The history of the Partition of India must be approached dispassionately and through a humanistic lens. Such an endeavour requires disentangling it from the ideological baggage of the nation-states that emerged from the dissolution of the colonial order in the Indian subcontinent. It also demands liberation from the secular–nationalist and religious–nationalist narratives articulated by state elites at various historical junctures.

Indian scholar Urvashi Butalia, in her influential work The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India, characterizes Partition as the “dark side of independence.” Some political thinkers extend this argument by framing it as the “dark side of nation-formation.” Undeniably, the consequences of Partition have posed enduring challenges to the project of state-building and national consolidation across South Asia. In this context, the recently released book Sardar Patel and Kashmir by former union minister Saif-u-Din Soz represents a modest yet important attempt to revisit Partition-era developments and the roles played by key political actors.

Sardar Patel and Kashmir

The contemporary relevance of this book is accentuated by ongoing political debates in India. During the National Unity Day event on October 31, 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sharply criticized Jawaharlal Nehru, alleging that he prevented Sardar Patel from fully integrating Jammu and Kashmir into the Indian Union. Similar claims have been echoed by a number of academics and defence analysts. Professor Soz, like many writers, has long engaged with this contested question. His book seeks to assemble diverse perspectives, enabling readers to arrive at their own informed judgments. He argues, “Nehru and Sardar Patel differed on several issues, but it is incorrect to believe that, had he been entrusted with full responsibility for Kashmir, Sardar Patel would have handled it differently.” (p. 59). That Sardar Patel was pragmatic in dealing with matters of state and policy is fairly well known in political and policy circles. The ministries of home and internal security even otherwise exhibit conservatism in state matters in all countries particularly those in search for consolidation.

In the preface to Soz Sahib’s book former Finance Minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha observes: “There is a great deal of propaganda today that Sardar Patel could have managed Kashmir far better. This is largely an attempt to tarnish the image of Jawaharlal Nehru”. He finds no differences in approach of two leaders in dealing with Kashmir. Written in Urdu and comprising twenty-five chapters, the book raises a central historiographical........

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