Like Jammu and Kashmir, the issue of Hyderabad nizam's reluctance to merge with India would have landed in the United Nations as Jawaharlal Nehru was keen to do so but Sardar Patel's "pragmatism" saved the situation, BJP leader L K Advani said here today.
Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, was against the plan of military intervention in Hyderabad by Patel, then Home Minister, Advani said quoting from books written by a close of Patel.
He claimed that the nizam was determined to stay independent and was threatening to kill Hindus in his territory.
"Nehru wanted to approach UN, as he did about J&K. We do not know what would have happened if Patel had listened to Nehru's advice.... Hyderabad would have become a problem like J&K but for Patel's pragmatism," the BJP leader said at a book release function.
The Hindi book titled "Jammu aur Kashmir ki unkahi kahani (The untold story of J&K)" has gone into details of Praja Parishad, a Jammu-based regional party which campaigned against special status for the state and later merged with Jansangh.
The book was launched to mark the birth anniversary of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, founder of Jansangh, the erstwhile avatar of BJP.
Advani said the views of Kashmiri-speaking Muslims have dominated the state's political discourse and few people were aware about the sacrifice made by others in the state.
