But today we should also remember with admiration the deftness of one Kanhaiyalal Maneklal Munshi

who was stationed as the trade agent (Agent-General) of India in the princely state of yderabad!
"eproduced below are rele#ant e$cerpts from %!&! Menon's (Integration of the Indian States,
regarding Munshi's precision)
In accordance with Article II of the Standstill Agreement (which the Nizam had signed with New
Delhi) the Government of India appointed K !nshi as their Agent"General in #$dera%ad& I did
not then 'now !nshi ver$ well( %!t I had partic!larl$ %een impressed %$ the wa$ in which, as #ome
inister in )om%a$ from *+,- to *+,+, he had handled the comm!nal sit!ation there& .hen we
informed the Government of #$dera%ad of !nshi/s appointment, the Nizam made certain conditions&
0irst of all he wanted !nshi to %e no more than a trade Agent&
I replied to 1ai' Ali (whom the Nizam had appointed 2resident of his 34ec!tive 5o!ncil on the advice
of Kasim 6izvi) drawing his attention to Article II of the Agreement !nder which the f!nctions of the
Agent"General were certainl$ not confined to trade& A trivial %!t nonetheless significant disp!te arose
over the 7!estion of the accommodation that was to %e provided in #$dera%ad for !nshi, the Nizam
ref!sing to give him even temporaril$, till he fo!nd accommodation elsewhere& 8ltimatel$ two of the
%!ildings %elonging to the Indian Arm$ were placed at the disposal of !nshi and his staff99&
*& K !nshi had a ver$ delicate and diffic!lt role to pla$& .hile the relations of the Government of
India with the Nizam/s Agent"General in Delhi (Nawa% :ain ;ar <!ng) were cordial, !nshi was
treated with definite hostilit$ %$ the Government of #$dera%ad and his relations with them were
e4tremel$ strained& )eca!se of the s!spicion with which he was viewed %$ the Government of
#$dera%ad he was virt!all$ a prisoner in his own ho!se99
+#en with his life at risk Munshi kept the then ,nion ome Minister -ardar &atel informed about the
doings of the yderabad state! .he information pro#ided by Munshi in a summari/ed form is cited in
Integration of the Indian States=
S!pported %$ the 6aza'ars, the r!ling cli7!e in #$dera%ad was now in a militant mood& >he Nizam/s
advisers, it was reported to me, had ass!red him that if India resorted to an$ economic %loc'ade it was
not li'el$ to %e effective, as #$dera%ad co!ld easil$ stand on its own legs for the ne4t few months,
d!ring which time p!%lic opinion in the world co!ld %e mo%ilized in its favo!r& India was stated to %e
ver$ wea' and to %e incapa%le of militar$ action now or at an$ time& All the !slim co!ntries were
friendl$ to #$dera%ad and wo!ld not permit an$ militar$ action to %e ta'en against it& >he #$dera%ad
radio went to the e4tent of anno!ncing that if there was a war against #$dera%ad tho!sands of
2athans wo!ld march into India99 Kasim 6azvi who seems to dominate #$dera%ad has categoricall$
stated that if the Indian Dominion comes to #$dera%ad it will find nothing %!t the %ones and ashes of
the one and a half crores of #ind!s9&
It was based on the specifics pro#ided by Munshi that -ardar &atel finally took the bold decision to
formulate and gi#e green signal to 01peration &olo!' Munshi's meticulousness in making the process
successful was acknowledged by -ardar &atel himself)
(?n %ehalf of the Government, I wish to sa$ that we are deepl$ conscio!s of the high sense of p!%lic
d!t$ that ind!ced $o! to accept this office and the ver$ a%le manner in which $o! discharged the d!ties
entr!sted to $o! which contri%!ted in no small meas!re to the final res!lt&
It is because of risks taken by men like KM Munshi that yderabad can be seen in the map of India !