Journalism of Courage
That Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel did not see eye to eye on many matters is well known. But the release of previously unpublished correspondence between the two leaders reveals that Patel,the countrys first home minister,was miffed over orders being issued by the prime minister in matters which fall within my departmental responsibility.
While Patel agreed with Nehru on banning the RSS after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948,he was convinced that Bapus murder was not the result of an RSS conspiracy but that of a section of Hindu Mahasabha who he regarded a greater danger than RSS.
These form part of a collection of letters published in three volumes and released by the National Book Trust between Nehru and Patel,Gandhi and Patel,and Gandhi and Nehru at the height of the freedom struggle and in the immediate aftermath of Independence.
In one letter in Nehru-Patel: Agreement within Differences compiled by Delhi University history professor Neerja Singh Patel objects to Nehrus direct involvement in matters under his department.
I should like to suggest that it is somewhat embarrassing both to me and to the local officials if orders are issued to them direct by you in matters which fall within my departmental responsibility… Even if some instructions were issued by you,I feel that I should have at least been informed and that those instructions should not have come to my office indirectly…
