PM Modi claims heeding Sardar Patel’s advice would have curbed Pakistan-backed terror: Here’s the story behind it

According to historian Rajmohan Gandhi, author of “Patel: A Life”, Patel's views on Kashmir changed completely only after September 13, 1947.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday claimed that terror activities against India would have stopped had the then government heeded the advice of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the country's first Home Minister, following the partition in 1947.

"And it was Sardar Patel's wish that until PoK is taken back, the army should not stop. But Sardar Sahib’s words were not followed," the Prime Minister said while addressing an event in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar.

PM Modi said that for 75 years, India suffered, and what happened in Pahalgam was a “distorted form” of that attack.

“In 1947, Mother India was torn into pieces. The chains should have been cut, but the arms were chopped off. The country was divided into three parts, and the same night, the first terrorist attack took place on the soil of Kashmir,” PM Modi said.

On April 22, 26 people were killed in a gruesome terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.

PM Modi said that Pakistan had captured a part of India with the help of terrorists. “If we had killed these Mujahideens; if we had listened to Sardar Patel, he wanted the Army not to stop until we get back PoK,” Modi said.

How was PoK created?

Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) is spread over an area of more than 78,000 square kilometers of Kashmir.

In 1947, India became independent from British rule. At that time, Jammu and Kashmir was a princely state headed by a Hindu ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh. At first, the Maharaja wanted to remain independent. But when Pakistani forces entered the region, he chose to join India by signing the Instrument of Accession.

This led to the first war between India and Pakistan in 1947-48. A ceasefire was declared, and a Line of Control was created, dividing the region into Indian-controlled and Pakistani-controlled parts. The Pakistani side came to be known as PoK.

Under the Partition plan provided by the Indian Independence Act, Muslim-majority Kashmir was free to accede to either India or Pakistan. Hari Singh initially wanted Kashmir to become independent. However, Kashmir in October 1947 chose to join India.

The Line of Control came into being after the 1972 Simla Agreement and is a bilaterally agreed military line and not a legally recognised border.

Relation between Sardar Patel and Kashmir

On June 2, 1947, Congress leaders Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, and President Kripalani, Muslim League leaders Jinnah (president), Liaqat, and Nishtar, and Akali representative Baldev Singh gave their assent to Mountbatten’s plan for independence and Partition.

However, the final chapter in India’s Independence saga was the challenge of the accession of the 565 princely states into one of the two dominions by August 15, 1947.

Patel was not satisfied with many of India's steps on Kashmir, but he did not interfere with them.

According to historian Rajmohan Gandhi, author of “Patel: A Life”, Patel's views on Kashmir changed completely only after September 13, 1947.

"Vallabhbhai's lukewarmness about Kashmir lasted until September 13, 1947. That morning, in a letter to Baldev Singh, he had indicated that 'if [Kashmir] decides to join the other Dominion", he would accept the fact. His attitude changed later that day when he heard that Pakistan had accepted Junagadh’s accession," Gandhi wrote in his book.

After Kashmir acceded to India on October 26, 1947, Pakistani forces continued their advance into the region.

India sent its Army to push back the invaders.

As the conflict escalated, Nehru decided to take the matter to the United Nations on January 1, 1948. India approached the UN under Article 35 of the UN Charter, accusing Pakistan of aiding the invasion.

Mountbatten persuaded Nehru to refer the Kashmir issue to the United Nations. Mountbatten even proposed visiting Lahore with Nehru to talk to Jinnah.

"For the Prime Minister to go crawling to Jinnah when we are on the stronger side and on the right would never be forgiven by the people of India,” said Patel, as quoted by Gandhi.

According to Gandhi, Patel was unhappy with many of India’s steps over Kashmir, including the offer of a plebiscite, the reference to the UN, the ceasefire that left a fair part of the State in Pakistani hands and the removal of the Maharaja. “But though occasionally dropping a remark or a hint, he never spelt out his own solution,” said Gandhi in his book.

Patel also reportedly wanted Indian military action to continue to reclaim the parts of Kashmir occupied illegally by Pakistan.

“Kashmir too might have been solved, but Jawaharlal did not let the troops go from Baramulla to Domel (during the First Kashmir War of 1947-48). He sent them towards Poonch,” Patel told Dr Rajendra Prasad in Dehradun in 1949. This was according to a book published by the National Book Trust in 2010 (Nehru-Patel: Agreement Within Differences, Select Documents and Correspondences, 1933-1950).

According to Gandhi, Sardar said he could solve Kashmir in six months. “I would send Sikh settlers to the Valley,” he said.