Unsung heroes of the Union of India

The story of the first 21 days after Independence has all the ingredients of a thriller, with plot twists, intrigue and princely states determined to preserve their independence

Birth of a Nation: The Twenty-One Days that Made India

By Josy Joseph

Published by Context

267 pages ₹799

 When we think of the architects of independent India, we think of giants such as Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and others. But they were not the only ones who worked tirelessly to ensure that India became a sovereign republic. Josy Joseph’s Birth of a Nation: The Twenty-One Days that Made India peels back the curtain and gives its readers a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most important chapters of nation-building. In the process, it reveals the efforts of those unknown, unsung heroes who ensured that India escaped the fate of Balkanisation, a real threat posed due to the ambitions of some of the princely states that ruled over a quarter of India’s population.

 

 

 Birth of a Nation is the third book by Mr Joseph, an investigative journalist, and this time he turns his gaze on the three weeks leading up to independence when the map of India was a fluid entity. Through a deep dive into the records at the National Archives in New Delhi along with private papers, regional archives and records in foreign universities, he creates a compelling picture of the 21 days before August 15 that would define the future of the nation. Led by V P Menon, the protagonists of this story were the “faceless civil servants” of the newly created States Department who became the “frontline soldiers in the brewing battle between the princely states and those who dreamt of a democratic India.” They were aided by spies in the royal households who shared the same dream.

 

The story of these 21 days has all the ingredients of a thriller and in the hands of Mr Joseph it finds a narrator equal to the job. The readers are dropped right in the middle of action as we witness K C S Mani’s assassination attempt on the Dewan of Travancore, Sir C P Ramaswamy, on the evening of July 25, 1947. Determined to secure an independent Travancore, Sir C P was a key player in the axis involving the other major princely states such as Bhopal and Hyderabad with similar ambitions. This assassination attempt played a key role in turning the tide in favour of the Indian Union as we know it today. From here, Mr Joseph doesn’t always proceed linearly, instead choosing to take his readers across time and place, sometimes in the course of a single chapter. We travel from region to region, witnessing royal intrigues and palace conspiracies. along with the spies in these royal households who ensured that the news of every princely move and manoeuvre reached the right quarters.

 

In fact, reading about the department simultaneously dealing with princely states such as Travancore, Junagadh, and Hyderabad, along with the many big and small political fires raging from Kohima to Kathiawar, is akin to watching multiple pots boil at the same time. This to-and-fro narrative structure mirrors the situation at hand and works well to convey the sense of gravity and urgency of the States Department’s job. Despite being set during a crucial historical moment,

 

Mr Joseph ensures that the book doesn’t become a regurgitation of dry facts. He brings his readers face to face with the key players and chooses episodes and anecdotes from their lives that sustain the narrative interest. For instance, he links the Bawla murder case of 1925 to the then 17-year-old Yeshwant Rao Holkar becoming the ruler of Indore. The thrilling encounters he chooses, such as The Nawab of Bhopal pulling a revolver on his daughter or the Maharaja of Jodhpur drawing a pen pistol at V P Menon during a round of tense negotiations, also demonstrate the princes’ mounting desperation.

 

The chapter titles help capture the reader’s interest too. For instance, the chapter that focuses on Yeshwant Rao’s abrupt U-turn and attempts to secure Indore’s independence is titled “Someday My Prince Will Come”. The title draws on Holkar’s long periods of absence from his kingdom, noting which the British Resident “joked that the song ‘Someday my prince will come’ should be ‘adopted as the state’s new anthem’”. Similarly, “Our Man in Hyderabad”, which focuses on the constantly developing situation in an unwilling Nizam’s kingdom along with the secret intelligence provided by Raja Bahadur S Aravamudu Aiyangar to the States Department echoes Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana.

 

Though Mr Joseph devotes a lot of time to states such as Bhopal, Hyderabad,  and Junagadh, the final resolution of the crises some of them posed falls beyond the scope of the 21 days covered here. As a result, the book draws to a close at a time when though independent, “the Republic was still a distant dream” for India. Despite this, with its meticulous research and engaging writing, Birth of a Nation remains an absorbing read.    

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The reviewer is an independent writer and translator