Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Quotes

It should not surprise Muslims if doubts were entertained about their loyalty. They could not ride on two horses.

Recent and bitter history also tells us that Communism is no shield against imperialism and that Communists are as good or as bad Imperialists as any other. Chinese ambitions in this respect not only cover the Himalayan slopes on our side but also include important parts of Assam.¹⁸ They have their ambitions in Burma also...

[ despite that we have an ambassador] who is eminently suitable for putting across the friendly point of view... .. (now comes) the wild insinuation that our attitude is determined by foreign influences... It looks as though it is not a friend speaking in that language but a potential enemy.

There [is] only one nationalist Muslim in India: Maulana Nehru.

Patel's presidential address to the Congress, 1931: No one would die of starvation in independent India. Its grain would not be exported. Cloth would not be imported by it. Its leaders would neither use a foreign language nor rule from a remote place 7,000 feet above sea level. Its military expenditure would not be heavy. Its army would not subjugate its own people or other lands. Its best-paid officials would not earn a great deal more than its lowest-paid servants. And finding justice in it would be neither costly nor difficult.

So far as abductions are concerned, there is not a single village or town in the West Punjab which has not suffered. 1 he number of women abducted is large and seems to follow a pattern. I have been told that in Shakargarh tehsil about 500 young girls were removed from the families of “Dutt” Muhiyals alone who have been settled from times immemorial in the villages of Kanjrur Dattan, Virum Dattan, Fatehpore, Nangal, Mianwali and Kapurdev. Many of these unfortunate girls are reported to be lodged in the surrounding villages. The number of abductions in the whole district of Sialkot and Shakargarh tehsil is said to be more than 20,000. This is perhaps an exaggerated figure but I will not be surprised if it is correct. Recovery has been practically nothing. A young officer, Lt. G. N. Sinha now in the Kumaon Regimental Centre, Agra, who was previously in the Boundary Force, is said to be in possession of a good deal of information. I am making arrangements to send for him to get some definite clues.

‘a Communist China which has definite ambitions and aims and which does not, in any way, seem friendly disposed towards us’.

I am sure the Chinese and their source of inspiration, Soviet Russia, would not miss any opportunity of exploiting these weak spots, partly in support of their ideology and partly in support of their ambitions.

Even in a stern and hostile letter to RSS leader M.S. Golwalkar, Home Minister Vallabhbhai Patel had acknowledged: ‘In the areas where there was the need for help and organisation, the young men of the RSS protected women and children and strove much for their sake.’

…we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that an appreciable number of the members of the Mahasabha gloated over the tragedy and distributed sweets. On this matter, reliable reports have come to us from all parts of the country. Further, militant communalism, which was preached until only a few months ago by many spokesmen of the Mahasabha, including men like Mahant Digbijoy Nath, Prof. Ram Singh and Deshpande, could not but be regarded as a danger to public security. The same would apply to the RSS, with the additional danger inherent in an organization run in secret on military or semi-military lines.

Chinese irredentism and Communist imperialism are different from the expansionism or imperialism of the Western powers. The former has a cloak of ideology which makes it ten times more dangerous. In the guise of ideological expansion lie concealed racial, national and historical claims. The danger from the north and north-east becomes both communist and imperialist.

The tragedy of it is that the Tibetans put their faith in us; they chose to be guided by us; and we have been unable to get them out of the meshes of Chinese diplomacy or Chinese malevolence.

(as) continuous defensive lines do not exist (there is) almost an unlimited scope for infiltration.

[I tried to read it] as favourably to our Ambassador and the Chinese Government as possible, but I regret to say that neither of them comes out well as a result of this study... (the Chinese) managed to instill into our Ambassador a false sense of confidence in their so-called desire to settle the Tibetan problem by peaceful means.... The final action of the Chinese, in my judgement, is little short of perfidy...

Organising the Hindus and helping them is one thing but going in for revenge for its sufferings on innocent and helpless men, women and children is quite another thing…apart from this, their opposition to the Congress, that to of such virulence, disregarding all considerations of personality, decay of decorum, created a kind of unrest among the people. All their speeches were fill of communal poison. It was not necessary to spread poison in order to enthuse the Hindus and organise for their protection. As a final result of the poison, the country had to suffer the sacrifice of the invaluable life of Gandhiji. Even an iota of the sympathy of the Government, or of the people, no more remained for the RSS. In face opposition grew. Opposition turned more severe, when the RSS men expressed joy and distributed sweets after Gandhiji’s death. Under these conditions, it became inevitable for the Government to take action against the RSS…Since then over six months have elapsed. We had hoped that after this lapse of time, with full and proper consideration, the RSS persons would come to the right path. But from the reports that come to me, it is evident that attempts to put fresh life into their same old activities are afoot.