Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as described by his daughter Maniben Patel

 Maniben along with being  daughter  was also   personal aid  come secretary to her illustrious father . This article gives details about Sardar's likes and dislikes, his rift with Nehru ,answers "why did Gandhi choose Nehru over Sardar Patel ? "  , His role during the crucial moments of freedom struggle, partition negotiation, as home & deputy PM.

Maniben Patel's personal account on Sardar:-

Maniben with Sardar Patel

The Sardar was a man of few words. He wrote very little;he hardly kept any record of his public or party work. He destroyed letters addressed to him after reading them and replied by hand, not keeping copies. But after he was appointed Chairman of the Congress Parliamentary Board in 1934, files relating to it's transactions were kept.

When the Sardar fell ill towards the end of the Bardoli satyagraha in 1928, it was suggested that somebody should give him secretarial help. I said: "If someone is to be kept, why not I?" From 1929 until his death, I preserved his correspondence whenever possible. Once, when K. Gopalaswami, political commentator of the Times of India, visited him in his flat on Marine Drive, Bombay, the Sardar called for a letter he had received from C. Rajagopalachari, forgetting that he had torn it up and thrown it in the wastepaper basket. Fortunately, I had collected the pieces. It took me some time to paste them together before passing it on to him. This happened before the Interim Government was formed.

The Sardar traveled second-class by railway before he became a Minister. I would spread his bedding at night and retire to a third-class compartment. But from 1934, when there was much correspondence to attend to even on train journeys and people came to see him at stations, I kept company with him in his second-class compartment. I used to make copies of important letters he wrote in hand, but he would question this, asking why I was taking such trouble and wasting time. I also kept newspaper clippings of important events with which he was associated.

The Sardar read several newspapers and listened to radio news bulletins regularly. This enabled him to keep abreast of developments throughout the country.He also talked to people to get information to supplement other sources.

After 1945, the secretarial functions of the Congress Parliamentary Board were undertaken mainly by Shantilal Shah. The Sardar was undergoing treatment for intestinal trouble at the Nature Cure Clinic, Poona, when he sent for Shantilal Shah from Bombay. Shah, a Congress Socialist, hesitated at first because he did not know what was in store for him. But B. G. Kher (Premier of Bombay) advised him to take up the work. The Sardar told Shah he wanted him to act as his Secretary at the Parliamentary Board office located at the headquarters of the Bombay Pradesh Congress Committee.

The Sardar was a very shrewd judge of character. When he met a person for the first time he looked him up and down, and the assessment he made in that process rarely went wrong.

Once when Mathuradas Trikamji, Mayor of Bombay, asked what kind of men he kept round him, the Sardar replied that his was a "juggler's basket." He kept all kinds of people for the single aim of winning India's freedom. He used different people for different purposes. He was fully aware of their weaknesses and drawbacks but exploited their useful qualities.

The Sardar learnt punctuality in his youth when he had to do everything for himself. This experience taught him to save time by doing things according to schedule. This gave him self-reliance and at the same time an appreciation of the difficulties other people encountered. He walked on business errands rather than use transport. This habit served him well in London when he was attending the Inns of Court. He used to walk from his lodgings to the law library, a distance of several miles daily. He could not afford to buy books for study, and was at the library when the librarian opened it and left at closing time every evening.

The visit to England fulfilled two of my father's ambitions.He wanted to see the country from which people had come to conquer India and to qualify as a barrister. He had seen how even mediocre lawyers had been able to build up a large practice because they had been to London to study for the Bar. On his return to Ahmedabad, he established himself as the city's leading criminal lawyer.

When he was a district pleader at Borsad in the early 1900s, there was a British magistrate who kept a mirror in his court to study the faces of witnesses. This made witnesses nervous and the magistrate drew conclusions from their behavior about their truthfulness. The Sardar thought of a plan to make the officer behave. He demanded transfer to the district court of a case in which he was appearing before the magistrate. The Sardar presented him with a sealed letter. The magistrate opened the letter and saw his name heading the list of witnesses for the defense. He called the Sardar to his chamber for a talk. The accused was acquitted and the magistrate stopped using the mirror conceding that he had no right to do so. This incident illustrates a facet of my father's character.He had no fear of the British magistracy or administrators.

The Sardar was a man of regular habits and disliked armchair politicians. He read about Gandhiji's action in Champaran and was impressed by his methods of organising peasants to resist exploitation and oppression. Mahatma Gandhi was preoccupied with the agitation in Bihar and wanted somebody who would give up everything and devote ail his time to the satyagraha campaign in Kaira district organised as a protest against excessive land revenue. My father volunteered his services, and they were accepted.

Until that time the Sardar wore European dress. He was so fastidious that finding no good laundry in Ahmadabad he got his stiff collars washed in Bombay.

From early youth, the Sardar developed the qualities of leadership and discipline. In later life, these qualities were to help him in organizing large groups of people for action. Until the Bardoli movement, he was hardly known outside Gujarat. He did not go out of Gujarat until Gandhi's sentence of imprisonment for six years in 1922, when he went on a fund-raising mission forthe Gujarat Vidyapith as far east as Rangoon.

For years in Gujarat, whenever Gandhi addressed a public meeting the Sardar did not speak at it and later, when the Sardar spoke, other Congress leaders did not speak. This is an illustration of the discipline observed by Congressmen at the time. The leader spoke for them and the others showed their loyalty by action.

When Gandhiji started the swadeshi movement and burning of foreign clothes, the Sardar burnt all his European clothes, socks and hats. He never wore any type of headgear, even a khadt cap,after he cast aside his black Banglori cap. From then, he always wore dhoti and kurta and a chaddar on his shoulder, adding only a warm jacket in winter.

The satyagraha in Borsad Taluka, Kaira district, lasted a month. The provincial Government had levied a punitive tax of eight annas a large sum at that time per person on all the inhabitants for the maintenance of the preventive police. Even children were taxed. The campaign succeeded and in this satyagraha he gained the- title Suba of Borsad.

Another sphere in which the Sardar helped to raise the morale of the people of the area was connected with activities of dacoits. People dared not leave their house after 6 p.m. for fear of dacoits who infested the area. They appealed to the Sardar for help. He agreed, provided they did not allow their houses to be used for keeping stolen property.

In the Bardoli satyagraha, there was one organiser for every big village. The Sardar set out at noon from his headquarters and returned at midnight after visiting many villages. There was only one car, so all the other organisers journeyed on foot or by train or cart. The peasants accepted the Sardar as their unquestioned leader. Every morning, he received written reports from each village through volunteer messengers. The title Sardar of Bardoli was conferred on him by a party worker at a public meeting. It gained nationwide currency when Gandhiji started referring to him in this manner.

As head of Ahmedabad Municipality, the Sardar looked far ahead of immediate civic needs and planned accordingly, unlike some of his successors who made changes looking to short-term gains.

His qualities of leadership were recognized when he organised relief measures during the floods that hit Gujarat in 1927. He went round Ahmedabad city with the chief engineer and ordered a culvert to be broken to let the flood waters flow into the Sabarmati river. This saved the city from total inundation. He also persuaded the Bombay Government to provide more than a crore of rupees for relief to the flood victims. He sent help to the Collector of Kaira when the district was cut off from the rest of Gujarat Only the Collector's bungalow, which stood on a mound, was safe, and all the townfolk had gathered there for safety. The Sardar's men brought food and other necessities. 

The Sardar went to Calcutta for the Congress session over which Motilal Nehru presided. Even though his name had become a household word as the hero of Bardoli his physical appearance was not known. The volunteers of the Congress failed to identify him and since he did not carry a ticket he was not admitted to the pandal. The next day he carried his membership card and the volunteers were surprised when they found people shouting for the darshan of the Sardar of Bardoli and that the hero was the person the volunteers had kept out the previous, day.

The Sardar was favoured by the Provincial Congress Committe as the next party president, but Motilal Nehru wrote to Gandhiji asking that Jawaharlal should succeed him. Motilal wanted to see his son Congress chief before he died. My father agreed with Bapu (Gandhiji) that Motilalji's wish be fulfilled.

It was usual for the Congress President to attend annual sessions with large retinues. The Sardar went to the Karachi session in 1931 with only me and an aide, thus cutting drastically the expenses of the reception committee.

The outlook of the Sardar and of Nehru was vastly different. They agreed to differ, but at the same time worked together for the common cause of India's freedom. The influence of Mridula Sarabhai and Rafi Ahmad Kidwai on Nehru was to a large extent responsible for the rift between my father and Jawaharlal.

The Sardar became the party boss from the time he became head of the Parliamentary Board. He was also the parly's main fund-raiser. The Congress High Command, of which he was the mainspring, functioned as a moral prop for the Chief Ministers against the administrative machine directed by the British.

I used to sleep by the telephone to take calls that came at odd hours of the night so that the Sardar's sleep was not disturbed. I took down messages and passed them on to him the next morning. One such call came at midnight from Biswanath Das, then Premier of Orissa. He had decided to resign over the choice of a provincial official to act as Governor. The Sardar backed him and the Viceroy yielded.

I may recall a meeting the Sardar had with Bombay Governor Lumley in 1937 at Lumley's request. It lasted about an hour. Lumley told the Sardar that he would be Premier of Bombay, but the lands confiscated from the peasants of Bardoli would never be returned. The Sardar replied: "Note it down that I am not going to be Premier, and also that the lands will be returned to the peasants'

The Sardar took many unpopular decisions in party and Government matters, but his decisions were accepted because  he had no axe to grind. He was not amenable to threats or blackmail.

He had no property of his own and he was above extraneous considerations. He had nothing to lose, had no ambition and no desire to cling to office.

Once in Yeravda jail, Gandhiji asked in good humour what post he would like to hold after Independence. The Sardar replied he would become a sadhu. In 1945, when it had been decided to replace Azad as Congress President, the Sardar got the largest share of votes in the Working Committee. But Kripalani, one of the candidates, withdrew in favour of Nehru and handed a paper to the Sardar to withdraw his nomination as well so that Nehru could be elected unopposed.

Gandhiji, to whom this matter was referred, told Nehru: "I don't want to make you a prop of mine if people don't want you." Nehru kept silent and was selected President. Gandhiji supported Nehru's choice as Prime Minister because he was well known outside India. He compared the Sardar and Nehru to two bullocks yoked to a cart. He felt that if Nehru was made Prime Minister he would be prevented from "making mischief" in the country.

When the Sardar became Home Member and later on Deputy Prime Minister, anybody could call on him during his morning walk from 4.30 to 6.30. He was a fast walker and few could keep pace with him. They told him what they wanted and then they would drop out when the dialogue was over. He gave brief answers and listened mostly. For party workers and others this was an opportunity for opening their hearts to him. At the end of an hour's listening, the Sardar would probably reply in a couple of words. He arranged assistance for even the humblest party worker who needed it. He provided hospitalisation if necessary. After his illness in March 1948 his medical advisers stopped morning walks completely and restricted his interviews.

In 1941, he was afflicted with severe intestinal trouble. He woke around 3,30 every morning because of pain in the bowels .He spent an hour in the toilet before setting out on his morning walk. He had a cup of tea and breakfast, which consisted of a piece of toast and apple juice. In these early morning hours,b efore going for a walk, I did my quota of spinning. After breakfast, Private Secretary V. Shankar came in with office files. The Sardar looked through the morning newspapers carefully and rarely missed any significant news. He gave oral instructions to Shankar. As before, he would write as little as possible. When in good health, he left home around 9.30 for the Home Ministry, returned for lunch and after a nap of 15 minutes went to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

I looked after the Sardar's Gujarati correspondence while Shankar attended to that in English. I passed on some of the correspondence in Hindi to Shankar. Morarji Desai had recommended Shankar as Private Secretary, The Sardar invited him to lunch to look him over before selecting him for the post.

The Partition Committee set up under the Mountbatten Plan and consisting of as many as 30 to 40 officers, would come to the Sardar's house and stay up to lunch receiving instructions from him. Its members had to report back to him in the evening. Every order he issued had to be executed within 24 hours. He rang up Premiers at night when he had a particular issue to discuss with them. He was against wasting money on telephone calls on matters that were not urgent. I kept a diary of all private trunk calls, for which Sardar paid out of his own pocket.

I recall another instance of his method of work. There was a crisis in the jute industry. The Sardar phoned G. C. Desai, Commerce Secretary, and M. P. Birla, Chairman of the Indian Jute Manufacturers' Association, Calcutta, and others every night to check on developments. Similarly, at the time of the Bombay riots and disturbances elsewhere, he made phone calls at night to find out what was happening. He made calls to Punjab and Bengal and UP at the time of the partition troubles.

The Sardar was not impolite or arrogant in his dealings with people. He replied promptly to correspondence. He read all the letters addressed to him personally and generally told the officer concerned how he should reply. He never signed letters or any other document blindly. When he was not fully satisfied with a draft, he would change it himself or ask the officer concerned to redraft it. He liked precision and conciseness in letters. He would say that this was "not a place for essays" or for exhibiting one's command of English.

Mountbatten recognize the Sardar's greatness. I was the only other person present when the Sardar had a talk with Bapu between 4 and 5 p.m. on the day of his assassination. Bapu had decided to release the Sardar from the Ministry at the latter's instance, but Mountbatten strongly opposed this because he felt that the Sardar "had his feet on the ground while Nehru had his in the clouds." He told Gandhiji that he could not release the Sardar. Gandhiji agreed and withdrew his decision.It was agreed at the conversation on January 30 afternoon that Gandhiji, Nehru and the Sardar should sit together and iron out their differences. But this meeting was never held.

The Sardar was greatly upset by the slander campaign against him at that time in certain Congress and Government circles. He was worried at heart that Gandhiji had to defend him continually against these slanders.

Previously, when Nehru lived at York Road and the Sardar just across on Aurangzeb Road, they used to meet every day, even though for a few minutes. Nehru would sometimes drop in after lunch, or in the evening or at night after dinner. They walked together and discussed matters. The Sardar would walk with Nehru up to the gate of the latter's house on York Road and see him off there or they would return together to Aurangzeb Road.

These daily meetings and talks cleared misunderstandings, but this dialogue became very difficult after Nehru moved to the house of the former Commander-in-Chief on Teen Murti Marg. If he had not moved there on Mountbatten's advice, much of their later differences might never have developed. Because of his illness, the Sardar was not able to go to Nehru's house frequently.

When there were party matters to be attended to, the Sardar requested the AICC General Secretary to call at his house for instructions. The Working Committee met at the Sardar's residence since there was no good AICC office building at that time in Delhi. The provincial Premiers constantly sought his guidance, and he was a great help to them in their encounters with members of the bureaucracy or party dissidents.

The administrations of the new states formed after integration lacked capable men to guide them. But in those areas where party members had carried out constructive work under the Sardar's direction before independence, such men were available. This was so in Kathiawar and Gujarat. Elsewhere in the country, party workers in the former states had only indulged in agitation and there was no solid foundation for their work.

The Sardar did not aspire to prime ministership or any other high office. He once said that if India had won Swaraj ten years earlier he would have solved the food problem as he had solved that of the states. He added: "But I have not the -strength to do so now." He considered food the country's most important problem after consolidation. He was essentially a man of action, averse to writing. His philosophy of life may besummed up in the words: "Why not create history rather than waste time writing it?"

Reference :- Sardar Patel's Correspondence vol. 1.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on separate electorate to Muslims and Muslim reservation

Occasion: During the debate in parliament on separate electorate for Muslims.

Dated.: August 28 1947.

Sardar Patel puts it bluntly , those who want separate electorate have "no place" in India.  Also asks to adopt themselves , "Change your attitude" .  Also like a true secular  he says there will be no "Injustice" and "Generosity" . 

Relevant part of "separate electorate" debate :-

So far as the amendment (separate electorate for Muslims) moved by the representative of the Muslim League is concerned, I find that I was mistaken in my Impression.and if I had believed this, I,would certainly not have agreed to any reservation at all. . 

When I agreed to the reservation an the population basis, I thought that our friends of the Muslim League will see the reasonableness of our attitude and allow themselves to accommodate themselves to the changed conditions after the separation of the country. But I now find them adopting the same methods which were adopted when the separate electorates were first introduced in this country, and in spite of ample sweetness in the language used there is a full dose of poison in the method adopted. . 

Therefore,I regret to say that if I lose the affection of the younger brother (by younger brother SVP means Indian Muslim elder being Indian Hindus), I am prepared to lose it because the method he wants to adopt would bring about his death. I would rather lose his affection and keep him alive. If this amendment is lost, we will lose the affection of the younger brother, but I prefer the younger brother to live so that he may see the wisdom of the attitude of the elder brother and he may still learn to have affection for the elder brother.

Now, this formula has a history behind it and those who are in the Congress will be able to remember that history. In Congress history this is known as the Mohammad Ali Formula. Since the introduction of separate electorates in this land there were two parties amongst the Muslims. One was the Nationalist Muslims or the Congress Muslims and the other the Muslim League members, or the representatives of the Muslim League. There was considerable tension on this question and at one time there was a practical majority against this joint electorate. But a stage was reached when, as was pointed out by the Mover of this amendment in Allahabad a settlement was reached. Did we stand by that settlement ? No. We now have got the division of the country. In order to prevent the separation of the country this formula was evolved by the nationalist Muslims, as a sort of half-way house, until the nation becomes one; we wished to drop it afterwards. But now the separation of the country is complete and you say, let us introduce. it again and have another separation. I do not understand this method of affection. Therefore, although I would not have liked to say anything on this motion, I think it is better that we know our minds perfectly each other, so that we can understand where we stand. If the process that was adopted, which resulted in the separation of the country, is to be repeated, then I say : Those who want that kind of thing have a place in Pakistan, not here  

Here, we are building a nation and we are laying the foundations of One Nation, and those who choose to divide again and sow the seeds of disruption will have no place, no quarter, here, and I must say that plainly enough.  

Now, if you think that reservation necessarily means this clause as you have suggested, I am prepared to withdraw the reservation for your own benefit. If you agree to that, I am prepared, and I am sure no one in this House will be against the withdrawal of the reservation if that is a satisfaction to you.  

You cannot have it both ways. Therefore, my friends, you must change your attitude, adapt yourself to the changed conditions. And don't pretend to say "Oh, our affection is very great for you". We have seen your affection. Why talk of it ? Let us forget the affection. Let us face the realities. Ask yourself whether you really want to stand here and cooperate with us or you want again to play disruptive tactics. Therefore when I appeal to you, I appeal to you to have a change in your heart, not a change in the tongue, because that won't pay here. Therefore, I still appeal to you : "Friends, reconsider your attitude and withdraw your amendment". Why go on saying "Oh, Muslims were not heard; Muslim amendment was not carried". If that is going to pay you, you are much mistaken, and I know how it cost me to protect the Muslim minorities here under the present condition and in the present atmosphere. Therefore, I suggest that you don't forget that the days in which the agitation of the type you carried on are closed and we begin a new chapter.

Therefore, I once more appeal to you to forget the past. Forget what has happened. You have got what you wanted. You have got a separate State and remember, you are the people who were responsible for it, and not those who remain in Pakistan. You led the agitation. You got.it. What is it that you want now ? I don't understand. In the majority Hindu provinces YOU, the minorities, you led the agitation. You got the partition and now again you tell me and ask me to say for the purpose of Securing the affection of the younger brother that I must agree to the same thing again, to divide the country again in the divided part. For God's sake, understand that we have also got some sense. Let us understand the thing clearly. Therefore when I say we must forget the past, I say it sincerely. There will be no injustice done to you. There will be generosity towards you, but there must be reciprocity. If it is absent, then you take it from me that no soft words can conceal what is behind your words. Therefore, I plainly once more appeal to you strongly that let us forget and let us be one nation.

Entire debate can be found here :- http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/debates/vol5p9a.htm

Unbiased biographies on Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

1. Transfer of Power in India V.P.Menon




2. The story of  the integration of the Indian States by V.P.Menon

3. My Reminiscences of Sardar Patel  (Vol 1)

4. My Reminiscences of Sardar Patel  (Vol2)

Excerpts from MKK Nair's biography reveals that Nehru called Sardar Patel a 'communalist'.

Excerpts from MKK Nair's biography Translated to english by Meena Das Narayan:-

MKK Nair with Nehru , B .C.Roy, V.K.Krishna Menon, Indira Gandhi

The comments on the purported Patel-Nehru spat appear in Chapters 19 and 20 where MKK explains the hostile designs of the Nizam of Hyderabad. He says the Nizam and some British officers were working to thwart any attempt by the Indian government to take the state over.

It was MKK’s job that had made him a party to the accession story. Starting off as a divisional accountant in the princely state of Travancore in 1941, MKK joined the army as a civilian gazetted officer and was posted as planning officer at the Secunderabad Ordnance Depot in 1943.

This made him friendly with the Nizam’s top officials and privy to much of the information surrounding the Nizam. The nationalist in MKK saw to it personally that these were brought to the notice of Patel, the then Union home minister.

“The information was sent through a human courier. Although father does not mention the name of the courier in the book, he identified him as one Mr Viswanathan in an article published in another Malayalam weekly in the 1980s. Viswanathan hailed from Kollam in Kerala and was junior to him in the depot,” Krishnan said.

MKK met Patel once during a visit to Delhi. “Patel had the habit of taking a walk around his house at 5am. That was when I reached the house and told his security to pass on a message that I had come from Hyderabad with a very important message,” the book says.

“Patel called me inside and instantly sensed that I should be the man who was sending him the information. After leaving instructions with his PA, he introduced me to daughter Maniben saying, ‘This is our own man’.”

The author brings alive the drama that preceded the army action culminating in the integration of Hyderabad into the Indian Union. He narrates how V.P. Menon worked overtime and devised plans that cajoled and at times threatened the 565 princely states into falling in line.

MKK recounts that Nehru, Patel and then Governor-General C. Rajagopalachari were equally concerned about the anarchy in Hyderabad.

At a cabinet meeting, Patel explained the Nizam’s pro-Pakistan moves and demanded the army be deployed to bring an end to the “reign of terror”.

The book says an infuriated Nehru retorted: “You are a communalist. I will never support your suggestion.”

An upset Patel walked out and relations between the two dipped to such an extent that they would rarely even talk.

As the situation in Hyderabad kept worsening, Rajaji discussed matters with V.P. Menon. The next day, he summoned Nehru and Patel to his residence.

That day, while VP too was on his way to Rajaji’s residence, a civil service officer named Buch waved his car to stop and pushed a letter into his hands.

It was a letter from the British high commissioner and conveyed Britain’s displeasure at the rape and murder of a few nuns in a Hyderabad convent by the Razakar militia a few days earlier. VP handed the letter over to Rajaji.

During the talks initiated by Rajaji, Nehru kept insisting he was more concerned about the international image of the country. That was when Rajaji decided to use the “brahmastra” and produced the British high commissioner’s letter.

That changed the situation and a visibly infuriated Nehru too agreed to military action, the book says.

The differences between Patel and Nehru were not limited to the Hyderabad action, MKK says. Patel was also critical of Nehru’s Northeast policy.

“Patel strongly resisted Nehru’s plans to bring the Northeast under the external affairs ministry, but there was no one else in the cabinet to oppose Nehru. This policy made it easier for Christian missionaries to spread the feeling among the people (of the Northeast) that they were different from Indians,” says MKK.

He also puts some personal onus on Nehru for creating the Indian Frontier Administrative Service to choose the officials to administer the northeastern areas.

MKK argues that the mode of selection was ineffective and this created a band of ill-trained officials whose lack of expertise could be blamed for the rise of separatism in the Northeast.

The author also refers to two purported notes issued by Nehru after Patel’s death. The notes sent to the ministry of states first reached V.P. Menon.

The first note gave the instruction that the Cadillac used by Patel be returned to the external affairs ministry the very next day. The other note said that if any official wanted to attend Patel’s funeral (he had died in Mumbai), they should do so at their own expense.

Menon didn’t tell his officials about the note and personally saw to it that those who wanted to go to Mumbai were given flight tickets at Menon’s own expense. This too angered Nehru and Menon was sidelined after Patel’s death, the book says.

MKK says Patel was affectionate towards Menon and cites as example his reaction after Menon had a spat with a powerful Congress leader.

“Once, during a visit to Thiruvananthapuram, Menon was staying at the Residency building when the leader Nesamani called on him. Menon treated him to his favourite whisky. Nesamani quickly hit a high and started abusing Menon and had to be evicted by a security guard…. Nesamani subsequently wrote to Patel complaining that Menon was a drunkard and had insulted him,” the book says.

“Menon had not returned to Delhi this time. On receiving the complaint, Patel summoned his personal secretary, V. Sankar, and asked him if Menon had the habit of drinking. Sankar replied in the affirmative, to which Patel wanted to know Menon’s brand. ‘Menon drinks only whisky,’ said Sankar to which pat came Patel’s reply: ‘Then you should advise all secretaries that they should take Scotch whisky hereafter’.”

Gopakumaran says that although MKK speaks of the Nehru-Patel spat, the book makes it clear that the author had great respect for Nehru who had asked him to head the Bhilai Steel Plant at a time its construction appeared to be dragging.

Also read : http://ratthes.blogspot.in/2013/10/mkk-nairs-memoir-reveals-there-were.html