Nehru had called Patel a "total communalist", says Advani    

New Delhi, Nov 5:

today raked up another controversy over Sardar

with L K Advani quoting a book to allege that then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru called his Home Minister a "total communalist" when the latter suggested that army be sent to take over a defiant Hyderabad after Independence.

In his latest blog posting, Advani has referred to extracts of a book - "The Story of an Era Told without Ill Will" by M K K Nair which deals with the "sharp exchange" between Nehru and Patel in a Cabinet meeting before "police action" against Hyderabad.

BJP has been trying to appropriate Patel as a leader close to Hindutva ideology

The Nizam, who wanted to accede to Pakistan, had sent an emissary to the neighbouring country and transferred a huge sum of money to the government there. The Nizam's officials were reportedly heaping atrocities on locals. "At a cabinet meeting, Patel had described these things and demanded that army be sent to end the terror-regime in Hyderabad. Nehru who usually spoke calmly, peacefully and with international etiquette, spoke losing his composure, 'You are a total communalist.I will never accept your recommendation... "Patel remained unperturbed but left the room with his papers," Advani says, quoting from Nair’s book.

BJP has of late been trying to appropriate Sardar Patel as a leader close to the Hindutva ideology. On Patel's 138th anniversary on October 31, Advani had heaped praise on India's first Home Minister at the inauguration of a project to build a 182 metre tall statue- the tallest in the world- of the leader.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is behind this endeavour, said India needs Patel's secularism which united people and not the "votebank secularism" that is being practiced today. Both Advani and Modi have sought to fashion themselves as inheritors of Patel's legacy. BJP has also alleged that Sardar Patel contribution was never hailed by the Congress and that it only eulogised the Nehru-Gandhi family.

PTI