VP Menon played a historical role in the creation of independent India, and the most important states in a thread

New -Delhi, September 29 (IANS). When Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel campaigned to integrate 562 Princely states into the creation of independent India, the role of the VP Menon as his colleague was indelible. Wappala Pangunni Menon was an ordinary bureaucrat who saved India from fragmentation with extraordinary diplomacy. The firmness of Sardar Patel and the cleverness of Menon together composed the miracle, which is still credited to Sardar Patel, but historians believe that this integration was impossible without Menon. VP Menon was born on September 30, 1893 in Panmanna, a small town in Ottapalam, Kerala. His father was the principal of a school and Menon was the oldest of his twelve siblings. VP Menon under the British Raj started working as secretary of the Government of India during the British Raj and later became the political adviser of Lord Mountbatten and held the position of Secretary in the Ministry of States, where he integrated more than 500 principles in India with Sardar Patel. At the time of the division, when there was a stalemate between the congress and the Muslim league, Menon proposed the proposal of division to Mountbatten, Nehru and Patel. He drafted the exodus tool, which gave the Princely states a legitimate basis to join India or Pakistan. After independence in 1947, Sardar Patel gained the responsibility of the Ministry of the State. VP Menon became his secretary during this period. After the end of the British Raj, the Princely states became independent, but most of the kings wanted to remain independent. Princely states like Junagadh, Hyderabad, leaned to Pakistan, but Sardar Patel took a strict stand and VP Menon used diplomacy. They wandered around the kings of the kings and told the benefits of joining India. The most difficult case was from Junagadh. The Nawab wanted to go to Pakistan, but the Hindu -dominated population was opposed. VP Menon performed a referendum on the instructions of Sardar Patel, who merged Junagadh in India. In Hyderabad, Nizam resisted, but Hyderabad merged with the efforts of Sardar Patel and VV Menon. Maharaja Hanwant Singh of Jodhpur refused to sign the outcome, after which he prepared himself for merger in VP Menon. The role of the VP Menon in Jammu and Kashmir was also decisive. Maharaja Hari Singh was not clear about the merger. On October 26, 1947, VP Menon Hari Singh met after the attack of Pakistani tribunals. He signed the exodus. VP Menon later described these events in the book ‘The Story of the Integration of Indian States’. The secret of the success of VP Menon was his humility and understanding. He proposed a merger by not threatening the kings, and taking care of their interests. With his efforts, all the royal families merged their prince states in India. India’s integration is a living proof of the diplomacy of VP Menon. VP Menon, who contributed significantly to the integration of the country, inhaled his last in Bengaluru on December 31, 1965 at the age of 72, but his legacy is even more alive. -Ians Aks/DKP