Sardar Patel as a great power

Born into a family with a very modest financial status, the struggles of
Sardar Patel's schooling period and the luxuries he got after becoming a
barrister, it never seemed that a person of this fighting spirit would give up all
his luxuries of a happy life for the sake of the national service.Sardar Patel was
indeed a man of great stature as he devoted his entire life to the service of the
people of the country at every stage of his life and especially for the
independence of the country without worrying about his own happiness or the
happiness of his family. Attracted by Mahatma Gandhi's calm but charismatic
personality, Vallabhbhai Patel's first fight was against the Vethpratha
established by the British authorities in 1917. When a British officer went on a
trip, he would take the services of various people of the village for his every
work and they would not pay a single rupee for it. These included carpenters
who made tents and ravatis, barbers who shave and prepared and lighted the
lamps, potters who provided earthenware, Dalit brothers who took care of the
cleanliness of the village, shopkeepers and Baniyas who provided food
materials, and farmers who provided free carts to
carry goods from one village to another.The britisher officers never paid for
these services engaging the poor work men for days together. Sardar Patel
repeatedly wrote letters to the Commissioner of the Northern Division, Shri
Pratt.Since he did not get any response from him, Sardar Patel prepared a
pamphlet against the practice of Veth and delivered it to the villages of Gujarat.
Due to which there was a lot of protest against the practice and gradually the
practice came to an end. Sardar Patel's efforts to eradicate this practice affecting
the poor were unprecedented and his readiness to do so showed his sympathy
for the poor.

It is evident from his speeches that Vallabhbhai Patel, who joined the
Ahmedabad Municipality as a member to confront and control the arrogant and
tyrannical British officers appointed in the Ahmedabad Municipality, was so
sensitive towards the plight of millions of farmers, the poorest class of
downtrodden and the females who took every word of the males in their homes
as the word from the above.When he came to attend a political conference of
Kathiawar met in November 1922 which was to pass a resolution for abolition
of untouchability, the volunteers who were standing as part of guiding for the
seating arrangement were showing the so called untouchables who came to the
meeting in a separate place from the others. Vallabhbhai Patel saw this and
without any protest or instruction from him, he himself went and sat among
these so called untouchables and to everyone's surprise he spoke from there.
Thus the section of the so called untouchables became the center of the whole
council because of the unprecedented sympathy he showed.

Initially the as Chairman of the Sanitary Committee and later as the

President of Ahmedabad Municipality, Sardar Patel not only solved the drinking
water and distribution issues of the whole of Ahmedabad but also acquired land
for hospitals like Vadilal Sarabhai and Chinai Maternity Hospital to improve the
health of the people. He also supported the proposal to demolish the connecting
part of the old fort to support the development of the area outside the old city.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who insisted on approving new town planning
schemes, personally attended public meetings and explained them.
Vallabhbhai's discourses at these meetings showed courage, openness, and
persuasion. Despite the opposition of many people, he implemented the Relief
Road project with the intention of reducing the congestion on Gandhi Road. It
was decided in his time to use khadi instead of foreign cloth for the uniforms of
the employees of the municipality. Charkha spinning was taught to boys and
girls in municipal schools. He constructed public bathrooms for the women of
the poor class. He constructed public toilets and made arrangements for proper
cleaning. He started night schools for the education of day laborers. Thus,
despite being a barrister, he governed the administration of Ahmedabad
Municipality keeping in view the public welfare of the general public like the
system of an experienced administrator. Not only the members of his opposition
group in Ahmedabad Municipality but also the British officials have accepted
that he has done exemplary work for the whole of India.

In the month of July 1927, there were heavy rains in and around
Ahmedabad. More than fifty inches of rain was recorded in Ahmedabad in a
period of one week from 26th. Due to which life was disrupted. Roads and
railway lines were destroyed due to heavy rains. Power supply was also
disrupted in all areas. Several houses collapsed. Areas of slums were flooded.
The houses in the low lying areas were also flooded. The residents of
Ahmedabad came on the road and spent many nights on the road. The goods of
the traders were also destroyed due to flooding in the shops. When the rains did
not stop for two days in a row, Vallabhbhai Patel walked to his friend Harilal
Kapadia in the middle of the night and used his car and inspected the
waterlogged areas. Early in the morning he called all the municipality satffers,
engineers, superviser laborers, etc. and made a comprehensive plan for disposal
of water from the waterlogged areas.They dug
the roads wherever needed, broke the ditches and made way for water to flow
out of city and saved Ahmedabad from a very big flood crisis. To provide relief
to the people funds were raised for and in a few days a contribution of about Rs
1.5 lakh was raised and it was renamed as Ahmedabad Dist. Crisis Prevention
Fund. He assigned responsibilities to the volunteers of the committee spread
around different areas and constantly supervised the work of all of them. From
whereever the complaints received, volunteers were sent to distribute food
grains; clothes, medicines etc. and the problems of the people were solved.
Viceroy Lord Irwin, who visited Gujarat in December, visited Ahmedabad and
some parts of Kheda to see the rain-struck areas. He said that if Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel and his volunteers of the provincial committee, had not
reached the flood-hit areas on time, there would have been a lot of food
shortages. When government officials sought permission from Sardar Patel to
recommend to the government to felicitate him with an appropriate honor of the
British Government for his unprecedented work, Sardar Patel said, "We are all
who run away from honors and appreciations." The most important thing is that
after helping so many people, at the end of the relief exercise, he made the
accountsof every penny of the amount collected open to the public. This was the
level of his commitment towards transparency and honesty.

The Nagpur flag Satyagraha, which was started against the British in
1923 for suppressing the right to march holding the national flag in Jabalpur,
was won in the absence of Gandhi by providing proper leadership Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel. He also led the Borsad Satyagrha initiated to oppose the
extra surcharge of revenue tax levied from the people accusing them to the
support the thieves of the area which ultimately resulted in abolition of this
unjust tax. He rallied the people of several villages around Bardoli near Surat
against the British Government, expressing his displeasure over the
unreasonable revenue surcharge imposed on the farmers around Bardoli. It
was a great task to involve about
20,000 peasants of the Bardoli in a non violent movement. This was a
movement in which women also joined the non violent demonstration in
defiance due to Sardar Patel’s call. The government did not shy away from
persecution in the month long agitation. Even the cattle of the peasants were
seized but the peasants did not show any remorse and did not show any kind of
violent protest as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and his powerful generals were
present in the villages. Eventually the British government withdrew and a tax
raise was modified to a reasonable increase and negotiations began. It was said
that if there was no Sardar Patel, Gandhi's ideals of non-violence could not have
been implemented and such comprehensive results could not have been
achieved as Gandhi’sprinciples of non-violence and other ideals were just
worshiped and respected by the people. People looked at him with awe and
reverence. So these ideals were definitely the reason for enhancing Gandhi's
public image. But it is a great achievement for others to do so, especially for the
uneducated rural farmers.

Sardar Patel, who was unable to attend the funeral of his mother and
brothers at the time of their deaths, lost his elder brother Vitrulbhai when he was
in Nashik jail on the 1933. The close associates and many activists wanted
Sardar Patel to perform last rites of Vithalbhai. When they sent a request to the
British government, the British announced a decision to grant two days parole to
Sardar Patel subject to two conditions. Sardar Patel rejected the offer saying that
I do not wish to be bound by any conditions laid down by this government. The
last rites were then performed by his son Dahyabhai. Such were the principles
of Sardar Patel.

Despite the possibility of Sardar Vallabhbahi Patel becoming the

Congress president four times during the independence movement, he withdrew
his candidature out of respect for Gandhi's wishes and allowed Jawaharlal
Nehru to become the president. In addition to the majority after Gandhi, they
suggested the
name of Sardar Patel for the presidency of the Lahore Convention of 1929. But
Gandhi declared himself incapable of becoming president as well as suggested
Jawaharlal Nehru's name withdrawing from the contest. Nehru stayed in Europe
for a long time due to the illness and death of his wife Kamala Devi in the year
1935. Despite being away from the public sphere of the country for a long time,
Gandhi requested to nominate Jawaharlal Nehru as the president and Jawaharlal
Nehru became the president and Sardar Patel became the chairman of the
parliamentary committee. Although most of the congressmen has selected
Sardar Patel for the presidency of 1936 Faizpur Congress session, Gandhi's wish
was for Jawaharlal Nehru to continue as president, so Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
withdrew his candidature despite the election year because for him Gandhi's
wish was always a final call. When the time came to elect the Prime Minister in
the Viceroy's Council in 1946, 12 out of 15 provincial committees nominated
Sardar Patel as the first choice. Even though a single committee had not
proposed name of Jawaharlal Nehru as the president, Gandhi's insistence made
the CWC members chose Jawaharlal Nehru and obtained consent of Sardar
Patel tomake Jawaharlal Nehru as the first Prime Minister of India. Even at this
time, respecting Gandhi's wishes, Sardar Vallabhbahi Patel sacrificed his
eligibility for the post of country's first Prime Minister. He was firm in the
belief that he would always choose the path suggested by Mahatma Gandhi.
And hence at several occasions in spite of his appropriate eligibility he declined
for important posts but he never backed out of his responsibilities.

The Nawab of Bhopal was the President of the Chamber of Princes at the
time of Indian Independence. He was using his diplomacy to persuade some
Hindu kings of western India to agree to ally with Pakistan by offering them
special benefits from Pakistan so that he could bargaina higher position for
himself in the new nation from Muhammad Ali Jinnah. But in the changed
situation after the arrival of the refugees in Delhi, when he did not get any news
about their daughter and son in law staying at Patodi House in Delhi, being
frightened about their safety and security, as a last resort, he requested Sardar
Patel on the phone. Sardar Patel a great man at heart assured him that he would
see that Nawab’s daughter and son in law were safe and secure. He used the
government system to safely board the two on a flight from the airport to
Bhopal. Sardar Patel set an example as a spirited personality by helping the
Nawab of Bhopal in difficult circumstances although he had conspired against
Sardar Patel ’s own struggle for the unification of the princely states in India.
Seeing such generosity of Sardar Patel, the Nawab of Bhopal dropped the idea
of joining Pakistan and joined India. And he wrote to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
that I want to give you an idea of that earlier I opposed your plan so much, now
I accept defeat and would be as sincere a friend as I was a staunch enemy. In
reply to which Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel wrote that I do not see your state
joining the Union of India as my victory or your defeat. In the end, only the
truth and justice is victorious and you and I have played our part in it. That was
Sardar Patel’s sportsman ship.

Sardar Vallabhbahi Patel was known for his toughness but he also had a
heart that could make judicious decisions without any prejudice. He would
never take any decision on the basis of his own likes and dislikes but would
consider the lond term interest of the nation. The famous historian Dugradas in
his speech at the H.K. Arts College hall, Ahmedabad in 1972, he said that when
a Congress leader once asked Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in a complaining tone,
why did you choose Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, a staunch critic of the Congress
and Mahatma Gandhi, as the Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee?
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel then cashed in on that senior member saying, "What
do you know about writing a constitution?" We have chosen the best person for
this job. Sir C.P. Ramaswamy the PM of Travancore statedid not accedes to
Sardar Patel's repeated requests for accession to India for a long time. He
ridiculed the efforts
to make a strong and united India and tried to establish that the state of
Travancore was strong enough to remain independent. There was a general
belief at that time that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel would never forgive anyone
who opposed or created hurdles in implementation of Sardar Patel’s plan. But
even in this case when the state of Travancore joined the Indian Union at the
end of a lone term controversy, he suggested name of Sir C. P. Rama Swami as
the Indian Ambassador to America to use a clever man like him. After 15
August 1947, the Nizam of Hyderabad state under the influence of Qasim Rizvi
and the Razakars, the illegal army of Muslims, had kept the Indian government
engaged in negotiations for the terms of accession and kept strengthening his
ties with Pakistan.When the atrocities of the Razakars and the communists
increased on the majority of the state, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had to intervene
through the famous Police Action under the leadership of Lt. General Rajendra
Sinhji Jadeja and Major General J N Chaudhary. Even after such bitterness
Sardar Patel met The Nizam with very kind heart and requested him to accept
the position as the Rashtra Pramukh of Hyderabad under the rule of Indian
Government. This was the magnanimity of Sardar Patel.

As soon as Sardar Vallabhbahi Patel took over the charge of Ministry of

the princely state in July1947, he won the hearts of most of the princely states
with his large heart and wisdom in a very short time. Almost all of them agreed
to join the Indian Union. Before independence, when the Indian Administrative
Service and the Indian Police service were on the verge of collapse, Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel had used his foresight and created an alternative system to
handle the administration of such a vast country without any chaos. Due to
which he is known as the grandfather of the Indian Administrative Service. The
British drew a line on the map of India and divided the land on the basis of
geographical boundaries, but the biggest challenge was to divide the property
between the two countries. This work was also carried out by a
committeeunderSardar Patel
without any controversy in record time. Proper resettlement of millions of
homeless refugees in India after the bloody partition was also a major challenge.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel held regular discussions with the senior officials and
through short-term and long-term planning; this task was also largely completed
smoothly. The predictions made by Sardar Patel before his death about China,
Tibet and Goa came true even years after his death, proving how accurate Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel he anticipated. His longtime colleague Chandravadan Chi.
Mehta described him using adjectives such as determined, manageable, strong-
minded, forgiving, enthusiastic, heroic, pragmatic, efficient, industrious,
generous, humble, reserved, honest, grateful, erudite, knowledgeable, clever,
pious, Clever, ascetic, forgiving, loving, pious, selfless, fearless, tolerant, patient,
serious, restrained and benevolent. He had a strange sense of identity. At the time
of his death, he had no great bank balance or any assets. His unmistakable
understanding of the sentiments of the Indian people and especially the poor and
illiterate people of the country, his strong sense of self-sacrifice for the country
and his selfless duty towards the tasks entrusted to him were the unique
characteristics of SardarPatel. Abandonment, simplicity and stress-free state of
mind were the hallmark of Sardar Patel’s personality. He was humble as needed.
But he was determined to walk the path of truth, justice and national service. He
believed in a struggle with pure resources. He was an objective, pragmatic prince
who understood the value of the emotional and cultural unity of India. He did not
need to be deceived for his work. Not cowardly, not weak, he never had to resort
to lies or deception to exercise his power. His planning ingenuity and tactical
skills were enough to face any serious challenges. He was a family man for all
who considered the whole country as his family. Behind such a belief were the
traits of his apathy and intimacy. Sardar Patel was a truly eminent personality for
India like a fakir (a penny less) who understood the task of creating a state of
happiness, health, stability and empowerment in the country.