On July 25 1947, nearly 100 rajas, maharajas, khans and nawabs, bedecked in bejewelled turbans, met in the Chamber of Princes in Delhi to ponder their future. India was beginning to burn with tens of thousands dying in the spreading sectarian violence between Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs.
If Patel was the one who laid out the initial framework for persuading the princes to join, it was his secretary, V.P. Menon, who did the actual groundwork of coaxing them. The final touch in the process was applied by the Viceroy Lord Mountbatten.
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Gandhi had to choose between Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel in the spring of 1946. Nehru’s position as the leader of the Congress was etched so strongly in Gandhi’s mind that there was no space for anyone else