How Nehru defeated Sardar Patel to become Congress president

How Nehru defeated Sardar Patel to become Congress president: Propaganda was able to flourish because the leaders of the day did not think the election was important enough to warrant detailed documentation. However, what actually took place?

The Awadh Times: News Desk- One of the most contentious issues surrounding Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s life is the fact that Jawaharlal Nehru was selected over him to lead the Congress as president in 1946 and go on to become the first Prime Minister of Independent India.

Rajmohan Gandhi created this contentious chain of events in both the 1993 film Sardar and his in-depth and painstakingly researched 1991 book Patel: A Life.

Patel’s name has been proposed for president by twelve of the fifteen Provincial Congress Committees (PCC). Nehru’s name had not been put forth by any PCC, and the nomination date of April 29, 1946, was drawing near. In accordance with protocol, JB Kripalani, also referred to as Acharya Kripalani, made the initiative to propose Nehru during a Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in Delhi (likely on April 25).

MK Gandhi’s letter to then-Congress president Maulana Azad on April 20, which expressed his desire to remain president, most likely served as Kripalani’s inspiration.

According to the letter, which was included in Patel: A Life, “Given the current situation, I would, if asked, prefer Jawaharlal.” I do this for a variety of reasons. Why enter them?

In his book Gandhi: His Life and Thought, Kripalani recounted the events as follows: “I sent a paper round, proposing the name of Jawaharlal.” It was signed by the Working Committee members and a few AICC local members. Following that, the others removed their names.

As soon as Nehru’s name was formally put forth, Kripalani reportedly withdrew his own nomination and sent Patel a document bearing his withdrawal, according to Rajmohan Gandhi. Gandhi was shown the document by Patel, and against his personal inclinations, he allowed Nehru to resign in favor of Patel.

“Only the working committee has submitted your name; no PCC has,” he stated. Nehru remained silent in response.

Gandhi urged Patel to sign the document Kripalani had drafted, and Patel promptly did so, confirming that Nehru would not finish second. Rajmohan Gandhi used Maniben Patel’s journal entry dated September 16, 1948, over two and a half years after the tragedy, as a guide for recounting these events in his biography.

Maniben’s narrative (How Nehru defeated Sardar Patel to become Congress president)

The original journal entry, which was written in Gujarati, reveals several significant errors or omissions in the versions found in Inside Story of Sardar Patel: The journal of Maniben Patel by Prabha Chopra and Rajmohan Gandhi’s biography. Here is the entry translated exactly, with the addition that Maniben called Gandhi “Bapuji” and Patel “Bapu”:

The following are the key takeaways from Gandhi’s letter to Azad, Kripalani’s book, and this somewhat awkward, vague note:

1. Gandhi was unaware that the majority of the PCCs had suggested Patel’s name when he asked for Nehru to succeed Azad on April 20.
2. Kripalani knew how many PCCs nominated Patel to be the general secretary of Congress. He independently suggested Nehru’s name, taking inspiration from Gandhi’s letter to Azad. “I felt that as the General Secretary who had knowledge about the nominations, I should not have taken the initiative,” he later said in his memoirs.
3. Gandhi made it apparent to Nehru that, despite his preference for Nehru as the president of the Congress, he did not want to use Nehru as his prop against the preferences of the PCCs when the nominations of Patel and Nehru were still in place following Kripalani’s withdrawal.
4. Gandhi forced Patel to sign the withdrawal document at the same meeting where Nehru’s name was suggested, although neither Kripalani nor Maniben explicitly mentioned this. Kripalani made no reference to this occurrence.

These incidents are mentioned once more. According to Yashwant Doshi, Patel’s Gujarati biographer, Sardar’s secretary V. Shankar said that Gandhiji dispatched Kripalani as a courier and, in keeping with his custom, dispatched the letter of withdrawal for Sardar along with him.

All Sardar needed to do was sign it. However, Shankar has also said that Gandhiji and Sardar had previously met one-on-one. Therefore, it is reasonable to presume that Gandhiji had Sardar ready for the pullout.

Doshi has not identified the source of Shankar’s memo, but it aligns with the conclusions above and emphasizes that, contrary to common belief, Patel was not forced to sign the withdrawal right away when Nehru’s name was brought up in the meeting.

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Press coverage of Nehru’s appointment (How Nehru defeated Sardar Patel to become Congress president)

The declaration made by Maulana Azad on April 27, 1946, was the first significant report on the election of the Congress president. After Gandhi dissuaded him from staying in the position, Azad, who was then president of the Congress, openly supported Nehru.

That that day, Nehru released a statement. He was surprised, but primarily meant to brush aside the rumors that Azad was being removed to appease Jinnah.

Nehru didn’t say it out loud, but the “high honor” he referred to was probably his nomination by Kripalani and the backing he had from his CWC colleagues.

Nehru’s assertion is corroborated by Kripalani’s account, which states that “only fifteen Congress representatives were needed to suggest a Congressman for the organization’s presidency.

The individual whose name was suggested did not have to agree to the proposition for the high post. Therefore, Jawaharlal was not consulted.

In a statement to Hindustan Times on April 28, CWC member Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya stated unequivocally that “the electorate now has the option to make the election of Pandit Nehru uncontested, if they so choose.”

If such is the case, he will be qualified to take office even on May 1st due to the uncontested election being declared right away.

Kripalani released an official announcement on the presidential elections two days after the deadline for nominations: “The AICC office has received the following three names for presidentship of the next session of the Congress.”

J. B. Kripalani, Vallabhbhai Patel, and Jawaharlal Nehru. Additionally, the names of Shri Jai Prakash Narain and Shri Subhash Chandra Bose have been received. However, these names cannot be considered under the Constitution of Congress.

May 10th was the last day to withdraw a nomination. On May 7, Kripalani’s withdrawal was announced. Kripalani’s resignation would have essentially guaranteed Nehru’s selection as an unopposed candidate if Patel had withdrawn his nomination before then.

But it wasn’t until May 10th that the word broke that Nehru had been elected president of Congress.

The Hindustan Times report, which was filed from Shimla on May 9th, where the entire leadership of the nation convened for talks with the Cabinet Mission, stated: “Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru has been declared president-elect without contest for the next annual session of the National Congress, as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Acharya Kripalani have withdrawn from the Congress presidentship election contest.”

Unfortunately, there was leeway for vile propaganda since none of the leaders at the time thought this election was important enough to warrant detailed documentation. It’s consoling to know, though, that these problems did not override their steadfast dedication to giving the country their best effort.

According to the newspaper coverage, Patel—or Kripalani, for that matter—did not sign a withdrawal right away following Nehru’s nomination.

I also had access to the Janmabhoomi, a Bombay-based Gujarati newspaper. With a three-column headline on the main page that read, “The crown of thorns of Mahasabha has been put on the head of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,”

it described Nehru’s election as president in a highly distinctive way. This was not presented as a setback or an injustice to Patel by either pro-British publications like The Times of India or nationalist publications like the Hindustan Times and Janmabhoomi. The fact that Nehru took over as president after Kripalani and Patel resigned was all that was said.

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Important findings

Then what may have happened? One option is to presume that all decisions were made during the meeting on April 25 and that the media was gradually notified as the pertinent dates drew near.

The alternative, more plausible explanation is that Gandhi may have advised Patel to give Nehru an opportunity to change his mind in the days after his nomination by pointing out how many nominations Patel had gotten from the PCCs.

But since it was a crucial moment for India, Patel would have had to go if Nehru hadn’t. The presidential election could have caused a diversion when the nation’s leadership was having important discussions with the Cabinet Mission.

Patel’s withdrawal may have been finalized between May 6 and May 9, as Nehru was proclaimed the winner on May 9 and Patel’s nomination was not withdrawn (or at least not formally withdrawn) until May 6.

Unfortunately, there was leeway for vile propaganda since none of the leaders at the time thought this election was important enough to warrant detailed documentation. It’s consoling to know, though, that these problems did not override their steadfast dedication to giving the country their best effort.