Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

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Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (October 31, 1875–December 15, 1950), popularly referred to as Sardar Patel ("Sardar" stands for "Chief" or "Leader"), was an Indian statesman, core leader of the Indian Independence Movement and of the Indian National Congress.

Following Independence on August 15th, 1947, he became the Deputy Prime Minister of India and Union Minister for Home Affairs and the States till his death in 1950.

For his leadership unrivalled in forcefulness, determination and wisdom in the most critical years of the Indian Independence Movement and the first years of a new-born nation, he is lovingly and reverently referred to as the Iron Man of India.

Early Life

Vallabhbhai Patel was born into a farmer family on October 31, 1875, in Nadiad, Gujarat, India. He was the fourth son of Jhaverbhai Patel and Ladba. Somabhai, Narsibhai and Vithalbhai Patel were his elder brothers; the latter was also a major figure in the struggle for Independence, although at odds with Gandhiji's leadership. He had a younger brother, Kashibhai, and a sister, Dahiba (she died at a young age).

Young Vallabh was the middle child, thus having to struggle the most. He entered school late, and received virtually no interest or support for his education from his family. He wandered from Nadiad to Petlad and Borsad to complete his schooling, living on his own with other boys like him, and taking his matriculation at the age of 22. At this point, he was seen as an unambitious, average young man with no perceivable future save as a householder.

But Vallabhbhai assiduously worked to a sober yet ambitious plan: he would pass the Pleader's examination and earn as a simple lawyer. Saving enough money, he would journey to England to become a barrister.

During the many years it took him to save money, Vallabhbhai the pleader earned a reputation of fierceness, ruthlessness as a lawyer that would set the stage for the Ironman of India. His name was revered by his peers. He had built a character of stoicism and discipline, lancing a painful boil without hesitation on his own, and living for years away from his parents and brothers to make his own way in life. Vallabhbhai also cared for a personal friend when the plague swept the state, and even briefly, yet terribly suffered from the killer disease. When he learned that he had caught the disease, he immediately sent away his young family to safety and left his home for a temple, where he mercifully recovered.

During these years, Vallabhbhai fetched his wife Jhaverba (they had been married when children), and set up his household. His wife bore him two children - Mani, a girl in 1904, and Dahya, a boy in 1906. Not much is known about his wife since she died tragically at the young age of 29 in 1909 in Bombay, and Vallabhbhai was an extremely reserved man.

In addition to his personal reserve that enabled him to bottle up the grief of his wife's death and raise 2 nascent children on his own, Vallabhbhai never flouted the code of reverence for his parents and elder brothers. Assiduously taking on the burdens of his homestead even while saving for England and supporting a young family, Vallabhbhai also made way for his brother Vithal to travel to England in place of him, on his own saved money and opportunity! The famous episode occurred as the tickets and pass arrived in the name of "V.J. Patel," and arrived at his brother's home, who bore the same initials. Vallabhbhai did not hesitate to make way for his elder brother's ambition before his own, and funded his trip as well.

Finally, at the age of 36, he journeyed to England and enrolled at the Middle Temple Inn in London. Finishing a 36 month course in 30 months, Vallabhbhai topped his class (which is remarkable for a non-Englishman of no college or city education experience, despite his professional credentials). He returned to the Gujarati city of Ahmedabad, and became one of the city's most sought-after and prominent barristers.

In 1918, he left his hard-earned wealth, his large house and life of respect and comfort for the frugal living and hardship of Mahatma Gandhi's freedom movement. The elder man's pure adherence to Indian values, a simple, pious existence, and the soul-liberating cause of national independence set the caged peasant within Patel free. The pure freedom of living a virtuous life without submission to high society, classes, castes and the British Raj appealed strongly when it was personified in the life of the Mahatma. The hard life and high honor of the struggle, and a commitment to action not seen before in political leaders drew Patel personally and spiritually close to Gandhiji.

Before becoming Sardar Patel of national fame, he was also Ahmedabad's sanitation commissioner and municipal president in the 1920s, improving life for the common people while increasing his experience in public administration and politics. During his terms, Ahmedabad was extended a major supply of electricity, a massively improved drainage and sanitation system and major education reforms. He even took on sensitive Hindu-Muslim issues with an iron hand, with the overall objective of looking after the wider population of the city.

Movement for Indian Independence

See Also: Indian Independence Movement, Mahatma Gandhi

Sardar Patel never actually joined the Congress Party until after 1918. He became the secretary of the Gujarat Sabha, which became the Congress Party of Gujarat in 1920. He was elected its President, and served up till 1947.

Kheda and Bardoli Satyagraha

Sardar Patel's first major participation was during the Kheda Struggle. The Kheda division of Gujarat was reeling under a severe drought and the peasants asked for relief from the high rate of taxes. Mahatma Gandhi had approved of a struggle there, but could not lead it himself due to his activities leading a similar movement in Champaran, Bihar. Asking for one Gujarati activist to volunteer full-time to the Kheda cause, Patel raised his hand and stood up.

Along with Narhari Parikh and Mohanlal Pandya, two former lawyers and students of Gandhi, Patel began a village-to-village tour, detailed grievances and asking villagers for their support for a state-wide revolt. All throughout the state, almost every villager, Hindu and Muslim backed Patel's efforts and leadership. Patel emphasized complete non-violence despite any provocation, and unity amongst all villagers. Patel was greatly assisted by nationalists like Abbas Tyabbji and the Sarabhai family of Ahmedabad.

When revenue was refused, the government sent police and intimidation squads to seize property, including confiscating barn animals and whole farms. Thousands of activists and farmers were arrested, but almost no incident of violence from the villagers was reported. Many families throughout Gujarat attempted to help the resistors by supplying them with food, clothing and other necessities. The state's people socially boycotted and segregated individuals and villages that supported the government and paid revenues. The revolt evoked great sympathy around India, but was not fought for the explicit cause of Indian independence.

The revolt ended in 1919, when the government compromised and suspended payment of revenue, even scaling back the rate. Vallabhbhai Patel emerged as an icon and hero to Gujaratis, admired and hailed by Indian leaders throughout India, especially by his mentor, Mahatma Gandhi.

In the years between 1919 and 1928, Patel worked extensively against untouchability, alcoholism, ignorance and poverty. He was elected the President of the Municipal Corporation of Ahmedabad in 1922.

In 1928, Bardoli suffered from a similar predicament. In this case, the revenue hike was steeper, and the famine worse and covered a large portion of Gujarat. Patel organized the first revolt since the suspension of civil resistance in 1922, and became a hero to the whole nation. The revenue refusal was even stronger here than in Kheda, and many sympathy satyagrahas were undertaken in different parts of Gujarat.

In both cases, after the revolt had ended, Patel worked hard to make sure each farmer got his lands and property back.

It was with his work in Bardoli, that Gujaratis and people across the country began referring to him as the Sardar, or Leader. His work won him the loyalty of thousands of Gujarati freedom-fighters and the Gujarat Congress Party, and the love and adoration of millions of people in Western India.

Civil Disobedience Movement

Sardar Patel became the President of the Indian National Congress in 1931, at the dawn of the Civil Disobedience Movement, or Salt Satyagraha. Patel organized Congress work before being arrested by police. He served his sentence with Gandhi in the Yeravda Jail till 1934. Gandhi and Patel grew very close, personally and spiritually in this time. Patel served Gandhi, affectionately looking after his personal needs, and Gandhi encouraged Patel to learn Sanskrit and read great Hindu epics. The two discussed many aspects of the freedom struggle, Indian history and national issues. Gandhi was especially proud of Patel's work in Gujarat, and of the inestimable help he was giving Gandhi in the work of revolution.

Power Within The Congress

Sardar Patel was Gandhiji's right-hand man, and Congress Party chief. He commanded the wide loyalty and respect of the millions of Congressmen who had fought in the hot sun and been beaten, tortured and imprisoned for many years. He was Gujarat's chief, and no other Congress leader, not even Gandhiji could have overcome his strength in his home state. His great integrity, strict discipline and adherence to core principles of the struggle, complete disinterest in office and power as such, and fatherly care for his associates and fellow Congressmen made him the only man capable of standing up to Gandhiji. Thus even though he had been Congress President only once in 1931, he remained its second-most important leader after Gandhiji, exceeding the younger and charismatic Jawaharlal Nehru in authority and influence within the party and in government. It was acknowledged by many veteran freedom-fighters and his British opponents that only Sardar Patel could stand up to Gandhiji in a contest for the loyalty of most Congressmen and Indians.

No one was a stronger ally of the Mahatma. Patel would break many other bonds of power, office, leadership, friendship and family before splitting from the Mahatma. Throughout his life, he viewed himself as a "soldier in Bapu's Army." He enjoyed a close spiritual bond with the Mahatma, and the Gandhi-Patel relationship has been described as one of older and younger brothers. In Indian society, the older brother is a father-figure, with the younger brother bound with love, loyalty and respect to him.

Sardar Patel assumed a wide range of responsibilities by raising funds for the Party from businessmen and sympathizers, developing an election strategy and selecting candidates for the provincial and central elections of 1934 and 1937 under the Government of India Act 1935, and guiding the work of many Congress organizations dedicated to social upliftment and service. He was the guide and boss of the various Congress Ministries that took power in the provinces in the 1930s - never indulging in power and interfering in the work of public service, but holding an iron discipline over the ministers, preventing the British thus from dividing the leaders and ruling, and any corruption of power from hurting the purity of the overall cause for freedom.

In the eyes of some people, Patel gained infamy when he reprimanded P.F. Nariman, a Parsee Congress leader who coveted the premiership of Bombay, and Khare, another politician seeking the premiership of the Central Provinces. Both had tried to divide the party to unseat the preference of national party leaders, and to Patel, divide-and-rule was absolutely unacceptable. But his measures to oust both from were criticized as authoritarian and dictatorial by some in the press.

Quit India Movement

Main Article: Quit India Movement

Sardar Patel strongly supported Gandhi's call for a final, definitive struggle to obtain the exit of the British in India, after he realized that the British would not reward India with freedom even if India supported Britain in the World War II. Patel's support was critical, since the movement was received with criticism and caused many political divisions and controversy.

Although Nehru and Maulana Azad backed the struggle, it was Patel's leadership that mobilized hundreds of thousands of Congress supporters, especially in latter-day Mumbai, Gujarat and Maharashtra. After making a fiery speech in Mumbai to a crowd over 100,000 strong, Patel energized thousands of nationalists, removing political exhaustion, division and confusion.

Patel and the whole Congress leadership were soon arrested, but Quit India became the most dangerous revolt in the history of the country. Hundreds of thousands of people courted arrest, and whole cities and provinces shut down. But the British did succeed, by rigorous imposition of martial law, in breaking the strength of the revolt by 1944.

Patel and the entire Congress Working Committee was jailed in Ahmednagar till 1946. In these years, Patel was recorded as having kept up the spirits of his comrades by constant care and service to them.

Patel and the others were released by early 1946. The revolt and the war had exhausted Britain, and negotiations were about to begin for the future independence of India.

Personal Life

Vallabhbhai Patel was an extremely reserved man committed to his family and friends. After joining the freedom struggle, he would frequently live in Gandhi's ashrams, or with his close friends in Gujarat. From the 1920s till his death, his daughter Manibehn Patel would closely attend to his personal needs and often act as a right-arm.

Vallabhbhai's son Dahyabhai Patel worked for an insurance company in Mumbai, where Vallabhbhai would often live. However, Vallabhbhai was angered once by Dahyabhai's request that he use his political influence to obtain a loan crucial to his business's survival, even though he promised to return it immediately. Patel would be protective of his integrity and reputation as far as possible.

His colleagues like Narhari Parikh, Mohanlal Pandya, Ganesh Vasudev Mavlankar, Ravi Shankar Vyas and Mahadev Desai would become very close and dear friends to him. Officials like V.P. Menon and H.M. Patel and his private secretary Vidya Shankar would grow a deep, personal admiration and a relationship of trust and reverence for Patel. Patel was also close to the Birla family and the family of Ambalal Sarabhai, a prominent Gujarati industrialist. His personal friends not from the political world were Dr. Kanuga and his wife, who were neighbors in Ahmedabad.

The Independence of India

Vallabhbhai Patel's most important contributions came in the period between 1946 and 1948, when the Congress negotiated India's independence; when the Partition of India took place, and India's independence was greeted by intensive communal violence, an exodus of 10 million people, war over Kashmir and the pending integration of 565 princely states.

The Congress Presidency

Patel famously stepped down in favor of Nehru from the 1946 election for the Congress Presidency, upon the request of Gandhi. Patel had the support of 11 out of 15 Congress Party provincial organizations, while Nehru had none. The election's importance is in the fact that the elected man would lead free India's first Government.

Gandhi is often criticized for not backing Patel, a battle-hardened leader who had the support of the entire Congress Party. But Patel respected Gandhi's judgment, and knew that he did not have Nehru's assets: health and youth, mass popularity and a likeable image with the country's Muslims and youth.

But until his death, Gandhi's true wish was that Patel and Nehru head the Government together, and that the distinction be only titular. Patel took the most powerful portfolio, the Home Ministry, and retained his control over the organization of the Congress Party.

The Partition of India

See Also: Partition of India

Sardar Patel was one of the first Congress leaders to accept partition of India as a solution to the rising Muslim separatist movement led by Mohammed Ali Jinnah. He was greatly angered by Jinnah's wrecking of attempted coalitions between his party and the Congress, and by his embrace of violence, such as the Direct Action Day, when over 5,000 people were killed in violence instigated by Jinnah. But he was also aware that Jinnah did enjoy popular support amongst Muslims, and that an open conflict between him and the nationalists could degenerate into a Hindu-Muslim civil war of disastrous proportions and consequences.

When Nehru and the others had approved the idea, it was Patel who took the job of convincing a deeply saddened Gandhi of the inevitability of partition as the pragmatic solution.

Patel also represented India in the Partition Council, watching over the fairness of the division of assets and government machinery. With Pakistan being the smaller country with a smaller population, Patel made sure Jinnah did not obtain more resources for his state than was justifiable. Nehru and Patel jointly named India's first Council of Ministers. Patel took the Ministry for Home Affairs, and the title of Deputy Prime Minister.

At 72, Patel assumed theHimalayan responsibilities of the integration of 565 princely states into the Union, advancing democracy and self-government in these fiefdoms, developing the national security apparatus and strategy, and welding Bharat into one, united country. Patel would assume a leading role in writing the free nation's Constitution as well, responsible for inculcating separation of powers, religious freedom and equality (ironically, he was often portrayed with an anti-Muslim bias) and the right to property.

Kashmir, Relations with Pakistan

When a tribal invasion of the Himalayan kingdom of Kashmir began in September 1947, with Pakistani tribesmen and soldiers under Major General Akbar Khan of the Pakistani Army, Patel immediately wanted to send troops into Kashmir. But agreeing with Nehru and Mountbatten, he waited till Kashmir's monarch had acceeded to India. Patel then oversaw India's military operations to secure Srinagar, the Baramulla Pass and the forces retrieved a lot of territory from the invaders. Patel, along with Defence Minister Baldev Singh administered the entire military effort, arranging for troops from different parts of India to be rushed to Kashmir, and for a major military road connecting Srinagar to Pathankot be built in 6 months.

Patel strongly advised Nehru against arbitration from the United Nations, insisting that Pakistan had been wrong to support the invasion and the accession to India was valid. Patel did not want foreign inteference in a bilateral affair.

Patel also strongly criticized the release of Rs. 55 crores to the Government of Pakistan, convinced that the money would go to finance the war against India in Kashmir. The Cabinet had approved his point, but it was all reversed when Gandhi went on a fast-unto-death to obtain the release. Gandhi was worried that economic turmoil in Pakistan would make it more aggressive, increasing Hindu-Muslim violence which had already killing 1 million people and was just calming down. Gandhi obtained the release, as well as a commitment from Hindus and Muslims of Delhi to end all communal violence. Patel, though not estranged from Gandhi, was deeply hurt at the total rejection of his personal counsel and a Cabinet decision.

In 1949, a crisis arose when the number of Hindu refugees entering West Bengal, Assam and Tripura from East Pakistan climbed over 800,000. The refugees in many cases were being forcibly evicted by Pakistani authorities, and were victims of intimidation and violence.

Against Patel's advice and calls from Indian nationalists, Nehru invited Liaquat Ali Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan to find a peaceful solution. Despite his aversion, Patel met Khan and discussed the matters. Patel strongly criticized, however, Nehru's intention to sign a pact that would create minority commissions in both countries and pledge both India and Pakistan to a commitment to protect each other's minorities. Patel amongst others saw this as appeasement. Syama Prasad Mookerjee and K.C. Neogy, two Bengali ministers resigned from the Cabinet, and Nehru became a hated figure in West Bengal. The pact was immediately in jeopardy.

Patel however, publicly came out to Nehru's aid. He gave emotional speeches to members of Parliament, and the people of West Bengal. He spoke with scores of delegations of Congressmen, Hindus, Muslims and other public interest groups, persuading them to give peace a final effort. The Pact was at last approved and within a year, most of the Hindu refugees had returned to Pakistan.

Integration of Princely States

During the transition period before Independence, assisted by civil servant V.P. Menon, Patel worked towards the integration of the numerous Indian states into the Indian union. Patel and Menon persuaded the princes of 565 states of the impossibilty of independence from the Indian republic, especially in the presence of growing opposition from their subjects. He also proposed favourable terms for the merger, including creation of privy purses for the descendants of the rulers. While encouraging the rulers to act with patriotism, Patel did not rule out force, setting a deadline of August 15, 1947, for them to sign the instrument of accession document.

All but three of the states willingly merged into the Indian union leading to the comment that Patel liquidated the princely states without liquidating the princes. Only Jammu and Kashmir, Junagadh, and Hyderabad did not fall into his basket.

Jungadh was especially important to Patel, since it was in his home state of Gujarat. The Nawab had under pressure from Shah Nawaz Bhutto acceeded to Pakistan. It was however, quite far from Pakistan and 80% of its population was Hindu. Patel combined diplomacy with force, demanding that Pakistan annul the accession, and that the Nawab accede to India. He sent the Army to occupy three principalities of Junagadh to show his resolve. Following wide-spread protests and the formation a civil government, or Arzi Hukumat, both Bhutto and the Nawab fled to Karachi, and under Patel's orders, Indian Army and police units marched into the state. A plebiscite later organized produced a 99.5% vote for merger with India.

Hyderabad was seeking independence or accession with Pakistan, given that it was the largest of princely states - its boundaries stretched from present day Andhra Pradesh to parts of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Orissa. Even though its ruler, the Nizam was a Muslim, over 80% of its people were Hindu. Militant Muslims called the Razakars, under Qasim Razvi pressed the Nizam to hold out against India, while organizing attacks with militant Communists on people on Indian soil. Even though a Standstill Agreement was signed due to the desperate efforts of Lord Louis Mountbatten to avoid a war, the Nizam always rejected deals and changed his positions. Finally, in September 1948, Patel reconciled Nehru and the Governor-General, Chakravarti Rajgopalachari, and sent in the Indian Army to integrate Hyderabad. After a week's operations, thousands of Razakar militants had been killed, but Hyderabad was comfortably secured into the Indian Union. Despite his anger at the Nizam, Patel retained him as the ceremonial chief of state, and held talks with him where the Nizam apologized to Patel, who graciously defused the rivalry.

Unlike Nehru and Gandhi, Patel was not initially interested in Kashmir acceeding to India, due to its Muslim-majority population. But when Pakistan's Governor-General Muhammad Ali Jinnah encouraged the accession of two Hindu-majority states, Junagadh and Hyderabad to Pakistan, Patel felt the need to punish Pakistan for its hypocrisy and its efforts to destabilize India. He however made no particular effort to court Kashmir's ruler, a Hindu.

Constitution

See Also: Constitution of India

Patel was a senior member of the Constituent Assembly of India, and headed several important committees that decided the upcoming Constitution's articles on civil freedoms. Patel backed widespread personal freedoms, with protective authority to the Government. He strongly defended a nationalized civil service, and inserted the privy purse clause and right to property as well.

Relations with Nehru

Sardar Patel's relationship with Nehru has always been a source of controversy and intense historical interest. But it's most important phase came between 1947 to 1950, India's first years as a free nation.

Gandhi, Nehru and Patel formed the Triumvirate which ruled India. Prime Minister Nehru was intensely popular with the masses, but did not enjoy the enormous loyalty and respect Patel had for his political judgment, leadership and integrity within the Congress Party and among most Indian nationalists. Even the British were forced to admit that Patel was the only leader capable of standing up to Gandhi, and the most dangerous as well. Patel was intensely loyal to Gandhi, and both he and Nehru looked to him to arbitrate disputes.

Nehru and Patel sparred intensely over national issues. Patel objected to Nehru overruling his Home Ministry's officials, such as sending his own representative to Ajmer, the scene of communal violence, despite a senior Ministry official having already gone there and Patel himself personally briefing Nehru. Nehru had not bothered to inform Patel of his intentions. Nehru felt offended by Patel making important decisions regarding the states integration without reference to him or the Cabinet.

Beneath this lay core ideological differences. Patel was a Hindu who was proud of ancient traditions and Indian culture. He was from the sturdy peasantry of Gujarat, who proudly owned and worked their lands. Nehru was a socialist who despised rituals and religious dogma, who was rich and Westernized in thinking, attitude and mannerism.

An exasperated Patel did not want to battle Nehru, and asked Gandhi to relieve him. He did not have Nehru's youth and popularity, which would overtake him in time, and he knew that an open political battle would hurt India. After much personal deliberation and contrary to Patel's judgment, Gandhi on January 30, 1948 told Patel not to leave the Government, and to stay by Nehru's side. India, according to Gandhi, desperately needed the joint leadership, and Patel. He was assassinated just an hour afterwards. Patel was the last man to have had an intimate conversation with the Mahatma.

At Gandhi's wake, Nehru and Patel embraced each other, and addressed the nation together. However, criticism soon arose from the media and other politicians that Patel's Home Ministry had failed to protect Gandhi. An emotionally exhausted Patel wrote out a letter of resignation, offering to leave the Government despite Gandhi's word so that he may not embarrass Nehru's administration any further. Patel's secretary convinced him to withhold the letter, seeing it as fodder for Patel's enemies and political conflict in India.

Nehru sent Patel a personal letter dismissing any idea of personal differences and that he wanted Patel to leave. He reminded Patel of their 30 year partnership in the freedom struggle, and that after Gandhi's death, it was especially wrong for them to quarrel. Moved, Patel personally and publicly endorsed Nehru's leadership and refuted any suggestion of discord.

Patel dispelled any notion that he would like to be India's Prime Minister. He recognized Nehru's importance, and his sacred word to Gandhi. The two committed themselves to joint leadership, and non-interference in Congress party affairs.

However, the two would criticize each other in matters of policy. Nehru remained an opponent of Patel's plan to forcibly integrate Hyderabad, and against Patel's advice asked for the United Nations to arbitrate the Kashmir dispute. The former Nehru had to conceed in 1948, and the latter became a source of intense criticism in the years afterward.

Nehru also resisted Patel's counsel on sending assistance to Tibet, which had been invaded by China, and ejecting the Portuguese from Goa by military force. The former resulted in the 1962 Sino-Indian War and the latter was done by Nehru himself in 1961. Patel did not himself force the issue at the time.

But Patel did not help Nehru when he had purposely bypassed him, only later to need his help. Nehru attempted to oppose the will of a majority of Congressmen by suggesting that Governor General Chakravarti Rajgopalachari become India's first President. Nehru's arbitrariness and imposition angered the party, which backed its favorite, Dr. Rajendra Prasad. Patel did not help Nehru to win his way, and Prasad became the President of India in 1950. Nehru also opposed the 1950 Congress presidential candidacy of Purushottam Das Tandon, a Hindu conservative leader. Endorsing Jivatram Kripalani himself, Nehru attempted to thwart Tandon's bid, threatening to resign if he were elected. The party voted for Tandon, and Patel endorsed Tandon in Gujarat, where Kripalani received not one vote despite hailing from that state himself.

Nehru did not resign, and Patel had not expected him to. Patel also personally encouraged Nehru and assured him that he should continue as Prime Minister after Prasad's election to the Presidency, which had made Nehru feel that the party was revolting.

Sardar Patel to Hindus and Muslims

Many people see the Sardar as a man opposed to Muslims and pro-Hindu. But the Iron Man and Gandhiji's most fervent disciple had no such animosity in his heart.

Sardar Patel fiercely opposed the demand of the Muslim minority to be treated on equal terms as with the Hindu majority. Patel was merely defending the Congress policy of equal freedom for all, but he acquiesed to a division of the country after an increasingly violent and destructive campaign for Pakistan proved to command the support of a vast majority of Muslims, and threatened to degenerate into a mass civil war; an eventuality abhorrent to veterans of the non-violent struggle for freedom.

During the partition riots and the massive exoduses of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims from Pakistan and India respectively, Sardar Patel organized the police and Army strategy to curb violence, and several government organizations providing relief to refugees. He personally visited a heavily Muslim area of the city of Delhi to calm the nervous people, who feared a bloody attack by Hindu extremists. Disorder was put down by an iron hand as soldiers shot to death any rioter or murderer, Hindu, Sikh or Muslim. In action, if not in words, Sardar Patel thus guaranteed the safety of Muslims without overlooking the national interest.

In words, Sardar Patel often appealed to Muslims to make a final choice and stick with it: if they chose to go to Pakistan, go and live in peace. If they chose to live in India, do so with absolute loyalty and pride. This logical and straight-forward leadership brought criticism, but also comforted tens of millions of Hindus around the country who were traumatized and enraged by partition and violence. Although the anger of an extremist minority claimed Mahatma Gandhi's life, he and Sardar Patel prevented the whole country from being consumed by communal hate

The Sardar decided to forcibly annex Junagadh and Hyderabad only after their rulers proved oppressive to the majority of the people, anti-democratic and anti-national. He would not let Jinnah and Pakistan weaken the Union by supporting stooge states in its heart. At the time of the annexation of Junagadh and Hyderabad, the Indian Muslims roundly backed the Sardar's actions and policies, raising the Sardar's hopes for India's future.

Last Years, and Legacy

Sardar Patel had been the last man to see and talk to Gandhiji before his brutal murder on January 30, 1948. The Mahatma had asked Sardar Patel to stay on in government in support of the Prime Minister Nehru, and to provide the joint national leadership that the country was in dire, crucial need of to survive as a free nation.

The death of the man for whom he gave up a life of comfort to withstand 30 years of hardship, jail and overcome terrible trials of fate and history, deeply hurt the Iron Man. At Gandhi's funeral, the Sardar gave solace, support and leadership to many Congressmen, associates, friends and the wider population. He addressed the nation with Nehru, and immediately moved to forestall retaliation against the political body that the assassin belonged to and wider violence. He also made it clear that the assassin was a Hindu, to prevent riots against the Muslim community. But within two months of the murder, he had a major heart attack that unleashed the massive bottled-up grief. Thanks to the presence of his caring daughter, his loyal secretary and nurse, his life did not end sooner than it ultimately did.

Patel also underwent a harrowing experience when a plane carrying him and the Maharaja of Patiala crashed in the desert of Rajasthan. No one was hurt, but the nation had panicked over the disappearance of Patel's plane. When he returned to Delhi, members of Parliament and thousands of Congressmen gave him a raucous welcome, and in Parliament, proceedings stopped for half an hour while the MPs gave a thunderous ovation to Patel.

To most Indians and almost every Indian leader of the time, Sardar Patel was the man of legends as heroes of films and folktales are portrayed: the young rebel and defiant man who educated himself and raised his own house against all the odds; the man who turned away from comfort and wealth for the hard work of national freedom; the man whose integrity and morals were unimpeachable even in the hardest of trials; the man who sacrificed all power, office and opportunity to respect his elders; the man who was jailed for 5-6 years and spearheaded three major popular national uprisings against tyranny and oppression; the man who made one country, free democratic republic out of a patchwork of 565 kingdoms and fiefdoms; the man who united Hindus and Muslims by a ruthless application of logic, that they were either bound to sail together, or kill each other and sink as a nation; the man who brought order to Delhi and East Punjab in face of murderous violence and an exodus of tens of millions of people.

Sardar Patel died in Mumbai (then Bombay) on December 15, 1950, after suffering a massive second heart attack. He was 75 years old. Just 11 months earlier, Bharat had adopted its Constitution, and become a Republic. Till his last few days, he was constantly at work as Home Minister, redeeming to his absolute last, his pledge to Mahatma Gandhi to stand by Prime Minister Nehru and provide the joint leadership that the country was crucially in need of in its first turbulent years since the birth of freedom.

Memorial

Since his death, he has largely been ignored by Government and the mass media, thanks to the overpowering personality cult of Jawaharlal Nehru and the Nehru-Gandhi family, which has cumulatively produced three Prime Ministers so far.

In 1993, the film Sardar was released which sketched his life and work, and he has been seen as the Godfather of the rising political right-wing in national politics. More and more educated young people are seeing the vital contributions of the Sardar over the burnished glory of Nehru as more crucial and important to the country. It is often the complaint of many that things for the country would have gone considerably better had the Sardar, and not Nehru, been its first Prime Minister.

And some anti-Gandhi politicians even champion Sardar Patel as their hero. Nothing could be more tragically ironic, or further from the truth.

Manibehn Patel lived in a flat in Mumbai for the rest of her life following her father's death, and often led the work of the Sardar Patel Memorial Trust and other charitable organizations, but kept out of politics in general. Dahyabhai Patel was a businessman, and eventually went on to serve in the Lok Sabha, lower house of Parliament as an MP in the 1960s.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel was awarded the Bharat Ratna, the nation's highest civilian honor, posthumously in 1991. His official birthday, October 31st each year is Sardar Jayanti, a national holiday in India.

Lionized in Gujarat, his birthplace in the village of Karamsad is still preserved in his memory. The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad serves as the state's gateway to the world. The Sardar Patel College of Engineering in Mumbai is one of the nation's premier engineering schools. A highly prestigious school, the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya was established in 1960 by his name in New Delhi. And the major Sandhurst Road along which he lived in his family's flat on Mumbai's eastern coast, is today the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Road.

But his true legacy is preserved in the unhesitating reverence demonstrated by common village folk and intellectuals in Gujarat and all over Bharat alike, for the Iron Man of India.

References

• Gandhi, Rajmohan (1987). Patel, A Life. Navajivan publishing house, Ahmedabad.
• Gandhism, Indian Nationalism
• Indian Independence Movementde:Vallabhbhai Patel

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