01871nam a2200229   4500008004100000020001800041037004100059041001200100082001900112100001600131245005800147250000600205260002700211300000800238500113500246650003801381650004201419650005001461650003601511650005901547650003501606260719b        |||||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  a9789379854827  cPurchasednMathrubhumi Books, Kaloor  aEnglish  a954.04bJOS/BI  aJosy Joseph  aBIRTH OF A NATIONb:Twenty - One Days That Made India  a1  aChennaibContextc2026  g267  aWhile Jawaharlal Nehru, M.A. Jinnah and other prominent leaders sparred and debated in public, and Lord Mountbatten readied himself to become the Governor-General of two nascent democracies, a small group of civil servants quietly anticipated—and sought to prevent—the eventual Balkanisation of India.

25 July–14 August 1947: These were the twenty-one days that made India.

The Birth of a Nation follows the work of the newly set-up States Department led by Sardar Patel, and its group of determined officials. They were pitted against a core of ruling families and their wily advisors who had declared their independence. The princely states and small republics were in alliance with orthodox Muslim rulers. These states were building diplomatic relations with foreign nations; trying to Mountbatten, Nehru and Patel; pre-empting the birth of new countries; building relations with Jinnah and the Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League.

This is the Indian history citizens need to appreciate just how hard-won the sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic of India is—and how fragile and precious that idea is.  aIndia — History — 1947–1971  aIndia — History — Partition, 1947  aIndia — Politics and government — 1947–  aIndia — Independence movement  aPatel, Vallabhbhai, 1875–1950 — Political activity  aNehru, Jawaharlal, 1889–1964