strength of character gets enhanced. That is our core purpose as we refresh this demand.