Sardar Patel was an unmatched architect of national unity

Ramesh Sarraf Dhamora

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was a freedom fighter and politician who became India’s first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister. He played a key role in India’s freedom struggle and contributed significantly to the integration of all princely states into independent India. For this, he is also known as the “Iron Man.” Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Indianized the Indian Civil Services (ICS) and transformed them into the Indian Administrative Services (IAS). He instilled confidence in those serving the British and turned them towards patriotism.

For the first three years of independent India, Sardar Patel served as the country’s first Deputy Prime Minister, Home Minister, and Information and Broadcasting Minister. Patel merged the princely states, which were sovereign in their own right, into the Indian Union. They had separate flags and separate rulers. Sardar Patel had begun the work of integrating the princely states into India even before independence. Due to Sardar Patel’s efforts, by August 15, 1947, all Indian princely states, except Hyderabad, Kashmir, and Junagadh, had joined the Indian Union.

Mahatma Gandhi bestowed the title of Sardar on Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. He is also known as the Bismarck of India because he played a key role in unifying India. Sardar Patel earned a prestigious place in political history by giving the Indian National Movement a new ideological and practical direction. His strong personality combined organizational skills, political power, and an unwavering commitment to national unity. He made a significant contribution to India’s freedom struggle.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was born on October 31, 1875, in Nadiad, Gujarat, into a landowning family of the Leva Pattidar caste. He was the fourth child of his father, Jhaverbhai Patel, and his mother, Ladbai. Sardar Patel attended primary school in Karamsad and high school in Petlad. However, he acquired most of his knowledge through self-study. He was married at the age of 16. At the age of 22, he passed the matriculation examination and the District Advocate’s examination, which allowed him to practice law. Sardar Patel had five brothers and one sister. Patel’s wife died in 1908, leaving behind a son and a daughter. He then lived a widower’s life. Determined to advance in the legal profession, Patel traveled to London in August 1910 to study.

Sardar Patel ran for the presidency of the Indian National Congress three times, but Mahatma Gandhi intervened and installed Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru as president. During the Salt Satyagraha in 1930, Patel was imprisoned for three months. In March 1931, he presided over the Karachi session of the Indian National Congress. He was again arrested in January 1932. He was released in July 1934 and organized the Congress Party’s organization for the 1937 elections.

Patel was arrested along with other Congress leaders in October 1940 and released in August 1941. Sardar Patel was a leading candidate for the presidency of the Indian National Congress in 1945-1946. However, Mahatma Gandhi intervened and secured the presidency for Jawaharlal Nehru. As Congress President, Nehru was invited by the British Viceroy to form an interim government. Thus, had events proceeded normally, Sardar Patel would have been India’s first Prime Minister.

After becoming Home Minister, Sardar Patel was entrusted with the responsibility of merging the Indian princely states. Fulfilling his responsibilities, he created Indian unity by merging 562 small and large princely states into the Indian Union. No single individual in world history has dared to integrate such a large number of states. The merger of the princely states was independent India’s first achievement, and Patel undoubtedly had a significant contribution to it. For his policy firmness, Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi bestowed upon him the titles of Sardar and Iron Man. Vallabhbhai Patel made a significant contribution to building independent India into a vast nation.

When the people of Junagadh rebelled against the Nawab of Junagadh, he fled to Pakistan, and thus Junagadh was annexed to India. When the Nizam of Hyderabad rejected the proposal to merge with India, Sardar Patel sent the army there and forced the Nizam to surrender. Undoubtedly, Sardar Patel’s unification of 562 princely states was a marvel in world history. It was a bloodless revolution in India.

Patel also played a key role in the integration of the Lakshadweep Islands into India. The people of this region were cut off from the mainstream of the country and learned of India’s independence several days after August 15, 1947. Although this region was not adjacent to Pakistan, Patel believed that Pakistan might claim it. To avoid such a situation, Patel sent an Indian Navy ship to hoist the national flag in Lakshadweep. A few hours later, Pakistani Navy ships were seen hovering near Lakshadweep. However, upon seeing the Indian flag flying there, they were forced to return.

When Chinese Prime Minister Chou Enlai wrote to Jawaharlal Nehru, urging him to reject China’s sovereignty over Tibet, as this would prove dangerous for India. Jawaharlal Nehru refused. This very mistake led to China’s defeat and the Chinese occupation of our borderlands. Sardar Patel’s landmark works include the reconstruction of the Somnath Temple, the establishment of the Gandhi Memorial Fund, and the design of the Kamala Nehru Hospital.

Sardar Patel died on December 15, 1950, in Mumbai. In 1991, 41 years after his death, he was posthumously awarded India’s highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna, which he should have received much earlier. In 2014, the Narendra Modi government at the Center honored Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel by celebrating his birth anniversary (October 31) nationwide as National Unity Day.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a memorial to Sardar Patel in the Narmada district of Gujarat a few years ago. It is named the Statue of Unity. This statue stands at 182 meters tall, twice the height of the Statue of Liberty. It is installed on a small rocky island called Sadhubet near Kevadia, in the middle of the Narmada River, opposite the Sardar Sarovar Dam. This statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is the tallest statue in the world.

Looking at this statue of Sardar Patel, one can imagine his immense personality. He was born with the qualities of leadership, a Sardar. His morale was forged as iron by the struggles he endured. With this willpower and unwavering determination, he accomplished the unimaginable task of creating a united India after India’s independence. Sardar Patel’s contribution to India’s political history will never be forgotten. He contributed even more to uniting independent India than he did to the struggle for independence. Patel was an unmatched architect of national unity and the architect of a new India. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s importance in the country’s development will always be remembered.

Article:-

Ramesh Sarraf Dhamora

(The author is a freelance journalist accredited by the Rajasthan government.)