By S.N. Sahu
On the occasion of the celebration of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s 150th birth anniversary it is tragic that his rich legacy of uniting India on a secular basis and his exemplary policy of statecraft – rooted in the ideal of neutrality of the Indian state to religion – has been systematically demolished by Bharatiya Janata Party and Hindutva leaders during the last 11 years.
It is all the more shocking that his debunking of the slogan, “Hinduism and Hindus are in danger” on May 15, 1950 in Kerala after the erstwhile princely State of Travancore joined the Indian Union has been revived by these elements.
Hindu deity invoked to thwart Travancore’s accession to India
It is worthwhile to recall that the Hindu Kingdom of Travancore was asked by India’s first deputy prime minister Sardar Patel to join the Indian Union, as he did to other princely States to unify India. The authorities of that Kingdom declined to do so on the ground that its sovereignty flowed from Hindu deity Sri Lord Padmanava who could not be subjected to sovereignty of India. Patel, appalled by the deployment of a Hindu deity to foil the historic efforts for accession of a princely state to India asked “Then please tell me how could Travancore’s rulers allow Lord Padmanabha to become subservient to the British Crown?”
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar the ideologue of Hindutva supported the weird theocratic logic of the rulers of Travancore not to join the Indian Union. Vikram Sampath in his book, Savarkar: A Contested Legacy 1924-66 wrote, “Savarkar’s ill-advised support to the Dewan of Travancore, Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer, who was planning to declare autonomy and independence of the Hindu princely state, was unfortunate and detrimental to the integration process of the new Indian Union.”
It was Savarkar who was charged by Patel on February 27, 1948, for having conspired to kill Mahatma Gandhi while heading a fanatical wing of the Hindu Mahasabha.
In spite of all such obstacles, eventually the Hindu Kingdom of Travancore joined the Indian union in 1949 marking the triumph of Sardar Patel’s policy of secular management of statecraft.
Myth of Hinduism in danger
When he visited Trivandrum on May 15, 1950 and while addressing a mammoth rally consisting of a lakh of people, Patel appealed to them “…not to be carried by the false cry of ‘Hinduism in danger’ raised by a section of Hindus in Travancore-Cochin State.” He firmly assured them that Hinduism would never be in danger in India, acclaimed as a land of tolerance from time immemorial with all religions flourishing without facing any threat.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.
