Patel & essential lessons on national unity

Time magazine’s cover story in its January 27, 1947, issue on Vallabhbhai Patel had led to speculation that perhaps the “Sardar of Bardoli” may be taking over as the first prime minister of Independent India. But Sardar Patel was destined to be the finest prime minister of his time that India never had.

Advertisement

Known as the Iron Man of India for his “steely determination and pragmatism” in taking decisive action to consolidate the Indian Union, Sardar Patel, according to some historians, deserved a better treatment from the successive Congress governments.

The first President, Dr Rajendra Prasad, at one stage said: 

“No attempt has been made in Delhi to erect a memorial. Even the portrait in the Parliament House is the gift from the Prince of Gwalior. Let us not, therefore, run away with the thought that his (Sardar Patel’s) services are any less valuable because we choose not to recognise them.”

Patel was awarded the Bharat Ratna (the highest civil decoration) in 1991, 41 years after his death, by the then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao.

Sardar Patel’s birth anniversary on October 31 is now observed as the Rashtriya Ekta Divas (National Unity Day). A Run for Unity is also organised on the occasion.

In a befitting tribute to Sardar Patel, a 182-metre (597 feet) high Statue of Unity monument is being built facing the Narmada Dam near Vadodara in Gujarat. 

Very little is known about Patel’s wife Jhaverba, who died of cancer in 1909 when he was just 34. Patel went to England to study law and returned as a barrister. He soon established his practice in Ahmedabad.

A chance meeting with Mahatma Gandhi in 1915 changed Patel’s life and within a year, the westernised barrister turned into a khadi dhoti-kurta clad freedom fighter.

Sardar Patel demonstrated his organising skills in making a success of Mahatma Gandhi’s Bardoli Satyagraha in 1928, the Dandi March in 1930, and the Quit India Movement in 1942.  

After Independence, Sardar Patel prevailed upon Mahatma Gandhi to persuade Jawaharlal Nehru to induct stalwarts like Dr BR Ambedkar and Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee into the Union Cabinet. Dr Mookerjee, who later formed the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, described Sardar Patel as “the most valiant champion of India’s freedom and the strongest unifying force in our national life. Patel was a rare combination of idealism and realism, of strength and generosity, which made him a leader and a statesman who had no equal”. 

As the Union Home Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, Patel emerged as a statesman of integrity with practical acumen and resolved to accomplish the monumental task of integrating 565 princely states to merge into the Independent Indian Republic.

Patel is also affectionately remembered as the “patron saint of India’s civil servants” for having established the modern unified Indian Administrative Service and other all India services.

On the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, Sardar Patel was unequivocal in declaring: “I should like to make one thing clear, that we shall not surrender an inch of Kashmir territory to anybody.”

Sardar Patel was perceived as the real boss of the Congress and a disciplinarian.

 When dissidence erupted against the then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant, it was Sardar Patel who took upon himself the arduous task of handling this unfortunate development. 

Sardar Patel also played a pivotal role in the reconstruction of the ancient Somnath Temple in Saurashtra through a public trust. But on the Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid issue, Patel wrote to UP Chief Minister Govind Ballabh Pant in 1949, “I feel that the issue is one which should be resolved amicably in a spirit of mutual toleration and goodwill between the two communities… such matters can only be resolved peacefully if we take the willing consent of the Muslim community with us. There can be no question of resolving such disputes by force.”

As the first Information and Broadcasting Minister, he actively helped in the growth and consolidation of the Press after Independence.

He helped India’s premier news agency Press Trust of India in buying the shares of the British news agency Reuters to enter into a reasonable partnership agreement for supply of international news to the newspapers in free India.

The erstwhile rulers of the princely states which Patel merged into the Indian Union paid their respectful homage to the great son of India. Members of the ICS and the IAS assembled in the capital and passed a condolence resolution paying glowing and affectionate tributes to the man who launched the unified all India services.

The writer is a senior journalist and a part-time member of the Prasar Bharati Board