New Delhi: Veteran politician Karan Singh on Friday hailed Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for knowing what needed to be done and said if the two weren’t together at the time, India would have fallen apart as Winston Churchill had prophesied.
Karan Singh, who termed Nehru as his “mentor”, said that the two leaders, despite being different personalities, managed to keep the “ship of state” intact after the British left.
“To be frank, had both of them not been there together after the British left, Churchill’s prophecy that India would break into 30 pieces, may have come true. It is these two, the prime minister and the deputy prime minister, who kept this ship of state intact. It is a privilege that I knew them both,” Karan Singh said.
Karan Singh was speaking at the launch of his authorised biography ‘A Statesman and A Seeker’ by Harbans Singh. He was joined by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and historian Malvika Singh.
On Nehru’s ‘charismatic personality’
He said he admired Nehru’s “charismatic personality” and dynamism that had enthused young people at the time.
“I grew up reading his books when I was in Doon School. So long before I met him, I was already a great admirer. He had a real charismatic personality. There was dynamism about him, and young people like me were greatly enthused by him. He was our hero in a way. And personally, I had the great fortune of knowing him for 15 years from 1949 to 1964,” he recalled, adding that the leader wrote “volumes of letters” to him.
The former Union minister noted that he had the privilege to hear Nehru speak during breakfast at Teen Murti about “the new India, the vision he had and how he saw the past and how he saw the future, and his advice.”
Patel, he added, was equally impressive and gave the impression that he could “deal with anything.”
“He had this air about him that he was in command. He knew exactly what needed to be done. He wasn’t an intellectual in the sense that Pandit Ji was an author, but he was a very solid person. And I think the two of them made a marvellous combination,” the 94-year-old said.
The book, published by Speaking Tiger, chronicles Karan Singh’s life and legacy, and his encounters with, among others, Nehru, Patel, Sheikh Abdullah, Shastri, Indira Gandhi, JRD Tata, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Rajiv Gandhi, Aldous Huxley, and the spiritual gurus Krishna Prem and Madhav Ashish.
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