What Patel said and how CM Kiran Kumar Reddy distorted it!

CM Kiran Kumar Reddy speaking in the AP assembly today quoted Patel to support his view that AP Assembly’s views and resolution should dictate the State bifurcation issue and not Centre’s views. As usual the CM conveniently distorted Patel’s views by quoting selectively just part of it and not the main intention of that speech.

Speaking in the Constituent Assembly Debate On 12 October, 1949, Patel outright rejected the suggestion that a State’s consent is required before it’s boundaries are changed. He supported an amendment to existing draft which said State’s consent is required. While this is the fact, CM Kiran read out one part of the speech which sounded as if State’s views matter more than the Centre’s. Here is the exact paragraph of that speech Patel gave in 1949. Instead of quoting the whole para, the CM quoted just the lines in bold below.

Another matter about which I would like to remove misgivings is the proposed amendment to article 3. This amendment places the States in Part III on the same footing as the States in Part I in respect of territorial readjustments. The Constituent Assembly of Mysore recommended to us that the article as already adopted by this House, which provides for prior consent of the House, should remain unaltered. We have not found it possible to agree to the suggestion for the simple reason that in such matters there should be no differentiation between Part I and Part III States.
I, however take this opportunity of assuring the representatives of Mysore State that whether the article provides for consultation or consent of the legislature of the affected State, the wishes of the people cannot be ignored either by the Central Government or legislature. After all, we are a democracy; the main sanction behind us is the will of the people and we cannot act in disregard of public opinion.