Vallabhbhai Patel’s legacy continues to be relevant in today’s India
It is a great irony that whenever the matter of independence is concerned, Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru’s name are found in the golden letters in history, at least with today’s astonishing inauguration of Sardar Patel on his birth anniversary, that injustice will forever be erased.
The pivotal role Sardar Patel played in giving India its shape and identity makes the man one of the most important figures in our history whose achievements aren’t celebrated enough. India will always remain indebted to him for his contributions and without Sardar Patel, the united India that we see today would not have been possible. States like Hyderabad would have ended up as Pakistan and the chaos that would have followed, would be immense.
The plan of 16 June 1946 proposed the partition of India on religious lines, with over 565 princely states free to choose between independence or accession to either dominions. While rest of the leaders were still in shock and denial over proposal of partition, Sardar Patel was the first person to practically understand the importance of the moment and seize it. He was pragmatic and yet, a visionary. And the mission began.
He and V.P. Menon had to convince 565 kings, princes and royals to surrender their sovereignty and accept accession to India. Most of those royals were a cadre of arrogant egotists who were living in an idealistic delusion, some of them were scared and apprehensive about prospects of losing power and acceding to India. Some of the princely states had a large number of Muslim people governed by a Hindu ruler (ready to revolt if made a part of India). Some princely states had large number of Hindus under a Muslim ruler who wanted to join Pakistan. And all these problems, were just the tip of the iceberg.
These princely states understood India’s desperation and realized that they had an upper hand on the negotiation table. They wanted to blackmail and leverage their position, in return of special favours. Pakistan was also racing against time, desperately, to convince these princely states.
We people always talk about “unsurmountable odds” as a cliché but the situation of India at that time and the object sought to be achieved by Sardar was the very definition of “unsurmountable odds”.
Some kings he had to persuade and convince through words, others he had to provide incentives. There were some who had to be intimidated, and so they were. And some were manipulated. He even had to wage war against Hyderabad and thus he launched Operation Polo swiftly as the de-facto Commander in chief. He literally invaded Junagadh and Hyderabad and forced Pakistan to flee.
These leftist liberals who claim that India is not a peaceful nation because it waged war against Junagadh and Hyderabad are not wrong. The day partition was proposed and the way it was forced down India’s throat, Sardar realized that the days of integrity and honour had passed. It was time to force some bitter pills down Paksistan’s throat and he did. The one case, where his advisers were not followed is Kashmir and we all know its result today. His name was dragged through dirt, but he realized that it was a small price to pay in return of an unified India.
If he had not been so staunch about Hyderabad and Jungadh, India would have faced multiple Kashmir-like situations today.
Patel is the reason, why India looks the way it does and not completely balkanised.
The statue is deserved because Patel was not ‘overrated’. In present circumstances, when students of Universities are shouting “ Bhaarat tere tukde honge…”, we need to understand Sardar and his ideologies which are severely under-rated. While curbing such movements, sometimes we need to be strong and do whatever’s required.
Instead of dwelling more into what Patel achieved, how about we consider what would probably have happened to India had this man never existed..
1. There were 565 princely states in India at the time of independence and a lot of them were ruled by obnoxious people in love with wealth and power. Had it not been for this man, most of them would have had declared their independence from India and established themselves as separate countries.
2. Had it not been for this man to invoke a feeling of patriotism and belonging in the hearts of the rulers, most of the states would have been independent and under threat of survival because of lack of resources and efficient governance.
3. Without the states surrendering their defence, communication and foreign affairs to the government of India on the insistence of this man, many wars would have broken out in a fight for greater conquest.
4. Patel who was charged with the actual job of negotiating with the princes, took a more conciliatory approach than Nehru who had declared that any state not acceding to India would be termed as an enemy. The official policy statement of the Government of India made by Patel on 5 July 1947 made no threats. Instead, it emphasised the unity of India and the common interests of the princes and independent India, reassured them about the Congress’ intentions, and invited them to join independent India. Without Sardar Patel and his famous diplomatic skills and foresight, the states would not have amalgamated to form a union-a union that was later to be called the Union of India.
5. The states of Jopdhpur, Junagadh, Hyderabad would not have been a part of India but Pakistan. That would have meant that internally we would have been robbed of some of the most resourceful regions and would have been constantly threatened by Pakistan.
6. Without this man, there would have been a lot of bloodshed and riots exploiting the rights of all the citizens. He avoided every possible loss of life employing brilliant tactics and his ability to look into the future.
The tallest statue in the world will be inaugurated by Prime Minister @narendramodi ji. A grand salute to the great man who united India. I pay my homage to “Iron man of India” Sardar Patel on his birth anniversary.
Saurav Dutt is an author, lawyer and political columnist. He is writing a book on the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre of 1919 to commemorate the centenary of the massacre in April 2019. He can be contacted on Saurav Dutt
