Tribute to Sardar Patel

Author(s): Friends of Sardar Patel Awrd Association UCLA
Publisher: USA Friends of Sardar Patel Awrd Association UCLA

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Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
By Minal Mehta
In the words of Jawaharlal Nehru, “History will record many things about Sardar Patel in its pages and will call him the Builder and Consolidator of new India..." Jhaverbhai Patel occupies a prominent place among the heroic men and women who
worked for India's freedom and helped not only to achieve it, but also to consolidate it. Although he came to public life relatively young, in his early forties, his thirty-three years of work in the cause of the nation are full of splendid achievements. Along with Gandhiji, Jawaharlal Nehru and other leaders, he dominated the politics of the country during the crucial thirty years from 1920 to 1950. He was not only a great leader of the masses but also a far-seeing statesman end able administrator who handled with consummate mastery and finesse the complex problems facing the new Government.
Vallabhbhai Patel was born on Oct. 31, 1875 at Nadiad in the Kheda district of Gujarat. He was a selfmade man who had worked with his father in the fields till he was seventeen. In 1893, when only 18, he married Zaverbai. In 1909 when he was about 34 years old, his wife died after an operation in a Bombay hospital. He never married again. In 1910, he went to England to study for the Bar-at-Law and was admitted to the famous Middle Temple Inn. He passed his final Bar-atLaw examination with first position and distinction for which he was awarded a cash prize of £50.
About this time, Gandhiji became the President of the Gujarat Sabha which held its first Political Conference at Godhra in November. Vallabhbhai's political career had a modest beginning. The first campaign organized jointly by Gandhiji and Patel was the Kheda Satyagraha from March to June 1918, in which though the victory was not decisive, the sturdy peasantry of Vallabhbhai's home district learnt the lesson of fearlessness.
The non-cooperation movement which Gandhiji launched on August 1, 1920 was a novel experiment in
human history. Vallabhbhai, however, gave his wholehearted support to Gandhiji's program; and even be fore the special session of the Congress was held at Calcutta in September, he used his influence with the provincial leaders at the Gujarat Political Conference in August. 1920 to persuade them to commit themselves to Gandhiji's program and to recommend its adoption by the Congress. Though the movement failed in its political objective, Vallabhbhai's work made a deep impact by changing the climate of opinion in Gujarat and eliminating from it the influence of old style moderate politicians.
Later in 1928, came the impressive Bardoli Satyagraha. The epic struggle of Bardoli which constitutes one of the most glorious chapters in the history of India's struggle for freedom, brought out in bold relief the basic traits of Vallabhbhai's personality-an indomitable will and perseverance, a fine sense of strategy end calculation complete identification with the espoused cause, total disregard of sentimentalism, an iron discipline imposed upon himself and those working with him and selflessness to the point of self-denial. Bardoli in fact, was an unique personal triumph for Vallabhbhai. It was in acknowledgement of the efficiency with which he conducted the movement that he was acclaimed as the 'Sardar', the leader, a title by which he came to be known to the nation ever since.
The Sardar is to many a hero and is often referred to
as an "iron Man" After being released from jail, Gandhiji spoke of the tender feelings Sardar showed towards him: "...I was well aware of his matchless bravery...if the slightest thing happened to me, he would be out of his bed. He superintended every detail in connection with my comforts."
The finest hour in the life of Sardar Patel came when he dealt with the incorporation of over 560 princely states in the Indian Union. Lord Mountbatten, who had frequently discussed this subject with him has written: "There is no doubt that the high-minded statesmanship which Vallabhbhai Patel displayed through
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