Seventh in the series, the volume covers the period from July 1, 1937 to December 31, 1938, when the Indian National Congress had come to power in seven provinces. As Chairman of the Parliamentary Board, Sardar Patel looked after the functioning of the Congress ministries for which he laid down certain norms. He stressed that the criterion for the selection of a minister should be his capability and not his being a leader of a particular group. With a prophetic foresight Sardar Patel had envisaged criminalisation of politics and strongly condemned certain tendencies that went against the Congress culture. Sardar Patel’s differences with Maulana Azad on several issues are reflected in the documents in this volume. He was very unhappy over the Maulana’s handling of minority provinces particularly Sind and Bengal. Patel felt it would only help the formation of League ministries which would be against the interests of the Congress. Sardar Patel was critical of the Communists and the Socialists for creating trouble to bring a bad name to the Congress. He also came out strongly against the influencing of bureaucracy by the elected representatives. Despite his differences with Subhas Chandra Bose, Patel was full of praise for him and was proud of the connection between Gujarat and Bengal each of which had the privilege to hold three sessions of the Indian National Congress.
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