Dr.

Munshis historic letter to Pandit Nehru: VP

Menon calls it a masterpiece
October 11, 2013, 4:42 PM IST
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LK Advani in LK Advani's Blog | India | TOI

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In one of my earlier blogs I had dealt at length with how Sardar Patel, his close colleague
VP Menon and Lord Mountbatten had acted in perfect concert to integrate India after
the Britishers left. In that I had relied not only on the two remarkable books written by
VP Menon, whom Sardar Patel had named Secretary of the States Department, but yet
another more recent book authored by a lady named Alex Von Tunzelmann titled Indian
Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire. This lady is primarily a researcher
educated in Oxford who now lives in London. Menons two books which I have been
recommending to all book lovers are Integration of the Indian States and The Transfer
of Power.
But the tailpiece in that blog was taken from a news report in the Pioneer of 30th
October, 2012, that is, on the eve of Sardars birth anniversary last year. The news
report was about a sharp exchange that took place in a Cabinet meeting between Nehru
and Patel just a few weeks before GOIs operation in Hyderabad. Pandit Nehru was
opposed to the army action which Sardar Patel had decided upon after receiving reports
how the Nizams private army, the Razakars, were committing atrocities on innocent
citizens.
Pandit Nehru wanted to refer the Hyderabad issue also to the U.N. as he had done in the
case of Kashmir ? that too against the advice of Patel.
The news report filed by Pioneers Chennai correspondent was based on a book written
by a 1947 IAS official by name MKK Nair and carries the title With No Ill Feeling
Towards Anybody.
The report also said that following the bitter exchange between the Prime Minister and
Deputy Prime Minister, Sardar Patel had walked out of the meeting angrily. That on
September 13, 1948, the army action, named Operation Polo did take place and
culminated successfully on September 18, is now history.
But since the time I wrote that blog I have been desperately searching for the book

which, I thought, may possibly fill up the gaps in the countrys knowledge as to what
actually transpired during the interlude. The author, I gather, is no longer alive. Nor
have I been able to locate the book at any bookstore, or even in any Library. Through
this blog I would like to appeal to all my readers that I would feel greatly indebted to
whosoever can procure the book for me. Pioneer Editor Chandan Mitra also has been
trying, but has not succeeded as yet.
My last blog was about Pandit Deendayal Upadhyayas birth anniversary on September
25 and the two major BJP events that are connected with this anniversary, events which
I cannot forget. The first was my Somnath to Ayodhya Yatra in 1990. The second was
the record gathering of over six lakh BJP activists in Bhopal, who will be managing the
over 53000 polling booths in the State when Madhya Pradesh goes to the polls on
November 25 this year.
I have mentioned in this blog (October 8,) that as Sardar Patel who was to inaugurate
the 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 have
mentioned that he did so even though the Prime Minister had opposed the move. And
thereby hangs one more interesting episode worth recounting at this point. The episode
commences with a clash in the cabinet not very different from the Army-action joust
between Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel.
***
It was Sardar Patel who had been the first to visit Junagarh after the popular revolt
against the Nawab who had announced the states accession to Pakistan. Terrified by
the peoples anger, the Nawab fled to Pakistan. Sardar Patel was given a rousing
reception by the people. At a huge meeting Sardar Patel declared that the Somnath
Temple, foremost among the twelve Jyotirlingas, would be reconstructed at its original
site, and the Jyotirlinga reinstalled.
After returning to Delhi he secured Gandhijis blessings for the move and had Pandit
Nehru have it endorsed by his Cabinet. The Cabinets decision implied that Government
would incur the expenditure. But that evening itself when Sardar Patel, Dr. Munshi and
N.V. Gadgil went to Gandhiji to apprise him of the Cabinets decision, Gandhiji
welcomed 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 January
1948, Gandhiji was assassinated.

In December 1950, Sardar Patel breathed his last. After the demise of these two
veterans, a change came about in Pandit Nehrus attitude. After a Cabinet meeting in
early 1951, Panditji called Dr. Munshi, who was Food and Agriculture Minister in the
Cabinet and said to him: I do not like your trying to restore Somnath. It is Hindu
revivalism.
Kanhaiyalal Munshi did not utter a word in reply. He came back home and prepared a
long 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 as
connected with Somnath. I am glad you did so; for I do not want to keep back any part of my
views or activities.I can assure you that the Collective Subconscious of India today is
happier with the scheme of reconstruction of Somnath sponsored by the Government of India
than 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 the
orthodox section of the Hindu community. However, the objects of the Trust Deed make it
clear 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 have
been the customs which I have defied in personal life from boyhood. I have laboured in my
humble way through literary and social work to share or reintegrate some aspects of
Hinduism, in the conviction that that alone will make India an advanced and vigorous nation
under 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 look
forward to our future. I cannot value Indias freedom if it deprives us of the Bhagavad Gita or
uproots our millions from the faith with which they look upon our temples and thereby
destroys the texture of our lives. I have been given the privilege of seeing my incessant dream
of Somnath reconstruction come true. That makes me feel makes me almost sure that this
shrine once restored to a place of importance in our life will give to our people a purer
conception of religion and a more vivid consciousness of our strength, so vital in these days of
freedom and its trials.
On reading this letter, V.P. Menon, the legendary civil servant who assisted Sardar Patel

in the gigantic task of the integration of the princely states, wrote a missive to Munshi. I
have seen your masterpiece. I for one would be prepared to live and, if necessary, die by
the 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 ceremonially
install the Jyotirlingam. He was apprehensive that Rajendrababu might not agree. After
all, 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 mosque
or a church if I were invited, he added. This is the core of Indian secularism. Our state
is neither irreligious nor anti-religious.
Pandit Nehru protested the Presidents decision. But Rajendrababu disregarded
Panditjis objection, and kept his promise.
DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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