Rising Flames

First, Brahman priests bathed the dead man's body in holy Ganges water, placed a green tulsi leaf between his lips and marked his forehead with yellow sandalwood paste and red kumkum powder. Then, in the late afternoon, a gun carriage drawn by Indian soldiers, sailors and airmen carried the body through Bombay's streets while vast crowds mourned and planes overhead showered the procession with flowers. Finally, at the cemetery, the dead man's son poured incense and ghee (semifluid butter) over the body and lit the pyre. Watching the rising flames, Jawaharlal Nehru sobbed. It was barely ten hours since a heart attack had brought death to long-ailing, 75-year-old Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Deputy Prime Minister of India.

True Talent. For all its hurry (which was in conformity to Hindu custom), the funeral which focused all India's eyes on Bombay last week was worthy of a prince --a fact which would have pleased tough, bull-necked Sardar Patel. The son of a farmer, Patel was 35 before he was able to afford to fulfill his dream of studying law at London's Middle Temple. And though he quickly won a reputation as a formidable criminal lawyer, it was only after Patel joined Gandhi's movement in 1916 that he discovered his true talent--politics.

Serving as Gandhi's right hand--some Indians said "fist" was a better word--Patel first showed a genius for leadership in his organization of civil disobedience campaigns against British land taxes, thereby won the unofficial title "Sardar" which means captain or leader. It was Patel whose iron will and political savvy converted the Indian National Congress from an association of petition writers into the effective organization which ran eight of India's eleven provinces even before the end of British rule.

Shared Power. Once India was free and Gandhi dead, Patel and Nehru shared supreme power. While Nehru made speeches and handled India's foreign relations, Patel shaped much of the nation's domestic policy. As Home Minister, he used his police to suppress Communist terrorism and to "discipline" troublesome labor unions. As States Minister, he brought India's 550-odd feudal princelings to heel. (In one whirlwind 96-hour tour he pressured two dozen princes into surrendering their political powers, thus added 8,000,000 people and 56,000 square miles to the Dominion of India.) Together with his many friends among India's industrialists, he worked successfully to modify Nehru's socialist tendencies.

Differing strongly in personality and political viewpoint, Nehru and Patel worked in harness with apparent smoothness until last September. Then their differences over the proper policy toward Pakistan and India's Moslem minority--Patel favored a tough line--led to an open struggle for control of the Congress Party. Patel won the first round, but in the end mutual dependence prompted Patel and Nehru to patch up their quarrels.

Last week Indians wondered whether Nehru, the crowd-swayer, could maintain order and unity in India without his opponent and partner, Patel the organizer.

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