What the record says about Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s views on Kashmir problem

How would Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel have handled the Kashmir problem if he, instead of Jawaharlal Nehru, had been India’s first Prime Minister? The picture of Patel’s thoughts that emerges from his letters and conversations are complex and multilayered. Last week, in the course of a strong attack on the Congress party and its leadership, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Lok Sabha: “Had Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel been India’s first Prime Minister, a part of my Kashmir would not have been with Pakistan today.” Over the years, Modi and the BJP have…

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