Highlights
- India celebrates the National Unity Day to commemorate the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhai Patel.
- The credit for unifying India, and merging more than 560 Princely States into one integrated nation goes to Sardar Patel.
- The seeds of sowing the Co-operative Movement in India and the White Revolution are attributed to Sardar Patel.
To mark the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhai Patel (31 Oct 1875- 15 December 1950) India celebrates the National Unity Day on 31st October every year.
Sardar, as he was fondly called was not only the first Deputy Prime Minister of India but he bequeathed the idea of an integrated India after independence.
To his credit goes the unification of more than 560 Princely States into the Union of India.
Prof. Bimal Patel, the Vice-Chancellor of the Rashtriya Raksha University, Gandhinagar, and a Prof. of Public International Law told SBS Hindi, "Sardar Patel's was the greatest contribution in unifying India. He integrated the British Colonial Provinces allocated to India, besides the 560 Princely States."
"The merger of more than 560 Princely States was a challenging task, and Sardar was in very poor health at that time when he had to convince the Rajas and Maharajas," says Hindol Sengupta who is a historian, journalist, and the author of several books, one of them being on Sardar Vallabhai Patel.
"He was a dying man but he carried on. If there was no Patel, Bharat would not be one nation, there are no two opinions about that." Mr. Sengupta added.
Hindol Sengupta further says, "At the time of India's independence, there were three leaders at the helm- Gandhi, Nehru, and Patel.
"It was Patel who had a deep understanding of the ground realities and knew that independence would not be complete until and unless India gets unified.
"His body was weakened but his determination remained unshattered", Mr Sengupta said.
Vallabhai Patel was a great social reformer and administrator as well.
(L to r) Mr. Sarat Chandra Bose; Mr. Jagjivan Ram; Dr. Rajendra Prasad; Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel; Mr. Asaf Ali; Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru; Mr syed Ali Zahee Source: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images
He was a lawyer and a freedom fighter who by his hard work and gift of rare astuteness and pertinacity, became a nation-builder.
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The man who played one of the most important roles in the unification of Independent India, Sardar Vallabhai Patel
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Prof. Bimal Patel shares, "[Patel was] a great Statesman and an administrator.
"In 1920, along with Tribhovandas Patel, he sowed the seeds of the Co-Operative Movement in India and the White Revolution.
"He firmly believed in the empowerment of farmers and labourers.
"It was his great foresight and belief that farmers should make their own future, decide their destiny, and secure their future.
"He had this vision in 1920 and 100 years down the track we can see the result of his foresight," he said.
Unifying India was an uncompromising commitment that Sardar undertook. Persuading more than 560 princes and kings was a no mean task.
While some Princely States integrated without ado, a few States were much more difficult to integrate.
Mr. Sengupta says, "While the other Princely States came around, merging Junagadh, Hyderabad and Kashmir was tough. Patel was told, there are three fruits, still left out of your basket!
"Junagadh, Hyderabad, and Kashmir posed a big challenge but with his unique style and strong determination Sardar succeeded in integrating them as well."
India built the world's tallest statue, 182 meters tall, the Statue of Unity to commemorate the role of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on October 31, 2018.
Source: AAP Image/AP Photo/Ajit Solanki
Mr Sengupta says the statue was built to pay tribute to the man known as the Iron Man of India.
"Patel's daughter Maniben asked her father that Gandhiji wrote the history of the independence struggle in his own words, so has Nehru. Why had he not written history? To which Sardar Patel had told his daughter, 'Some people write History and some people create History!' It is, therefore, our duty to pay tribute to him and remember his contributions," Mr. Sengupta said.
This year's celebrations in India will be marked in a COVIDSafe manner.
"The National Unity Day will be celebrated with perfect social distancing and a sense of public discipline. During the time when the Bubonic Plague spread over Gujarat, he handled the situation with a perfect sense of responsibility and restraint. Now, 100 years down the line we shall maintain the same sense of public discipline," Prof. Patel said.
