BD Sharma
Sardar Patel was one of the tallest leaders of the freedom movement and apart from taking many pivotal decisions, he was mainly responsible for liquidating more than 550 princely States and integrating them into a single nation. It was due to his efforts that the country became one entity, one united India. It was rightly observed by S. Nijlingappa, senior Congress leader that one shuddered to think as to what would have happened to our country if all these States had remained separate and independent entities. Dr Rajendra Prasad did also recognize Patel’s invaluable contribution; “That there is today an India to think and talk about is very largely due to Sardar Patel’s statesmanship and firm administration.”
He was endowed with a sense of fellow feeling and was willing to make sacrifice for others. During his younger days,his friend got afflicted with Bubonic plague. He looked after him devotedly but got himself infected in the process. He left his home and moved into a dilapidated temple where he had to stay for long to recover. He had a keen desire to go to England to become a barrister. His pass and a ticket in the name “V.J. Patel” were received at his elder brother Vithalbhai’s home, who bore the same initials in his name. His elder brother remonstrated to him to let him go first, being his elder brother. Sardar agreed and himself had to wait for some more years for going to England. During his political career when he was tipped to be Congress President in 1928-29, he yielded to the wishes of Gandhji because of repeated implorings by Moti Lal Nehru to make his son, Jawaharlal, Congress President in his lifetime. He again acquiesced to the wishes of Mahatma Gandhi in 1946 to let Nehru become Congress President despite the fact that 12 out of the 15 PCCs had favoured Patel’s election.
Sardar Patel was never afraid of the British magistracy or administration. When he was a district pleader at Borsad, there was a British magistrate who kept a mirror in his court which he used for studying the faces of witnesses and drawing the conclusions about their truthfulness from reflections on their faces. Sardar Patel demanded transfer of a case to the district court from this particular magistrate. When the magistrate opened the letter, he saw his own name heading the list of witnesses for the defence. Magistrate called Patel to his chamber for discussion. The accused was acquitted and the magistrate stopped using the mirror, conceding that he had no right to do so.
Emotions formed no part of his character. Lapierre and Collins tell us that one day a telegram was passed to Vallabhbhai Patel announcing the death of his wife as he was pacing the floor of a Bombay courtroom summing up his case for the jury. He glanced at it, thrust it into his pocket, and continued his peroration without breaking off his sentence. He didn’t allow sentiments to overtake the performance of his duty.
Once Patel was convinced that Mahatma Gandhi was an ideal leader, he left his flourishing legal practice, his European style clothes and mannerism, his regular game of Bridge to plunge in politics. He remained lieutenant of the Mahatma for much of his life. Patel conducted no-tax campaign in 1918 against the forcible collection of land revenue in spite of the drought conditions in Kaira, Satyagraha against imposition of punitive tax on the people of Borsad in 1923, galvanizing the farmers of Bardoli against arbitrary increase of land revenue so successfully that he was honoured with the title of “Sardar” in the Calcutta session of Congress.
His role as Chairman of the Central Parliamentary Board was significant in selecting and financing the candidates and subsequently getting majority of them elected in the elections of 1934 and 1936. He emerged as the most reliable negotiator of the Congress party with the Cabinet Mission in 1946. Peter Clarke, British historian tells us that the Mission wrangled for days with Congress leadership without any success till Patel came in the picture and it was he who only struck them as a man of business. Mountbatten also involved Patel fully in the crucial negotiations for the transfer of power in 1947. Mountbatten’s timely insistence for giving the Ministry of States to Patel ignoring Nehru’s keenness to keep it for himself, proved crucial for the successful integration of the States.
Patel dealt with the knotty problem of integrating more than 550 States with tact and panache. He tackled the problem of Junagadh and Hyderabad with firmness and boldness. Kashmir had been put out of Patel’s domain by Nehru. And the consequences of this are before us all.
Even in case of Kashmir his timely interventions were invaluable. Bakhshi Ghulam Mohammad recreates the scene of an important meeting in this way: “Mountbatten exhibited studied diffidence, Nehru showing acute anxiety and deep concern but nothing concrete to move forward. General Bucher declining to send the forces. Patel though silent much of the time, was a picture of calm equipoise. Seeing dilly dallying on everybody’s part, he roared in his gruff and resolute voice, “Look here General, Kashmir must be defended at all costs come what may, resources or no resources. You must do and all assistance will be provided by the government. This must, must and must be done.” Col. Manekshaw, later Field Marshal tells similar story, this time Patel addressing the PM, who was merely showing his sentimentalism and vague talk, “Jawaharlal, do you want Kashmir or not.” When Nehru replied in affirmation, Patel posited this as an order of the PM and asked the army officers present there to go and proceed with the dispatch of the forces immediately.
He was a proud Hindu but not a communalist. Many historians hold the view that his move to get the Somnath temple reconstructed was not inspired by some Hindu agenda. It was meant to erase a reminder of the ruthlessness of an invader which had also resulted in souring the relationship between the two communities. Moreover, not a single penny was spent from the State exchequer for its reconstruction. He didn’t hesitate to ban some Hindu organizations like RSS after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. He had progressive outlook and scientific bent of mind and remained eager to rid the Hindu society of many ills. His conscience revolted at the sight of nude and obscene images on temples and he had got some obnoxious images erased/ cemented in the Jagannath Puri temple.
Sardar had no acrimony against Govt officials for their highhandedness during his days of Struggle. He developed cordial relations with them after freedom. He was a tower of strength for the Government Servants. Senior bureaucrats approached him to seek his guidance even in matters as didn’t fall in the domain of Sardar’s jurisdiction. Girija S. Bajpai, Secretary General, External Affairs submitted a note to the Sardar when he felt that India needed to be awakened to the dangers lurking on the Chinese-Tibet front. In the light of this note, Patel wrote to Nehru that China wanted to establish its hegemony over South-East Asia. It would be foolish for us to ignore this challenge. Imperialism was appearing in a new garb, Patel added. Had Jawaharlal heeded the Sardar’s advice, China would not have become the menace which it turned out later. Lt Gen Thorat had apprehension that arms being sent to Pakistan, were likely to be used to kill our own people because of the ongoing hostilities in Kashmir. But army chief Gen Bucher persisted for sending the weapons as per schedule. Gen Thorat approached Sardar Patel instead of Prime Minister, as the senior functionaries knew as to where their point of view was appreciated, to tell him of his dilemma. The Sardar assured him that he was with him and advised him to send the arms and ammunition slowly and increase the dispatch of innocuous items to make up the tonnage. Sardar Patel enjoyed the full confidence of Services. Later he drew up a scheme for the reorganization of the All-India and Central Secretariat Services and wanted that the spirit of patriotism, service and dedication be infused in them.
Sardar Patel was pivotal in taking a number of decisions after independence. He supported Rajinder Prasad to become the President though Nehru had preference for Rajaji. Patel impressed upon Nehru to take some non-Congress politicians like BR Ambedkar, SP Mukherjee and Ayyangar in the cabinet. He had large following in the party and got Tandon elected as Congress President in 1950 defeating Kriplani (supported by Nehru). Patel visualized rather prophetically that stimulus to private enterprise was needed to be infused for the brisk economic development of the country. It was realized in 1991 by Narsimha Rao and only then that fast economic development started taking place. According to him socialists had kept socialism to its theoretical aspects only but it was he who had adopted it in practical sense. He had vowed not to hold any personal property and wore only handspun khaadi woven by his daughter. While supporting capitalism and capitalists, he insisted total personal integrity and an austere lifestyle in them.
After the death of Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru and Patel both pulled the cart of Government together despite many differences cropping up. Patel even supported some controversial decisions of Pt Nehru such as reference of Kashmir dispute to UNO and signing of Nehru-Liaqat agreement despite his having reservations about them. Nehru also complimented the Sardar by terming him as a tower of strength to him and of great help in running the country.
Despite the rapprochement, Nehru treated the memory of the Sardar after his death in a manner unbecoming of Nehru’s status. He asked President Rajinder Prasad not to attend the funeral of the Sardar as according to Nehru it would be a wrong precedent that the Head of the Union was attending the funeral of a minister. The President, however, overruled him and attended the funeral. Prasad felt that Nehru was trying to denigrate the stature of Patel. Even VP Menon had been conveyed not to attend the funeral. Menon didn’t listen and without caring for the wishes of his Prime Minister, he chartered a plane to Bombay and took with him all the officials who had worked with Sardar Patel. According to Narayani Basu, this episode highlighted the extent of Nehru’s pettiness and spite.
Patel deserved to be given the Bharat Ratna but it was only after decades that Chander Shekhar Government conferred Bharat Ratna upon the Sardar. According to PN Chopra, award had been conferred on many of his comrades including Jawaharlal, Rajaji, Indira Gandhi, G.B. Pant, V.V. Giri and others but none of them ever thought of the Sardar, perhaps the greatest of them all. Nehru didn’t tolerate even a word in praise of Patel. Frank Moraes had to face the indignation of Nehru once when an article by HV Iyengar was published in the Indian Express praising Sardar Patel. Patel’s birth centenary was not duly celebrated by the Congress Government.
While the collected works of many leaders were published by the Government, it remained for the Navjivan Publishing House and later the Sardar Patel Society to publish his Collected Works. SK Patil, a senior Congress leader collected fifty lakh rupees and requested Pt Nehru to provide another fifty lakh from the party for raising a statue of the Sardar but Nehru showed no inclination. It was due to the efforts of Prime Minister Modi that a beautiful statue of the Sardar, the highest in the world, was installed. Though Sardar Patel had spent all his life in the service of Congress party yet it were the non-Congress Governments who gave him due recognition.
Interestingly enough, history in the case of Sardar Patel repeated itself first tragically when the Congress Governments did their best to belittle his contributions and later farcically when both the BJP and the Congress party started to clamour for being the real inheritors of his legacy.
(The author is civil servant)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
