Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel; 31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950), endeared as Sardar, was an Indian statesman. He served as the first deputy Prime Minister of India from 1947 to 1950. He was an Indian barrister and a senior leader of the Indian National Congress who played a leading role in the country's struggle for independence and guided its integration into a united, independent nation.

1. October 31 st ,1875 – December 15 th ,1950

2. Contents :- Introduction Decision Justification & Conclusion

3. Introduction – “WHO WAS HE?” Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel was born on October 31 st , 1875 in Nadiad, Bombay Presidency, British India (now Gujarat, India). Initially he was a barristor and later turned into a politician, a senior leader in Indian National Congress and became a prominent pillar in India’s freedom struggle. He led and organised peasants revolution in Kheda, Bardoli district of Gujarat in non-violent civil disobedience against the Britishers and thus became one of the most influential leaders in Gujarat. Sardar Patel was an ardent follower of Mahatma Gandhi.

4. He had extraordinary oratory and diplomatic skills as if he can convince and persuade the most adamant people’s views/decisions to change or modify. To uplift the best common interest of whole India, he even clashed with his allies also. He was a man blessed with far-sightedness, he saw upcoming future events through accurate analysis of ongoing current events and scenarios of his time. He was the 49 th President of Indian National Congress. He was the 1 st Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of the country after independence. He was admired, respected and supported across the country, only second to Mahatma Gandhi (sometimes even surpassing him).

5. As the 1 st Home Minister he played the key role in the integration of the princely states in the dominion of India. He was the first leader of Congress to accept the partition of India and insisted other leaders also that if they don’t agree, the Muslim League will be invited to form the government in the country. Therefore he accepted the partition and gave Muslim League, the Pakistan they always wanted. Following the partition, there was a massive transfer of population across the two countries which led to severe humanitarian disturbances. Sarder Patel took the lead in organising relief and emergency supplies, established refugee camps and visited the border areas with Pakistani leaders to encourage brotherhood and peace among people.

6. Patel enjoyed the loyalty and the faith of rank and file Congressmen, state leaders and India’s civil servants. He was responsible in bringing Dr. B.R. Ambedkar for drafting India’s constitution. He was also instrumental in the founding of Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service. He was known as “Sardar Patel” where Sardar meant leader.
Also known as “Iron Man”, “Bismarck of India”, “Patron Saint of India’s Civil Servants”.
He has posthumously honoured with “Bharat Ratna” award in 1991.
To honour his legacy, National Unity Day is celebrated in India on October 31 st on the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

7. MAJOR DECISION Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is considered as one of the founding father of present day’s modern India. As independent India’s 1 st Home Minister and deputy Prime Minister, he took several important and strategic decisions which influenced and changed India’s future and then present drastically. Out of his several decisions, this following one will standout forever. This is:- Unification of princely states in the Dominion of India. Accession of J&K, Hyderabad, Junagadh and Jodhpur.

8. Unification of India He led the task of forging a united  India , successfully integrating British colonial provinces  and 565 self-governing princely states that formed the  Dominion of India . Patel persuaded almost every princely state to accede to I ndia. His commitment to national integration in the newly independent country was total and uncompromising, earning him the title “Iron Man of India”. Back then, the princely states covered 48% of the area of pre-Independent India and constituted 28% of its population. Through the Indian Independence Act of 1947, the princely states acquired independence and it also gave each of these rulers the option to accede to the newly born dominions of India or Pakistan or continue as an independent sovereign state.

9. Realising the need to get these 500-odd chiefdoms to accede to India before the day of independence, Patel and Menon began using all the tricks in the bag, including the use of both force and friendly advice, to achieve their integration with the Indian dominion. But the process was far from simple. Mollycoddled as well as exploited by the British for decades, many of the rulers saw the departure of the British as the ideal moment to declare autonomy and announce their independent statehood on the world map. Patel began lobbying the princes, attempting to make them receptive towards dialogue with the future government and forestall potential conflicts. Patel used social meetings and unofficial surroundings to engage most of the monarchs, inviting them to lunch and tea at his home in Delhi.

10. From invoking the patriotism of the princes to reminding them of the possibility of anarchy on event of their refusal to join, he kept trying to convince them to join India. He asked them to join in the independence of their nation and act as responsible rulers who cared about the future of their people. He also introduced the concept of “privy purses”, a payment to be made to royal families for their agreement to merge with India. Patel did not rule out force. Stressing that the princes would need to accede to India in good faith, he set a deadline of 15 August 1947 for them to sign the instrument of accession document. Patel’s tireless efforts paid off when most of the rulers agreed to accede India willingly, realising the broader picture. By 15 August 1947, the process of integration of princely states was almost complete except for a few, who held out. 

11. Accession of Jammu & Kashmir, Hyderabad,Junagadh and Jodhpur The biggest problems however arose with Jodhpur, which tried to negotiate better deals with Pakistan; Junagadh, which actually did accede to Pakistan and with Hyderabad and Kashmir, which declared that they intended to remain independent. JODHPUR :- In June 1947, Maharaja Hanvant Singh ascended the throne of Jodhpur. Young and inexperienced, he reckoned that he may get a better “deal” from Pakistan than India.
So Hanvant Singh entered into negotiations with Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who gave the Maharaja a signed blank sheet of paper to list all his demands.

12. From free access to the Karachi port to arms manufacturing and importing, the princely state was allowed to accede to Pakistan on any terms it chose.
Seeing the risks in the border state acceding to Pakistan, Patel immediately met Hanvant Singh and assured him that importing arms would be allowed, Jodhpur would be connected to Kathiawar by rail and India would supply grain to it during famines. But the Maharaja was not convinced enough and was in double mind.
The Maharaja was still willing to go Pakistan, but then Patel warned him as the accession of a predominantly Hindu state to Pakistan would violate the basic tenet of the two-nation theory and was very likely to cause communal violence in the State. Fearing of riots like in Punjab and Bengal, Hanvant Singh decided to accede Jodhpur to India & Jinnah’s blank cheque was discarded.

13. JUNAGADH :- A kingdom with nearly 80% Hindu population whose Muslim ruler decided to accede to Pakistan on September 15, 1947. The outraged people of Junagadh rose against the Nawab’s rule in several parts of the state, forcing the ruler to flee to Karachi with his family and formed a provisional Government there.
Patel asked Pakistan to reverse its acceptance of the accession and to hold a plebiscite. When it refused, he sent the Indian Army to annex the princely state on November 1, 1947.
This was followed by plebiscite that was held in December the same year, during which 99% of Junagadh’s people chose India over Pakistan.

14. JAMMU & KASHMIR (then Kashmir):- Kashmir, a princely state with a Hindu king ruling over a predominant Muslim population didn’t acceded to either India or Pakistan. On 12 August 1947, J&K sought a standstill agreement with both India and Pakistan. Strategically, geographically and financially J&K was very imp. to both the new formed nations.
Knowing Pakistan’s intentions about the critical situation in Kashmir, the Indian leaders debated a lot and formed strategy if anything goes haywire. Patel was not very interested in Kashmir, he was at that point if Pakistan takesover Kashmir than be it. He was exhausted with dealing with the ruler of J&K, Hari Singh and with his naive and indecisiveness nature but deep inside he wanted J&K to be a part of India.

15. Pakistan began the invasion of Kashmir on October 22, 1947,when Pakistani lashkars (armed tribesmen) Army, entered Kashmir. Patel wanted to send army immediately to Kashmir but waited as advised by Nehru and Mountbatten. Maharaja Hari Singh thought that his own army can contain the Pakistani invasion forces but the failed. Then a desperate Maharaja Hari Singh asked GoI for military assistance but Patel denied stating that they won’t interfere until J&K accede to India & a cornered Hari Singh signed the instrument of accession and J&K officially became Union of India’s territory.

16. After J&K’s accession, a defence committee sat to tackle the Pakistani invasion and debated a lot on lesser things & issues on which Patel got angry & said “Do you want Kashmir or not?” to which everyone replied “Yes”. Patel along with then defence minister Baldev Singh, immediately ordered the Indian Army to deploy in Kashmir. Through his quick decision making and Indian Army’s valiant effort they receded the invasion significantly back and regained control of majority of Kashmir region.

17. HYDERABAD:- The ruler of Hyderabad was a Nizam and he ruled the largest and richest of all princely states in India.After independence, he refused to join India. He neither joined Pakistan but was supportive to them being a Muslim. He was boastful of his riches and army. Both requests and threats from Patel and others mediators failed to change the mind of the wily Nizam, who also provided financial aid of ₹20 crore to Pakistan. This move really enraged Patel.
Things took a ugly turn when his army called Razakars unleashed violence at Hyderabad’s Hindu residents. Patel acted again and ordered an all out military operation known as 'Operation Polo’ to takeover Hyderabad on September 17, 1948. The operation lasted for 4 days in which Nizam’s army was battered and lost which ultimately forced the Nizam to surrender and merge his State with the Indian Union.

18. JUSTIFICATION & CONCLUSION Unification of India was one such task that changed the course of entire history of modern India which will be remembered for eternity. It was Sardar Patel’s decision making ability that united the present day India. When to use diplomacy and when to take action, he knew it all. Even Mahatma Gandhi knew that if anyone who could integrate princely states to the Union of India, he was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, that’s why he was given that humongous task. Sardar Patel being a former barrister knew exactly what was the need of the hour, whether negotiations will work or swift action or wait & watch strategy will work. Through this he was impeccable at decision making.

19. He believed that in a newly independent country there should be one union govt. and same law governing the whole country. There should not be fragmentation of the country as it will weaken the country and small states will be prone to foreign invasion and will be a concern of national integrity. The decision of unification of the princely states into India turns more practical when we see the bigger picture i.e. We can travel anywhere in the country without visa or any other official permission. From one state to another we can freely travel. We can do business or apply for employment opportunities in any state of the country. We can live anywhere in India without any restrictions. One can study anywhere in India, can get medical assistance anywhere in the country with ease.

20. Union government’s social beneficiary schemes are available for each and every citizen of the country. Rules, laws, rights, duties etc does not vary across the country, it is same for every individual living in the Union of India. Every citizen is equal before the government. Welfare of the citizens is the utmost thing now. As the above mentioned advantages and liberties we enjoy today would have been impossible if Sardar Patel hadn’t acted then. Just think if the unification of princely states was not done and a person from Delhi wants to go to Chennai for any work or any other thing, the number of permissions/visas/formalities he has to obtain will give him serious headache and plus the time consumed in getting those paperwork done so that he can finally travel. It’s unimaginable.

21. Another aspect to this is, the termination of paramountcy after independence meant that all rights that flowed from the state's relationship with the British crown would return to them , leaving them free to negotiate relationships with the new states of India and Pakistan “on a basis of complete freedom”. Since majority of the princely states were in India, technically it was not possible for them to be a part of Pakistan, only states sharing the common border with Pakistan can do that. India also feared that if these states remained independent, they can also accede to Pakistan which can cause them severe problems. Therefore unification of the princely states in India was so crucial. Also breaking links between independent India and the princely states would have posed difficult problems for the princely states & as well as India also.

22. As with the development of trade, commerce and communications during the 19 th & 20 th centuries had bound the princely states to British India through a system of complex network. Agreements relating to railways, customs, irrigation, the use of ports, and other similar agreements would disappear, posing a serious threat to the economic life of the subcontinent. If the princely states remained independent or acceded to Pakistan, they will suffer economic crisis and also India might have suffered some damage to its economic structure. Therefore the integration of these states to India was very important.

23. “Little pools of water tend to become stagnant and useless, but if they are joined together to form a big lake the atmosphere is cooled and there is universal benefit.” – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel