New Delhi: Joining debate with BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi over partition, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today quoted excerpts from Maulana Abul Kalam Azad's book to say that Sardar Patel had agreed to the idea of division of the country before Nehru and Gandhi.
"Lord Mountbatten was extremely intelligent and could read the minds of all his Indian colleagues. The moment he found (Sardar Vallabh bhai) Patel amenable to his idea, he put out all the charm and power of his personality to win over the Sardar."
"As soon as Sardar Patel had been convinced, Lord Mountbatten turned his attention to Jawaharlal. Jawaharlal was not at first at all willing and reacted violently against the very idea of partition, but Lord Mountbatten persisted till step by step Jawaharlal's opposition was worn down," he said quoting at length from Azad's book India Wins Freedom.
Chidambaram's observation came a day after Modi accused Congress of committing the "sin" of partition and ignoring other heroes of the freedom struggle at the cost of Nehru- Gandhi family.
