Vithalbhai Patel, Sardar Patel

Fiscal Integration Abolished Last Distinction Between States & Provinces - V. P. Menon

India News Chronicle - 11-05-1950

Mr. V. P. Menon Secretary to the States Ministry, Government of India, said in an interview here yesterday that with the fiscal and financial integration of the Indian States with the Centre on April 1, the last distinction between Provinces and the States in India had been abolished completely.

The status of the Rajpramukh was equal to that of the Governor of any Province, now called State, so that no question of any differentiation between what previously was a Princely State and a Province could be drawn he added.

Referring to one of the most controversial issues before the States Ministry, namely, the selection of the capital of Madhya Bharat, Mr. Menon said that the Government of India would accept without hesitation any proposal which was jointly put forward by the two dissenting groups of the Madhya Bharat Provincial Congress Committee.

He howeverm deprecated the dissensions within the Madhya Bharat P.C.C., on this issue, and said that the present arrangements for shifting the capital from Gwalior to Indore during the year should have been quite satisfactory, as it was done to suit the economy measures of the Central Government.

Mr. Menon contradicted the reports appearing in a section of the Press that at the time of the wedding of the Yuvaraja of Baroda to the daughter of the Maharaja of Jodhpur in the last week of April the Maharaja of Jodhpur sent 40 maid servants to Baroda as a part of the dowry.

Mr. Menon said that he himself was present during the wedding and those reports were absolutely without any foundation.

Mr. Menon, who is accompanying Sardar Patel on his tour of South India, is leaving for Cochin this morning by air. - U. P. I.

Continued from Sardar Patel's Indictment - Wavell has succumbed to Jinnah's Veto!! - 1

IF MY PRESUMPTION is not the object for the breakdown of the conference, then what is, Sardar Saheb? The usual object, I suppose, he replied, to make the world believe that the British were trying their best to hand over the reins of Government to India -- but the Indians simply will not hold them, that their political parties could not agree among themselves.

Happily the Congress has done enough this time to be completely absolved from any blame for the wreckage. If the Government were banking on the hope that the Congress would refuse to participate and negotiate would refuse to take up ministries, they were miserably flouted.

For Congress made every possible endeavour by way of compromise, persuasion and patience and in face of a violent cross-fire from many of its own sympathisers for sacrificing so much of its prestige, to arrive at some understanding and subsequent settlement in the interest of the country.

When I mentioned to Vallabhbhai; why the Congress Working Committee had not insisted on the release of the detenues alongwith the leaders and made the same a condition of Congress participation in the Conference, he told me that the Congress did not wish to give any bone whatever to the British to blame them for not showing an unqualified spirit of co-operation.

So, the Congress went even so far as letting its army rot in jail a while longer -- so that there should be no hitch in the chances of a settlement. What more could it have done?

At the time when it looked likely that Wavell would overrule Jinnah, the Rt. Hon'ble Dr. M. R. Jayakar had told me that the great danger of a well organized body like the Congress taking up power for the first time is that it refuses to forget that it is a party instead of a parens pairi that it is now the Government of the entire country and not a narrow, selfish, organization.

But Dr. Jayakar had added that in other countries, this transformation had taken sometime to come about and it may be so in India. But that he would be content if the Congress adheres to the excellent beginning it had made in its selections to the Cabinet. He would indeed regard it as a safe augury of future success.

I had sought to meet that dominating personality of the Congress, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, three times previously. The first time I went to see him after his release he had gone to the doctor's. The second time he was going. The third time I tried to catch him at Madhav Bag where he was given a reception-but there were some forty thousand people between the Sardar and mee! However, like Robert Bruce, I kept on trying; and at the fourth attempt, after his return from Simla, I made no mistake...

When I told him the history of my efforts to see him, he expressed his regret. The reason was writ large all over his face. For Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is a very sick man. Jail life has taken heavy toll of his health- as it has of several other leaders and countless unnamed detenues.

Though he himself was not so well at the time of his arrest, even men with the robust constitution of Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Azad and Kirpalani were shattered, if not beyond repair, at least to the extent of being in need of long periods of rest.

All this naturally led me to ask him if their treatment in jail was not all that could be desired. The idol of Congress crowds, reclining on his divan, shrugged his shoulders, We had no complaints exactly, he began and then humorously proceeded to give the reason why they had no complaints : We asked for nothing and wanted nothing, so how could we have complaints!

But there was one very vital complaint. Medical attendance was very poor. Apart from jail doctors, the leaders were not allowed to consult any doctor of their own. The same complaint has been made to me by several detenues, broken in health, who have been recently released. How much worse their suffering must have been!

It was a wonder how the leaders made the trip to Simla at all almost immediately after they had started breathing fresh free air again. But the call of duty conquered their ailments. They had hardly any time to rest when they had to rush.

Gallantly they travelled to Simla in quest of a settlement for their country. Sincerely they believed that this time the British were in earnest about toeing out India from the stalemate that has settled over her as thick as the worst London fog.

Alas, they were deceived. Their sacrifice was in vain. Sardar Vallabhbhai said in despair the Conference might as well not have been called if the British had the intention of giving the power of veto to any one party. The Congress went to the Viceroy's veto, BUT WHEN THE VICEROY HIMSELF FELL A VICTIM TO JINNA'S VETO. THERE WAS NOTHING MORE TO BE SAID OR DONE.

The Sardar summoned his feeble strength to voice his resentment and annoyance against being called up all the way to Simla-just to be told that nothing could be achieved without Jinna's agreement!

If the Viceroy were going to be helpless without Jinnah why didn't he ascertain his attitude beforehand and find out if the League leader were ready to co-operate with the Congress.

Surely the British knew from experience and evidence that Jinnah would not bend to any compromise or reason and if they had any hopes that he would this time, they should have consulted him first before convening the conference. And if they had none, they should have determined on carrying on without him and his obstructionist-nay, his destructivist-policy.

Wavell could have quite easily told Jinnah-Look here, Mr. Jinnah, thus far and no further. I request you to be reasonable. But if you are not, I go ahead. Wavell said nothing of the sort. On the contrary, he pampered Jinnah like a spoilt child and allowed the conference to be broken up on his account and as he desired.

What do you think was the object of the British in doing that, I wondered. Did they enforce the failure of the Conference because the Tories felt assured of being returned to power. Was it an indication of approaching Tory Victory, for we know that so long as the Tories continue in power, they will never want a settlement to be brought about in India.