Why were Nehru and Patel against giving Rs.55 crore to Pakistan in 1947?

In the division of assets with Pakistan, India treated Pakistan generously. Pakistan had been pressing India for rupees 55 crores (over USD 500 million in today’s terms). In the Cabinet meeting in January 1948 Sardar Patel stated that the money if given would surely be used by Pakistan to arm itself for use in Kashmir, hence the payment should be delayed. Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, NV Gadgil and Dr BR Ambedkar backed Patel. PM Nehru too expressed his total agreement. The Cabinet therefore decided to withhold the money. Sardar Patel told in a Press Conference on 12 January 1948 that the issue of 55 crores to Pakistan could not be dissociated from the other related issues. It was a mistake by Sardar Patel to openly say this in a press conference but he should have taken refuge of ‘procedural delays’ to release the fund to Pakistan.

Gandhiji conveyed to Patel the next day (13 January 1948) that withholding 55 crores from Pakistan was what Mountbatten had opined to him as “a dishonourable act... unstatesman-like and unwise” , and what Gandhiji thought was immoral act. Patel was furious and asked of Mountbatten: “How can you as a constitutional Governor-General do this behind my back? Do you know the facts?...”

Gandhi was apparently innocent of the fact that Mountbatten and the British were bent upon favouring Pakistan—even on Kashmir, despite Pakistan’s aggression. How could a top leader be so blind to the realities? Unfortunately, Nehru, rather than supporting Patel, and sticking to what he had himself agreed to, and had got passed in the Cabinet, went back on his commitment, and commented to Gandhi: “Yes, it was passed in the Cabinet but we don’t have a case. It is legal quibbling.”

Gandhi and Nehru, rather than being prudent about what was in the best interest of the nation, went by what the British colonial representative Mountbatten, having his own axe to grind, had to say, and the cabinet decision was reversed to let Pakistan have the money, and trouble India further in J&K! Going by the net results, effectively, it appears that for Gandhiji maintaining “Brand Mahatma”, and its associated “morality” was more important—the question is why didn’t Gandhi and Mountbatten consider the immorality of Pakistan in attacking Kashmir which had already acceded to India? If Pakistan had agreed to desist from its illegal action in Kashmir, it would have got the money anyway Further, Gandhi wanted to look good in the eyes of the Muslims in Pakistan and India.

Ignore national interest for the sake of appeasement, and your own image! This was the agenda of Gandhiji as he was desperately chasing a Noble Peace Prize for which he was nominated few times by the congress leaders. And for Nehru, kowtowing to Mountbatten and Gandhi was a priority, rather than standing up for the cabinet decision, of which he was a part. People like Sardar Patel were out of place in such a scenario. Gandhi went on a fast onto death to force the issue in his favour and it was one of the several issues that led him to fast for Muslim causes. Sardar Patel yielded, Gandhiji won, and India lost.

Rajmohan Gandhi wrote, “Wounded by Mountbatten’s backbiting and Jawaharlal’s disloyalty and bitter at Gandhi’s stand on the 55 crores, Patel felt too that the timing of Gandhi’s fast ‘was hopelessly wrong ’. All those leaders, including Mountbatten and Nehru, who encouraged or prompted Gandhi into that unreasonable position of going on fast were indirectly guilty of his untimely death. This is because Gandhiji’s assassin Nathuram Godse mention in court as this was the primary reason to assassinate him.

Patel had said something similar to Army chief General Roy Bucher and Roy Bucher said, “At our meeting in Dehra Dun, Sardar Patel told me that those who persuaded the Mahatma to suggest that money of Rs. 55 crore held in India should be despatched to Pakistan were responsible for the tragedy, and that after the money was sent off, the Mahatma was moved up to be the first to be assassinated on the books of a very well-known Hindu revolutionary society. I distinctly remember the Sardar Patel saying: ‘You know quite well that for Gandhiji to express a wish was almost an order’.

This is where PM Nehru as a leader failed miserably. He blindly followed Gandhiji’s order knowing this may hit back India in terms of invasion in his home state of Kashmir. This is exactly what happened. India lost Gandhiji early after independence and also lost 30% part of Jammu and Kashmir which India still claims as POK. Nehru’s home state Kashmir is the biggest sufferer from this Rs 55 crores transfer.

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