Dr. Vishiesh Verma
October 31st is Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel’s birth anniversary. He strode the national scene as an iron man and ranked in the popularity among the great stalwarts of the freedom struggle only next to Mahatma Gandhi and Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru. Pt. Nehru was a Universalist and had visualised a socialist pattern of society for free India. Sardar Patel, in contrast, was a pragmatist and a realist with his feet solidly on the ground. He gave practical shape to the visions and ideals of Gandhi ji in order to make the freedom struggle a success. When freedom dawned on India, in August 1947 Guardian wrote, “Without Patel, Gandhi’s ideas would be less practical and Nehru’s idealisms would have less scope. Patel was not only the organiser of fight for freedom but also the architect of the new state when the fight for freedom was over. What Sardar achieved was real and closer unity in all respects; geographical, political administrative cultural and emotional integration of India.
Sardar Patel mobilized the masses for many “Satyagrahas” and “Swadeshi” campaigns. He was a great organiser and this capacity was displayed in the activating congress party all over the country to lead many satyagrahas and Swadeshi movements in the furtherance of the freedom struggle. This also helped Sardar Patel to acquire intimate knowledge and also a firm hold on the congress party. For the year 1937 provincial elections he was given a free hand to choose party candidates and lead the election campaigns in every state. His work resulted in congress victory in II states out of the 14 states. He was there after chosen as the chairman of Congress Parliamentary Board. Because of his deep involvement in the work of the party he was regarded as de-facto, “Congress High Command”. Because of his clear vision and capacity to take unwavering and speedy decisions he also came to be known as the ‘Iron Man of India’.
Through little known, Patel’s work in the field of civil administration was no less remarkable. In 1948 the Bombay Corporation had a civic reception in honour of Sardar Patel. On the occasion, he was asked what he considered to be the ‘finest hour’ of his illustrious career. Nobody accepted him to say what he said. Inviting attention to his work first as chairman of the sanitary committee (1917-22) and then president of Municipal Board (1924-28) he said. “To cleanse the dirt of the city is quite different, from cleansing the dirt of politics. From the former you get a good night’s rest while the latter keeps you worried and you lose your sleep.” Patel’s approach was direct. He often combined his morning walks with the inspection tour of the city in the company of civic officers; he moved into the narrow streets, ascertained the problems from the people and took prompt remedial measures. He constructed a model which solved many of the problems of sanitation, health, water supply, waste disposal and traffic.
Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajinder Prasad also worked as Presidents of the Allahabad Municipal Board and the Patna Municipal Board respectively. Both of them left finding themselves helpless against the tactics of the bureaucracy but the Sardar was made of different stuff. His work drew appreciation even from his adversaries.
It was the Sardar’s profound experience with many facets of civic administration that provided him a deep insight into human affairs. This helped him in integrating 561 states and creating a bloodless revolution that added 86 million people and 800,000 sq. kms of territory to Indian union.
The swift and skillful manner in which the thorny,complex problem of the accession and integration of the 561 princely states- many with their own flags, currency, police, railways, posts and telegraphs and other insignia of nation states was accomplished by Sardar Patel is unparalleled. Nikita Khrushchev during his visit to India in 1956 as Chief of Communist Russia remarked, “You Indians are a remarkable people. How did you manage to liquidate the princely states without liquidating the princes are quite an accomplishment?” Both Gandhi and Lord Mount batten recognised Sardar Patel’s great contribution. Lord Mount Batten in his letter of June 19, 1948 to Patel wrote, ” Nothing has added to the prestige of the present Government more than the brilliant Policy you have followed with the states.” Nehru was certainly a great leader, but in ‘resolute practicality’ he was nowhere near Sardar Patel. According to Hudson, the author of Great Divide, Lord Mount Batten, once said, “I am glad Nehru has not been put in charge of new states Department which would have wrecked everything.”
Sardar Patel left his mark of statesmanship in framing of the constitution of free India. His views and advice counted most with regard to important constitutional provisions. In a vast country like India, while Sardar Patel realized the need to decentralize power and functions between the centre and the states, to make the central authority sufficiently strong to safeguard the unity and integrity of the country and to prevent fissiparous forces to raise their heads a few of the following constitutional provisions were made on Patel’s advice: common higher judiciary, a common election commission and two common all India services IAS and IPS.
While much has been written about Gandhi Ji and Pt. Nehru, Sardar Patel has not received the attention of research scholars and biographers as much as one would have expected. In fact he was interested more in performance than making speeches. Over a period of 30 years from 1917 till 1947, what Gandhiji conceived, Patel concretized and carried out. He was a man of few words, more a ‘doer’ than a scholar or thinker and had no intellectual pretensions. He was always very pragmatic. Like Gandhi Ji his master, the Sardar practiced complete accord between his thoughts, words and deeds. ‘Let words pass, let deeds speak’ His philosophy was ‘work is worship’ ‘laughter is life’. Sardar’s work as a functionary of Ahmedabad Municipal Board Commenced in 1917 when bubonic plague appeared in the city in an epidemic form. Schools and courts were closed and people were fleeing to villages. But the Sardar faced the calamity with courage and composure. He said, “I know what it is to be attacked by bubonic plague. I was a victim when I lived in Godhra in 1900. In any case, I prefer to die serving the people than live in safety”.
In a moving homage in parliament on December 19, 1950 Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, summed up Sardar Patel’s life and work: “History will record his achievements in many pages and call him the builder and consolidator of the new India and say many other things about him. By many of us, he will perhaps be remembered as a great captain of our forces in struggle for freedom and as one who gave us sound advice both in time of trouble and in moments of victory, a friend and a colleague and comrade on whom one could invariably rely, as a tower of strength which revived wavering hearts when we were in trouble”.
(The writer is a former reader Coordinator of University of Jammu.)
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel