About the Book
Birth of a Nation: The Twenty-One Days That Made India
“Josy’s account of the three weeks that culminated in India’s midnight tryst with freedom is packed with fascinating stories and little-known facts, making it a riveting read for anyone who is invested in the idea, and history, of India.”
V.K Karthika, Publisher, Westland Books
While 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.
Set in the crucial twenty-one days between 25 July and 14 August 1947, the book uncovers the dramatic and little-known story of how India nearly fragmented into multiple independent states before Independence. Drawing on neglected archival records and years of meticulous research, Joseph reconstructs the intense political manoeuvring, secret negotiations and high-stakes decisions that shaped the birth of modern India.
At the heart of the story is the newly formed States Department led by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and a determined group of civil servants who worked tirelessly to integrate hundreds of princely states into the Indian Union. Opposing them were a coterie of ruling families and their wily advisors who had declared their independence. The fiercest Hindu kingdom was in alliance with orthodox Muslim rulers. These states were building diplomatic relations with foreign nations; lying to Mountbatten, Nehru and Patel; preparing to print their own currencies; building relations with Jinnah and making strategic moves to defend themselves
against military action by the Nehru government. They had significant support from a section of the British, Jinnah, 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.
