EVEN as the nation celebrates the 150th Birth Anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the great unifier of post-Independence India, the details of his contribution to nation-building well up in public memory. That he was India’s first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister following the exit of the British, actually, come up only as incidental details of his biography. What really matters most to the nation’s history of those tumultuous moments is the manner in which he convinced more than 600 princely states to join the Indian Union at the lapse of British paramountcy. It was his extreme persuasiveness that led the Princes to give up their royal claims and become parts of Independent India.

 

Destiny had chosen Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to undertake that massive mission of India’s unification, and he proved to be more than equal to the task. The Indian nation and its people will remain grateful to Sardar Patel for this contribution for all the time. Of course, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s personality had many more facets than just this great one. In the short time of his life -- less than three years -- after India became Independent, Sardar Patel proved to be a true nationalist leader with a unique ability to see deep into the future. He cautioned Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru against his China and Kashmir policies. He pointed out the wide, gaping, black holes in the Prime Minister’s handling of many foreign and domestic policy issues as well. Unfortunately, Mr. Nehru treated him more as a rival rather than a close associate -- and ignored his wise counsel.

 

Yet, no matter the Prime Minister’s rather unfriendly attitude, Sardar Patel kept doing his part to the best of his thought and action. As Home Minister, Sardar Patel also injected a great sense of purpose in the fledgling nation’s bureaucracy during its transition from the British management to the Indianised version. He also transformed new India’s Police systems to suit the needs of a nation just liberated from centuries of alien rule. That cumulative contribution was no mean in its form and content, import and integrity. History knows that the Congress party’s internal electoral system had chosen Sardar Patel to be India’s first Prime Minister when the exit of the British Raj became evident. But then, it was Mahatma Gandhi who directed Sardar Patel to step aside and pushed Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s name as Prime Minister. Sardar Patel just followed the Mahatma’s diktat and stepped aside -- with no rancour, no cribbing. That needed a tremendous spiritual strength, and Sardar Patel demonstrated that in great abundance.

 

Despite that, Pandit Nehru always harboured a near-open grudge against Sardar Patel (which everybody noticed -- from administrative staff to higher levels of bureaucracy to political cadres to media to international diplomatic community. The Prime Minister’s grudge rose to such an extent that he barred his ministers, etc to attend Sardar Patel’s funeral in Mumbai (then Bombay). Despite that inexplicable hostility of the Prime Minister, Sardar Patel demonstrated an enlightened candour as well as cooperation in every possible manner to the Prime Minister. That part immediately became an integral part of the lore of Sardar Patel’s unquestionable greatness. Another aspect of his greatness was that he did not allow himself to become a parallel power-centre in the Government (which saved the nation from a divided leadership situation). As the nation celebrates 150th Birth Anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, students of the history of India’s freedom struggle will also remember how he became an unquestioned leader of several segments of Indian population. He was among the foremost leaders of farmers. He was a hero in the eyes of firebrand young generations of India of those times.

 

He and his brother -- Mr. Vitthalbhai Patel -- also were treated among the most reliable members of the Congress party’s leadership structure -- so much so that men of the eminence of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose considered the twosome as their personal soul-mates. Within the Congress party’s internal structure dominated by Mahatma Gandhi’s rather whimsical leadership and lopsided inclination to the Nehru father-son duo, Sardar Patel was a lighthouse of incredible spiritual strength. Subsequent, post-Independence scrutiny of official papers that the British left behind showed that their Government truly feared the strength of character of very few men and women (among whom Sardar Patel was at the top). It is not without reason that Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi personally monitored the project of creation of the Statue of Unity (of Sardar Patel) and made it happen successfully. That statue of great height stands as a testimony of India’s respect for the immortal contribution of the great personage. There, of course, are political jibes flying between parties about the so-called annexation of Sardar Patel’s legacy by the Bharatiya Janata Party led by the Prime Minister. Such accusations make no actual sense -- since personalities such as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel belong to the whole nation and not to one political organisation. In this context, the common people then raise issues about how the Congress party mistreated Sardar Patel when he lived and when he passed away in Bombay in 1950.

 

That debate, also, makes little sense. There is no doubt that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was one of the tallest leaders of India during its struggle for freedom and after. He left behind a legacy of what a man from a common Indian family can do for the nation through challenging circumstances. Against that background, it is necessary to offer to our young generations the true and complete story of Sardar Patel’s life and works so that they become conscious of what the man did for the country. For the young generations, he will prove to be one of the greatest role models.