Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel – The Iron-man of India

“Pakistan on the path of breaking up, as separatist movements spur in Balochistan province …. ” all of us have heard about the chaotic situation in our neighborhood. Considering the religious and ethnic diversity in India we would have been caught up in a similar situation if it was not for the efforts of a man – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
But, why do we call him the Iron man of India? In nonage, Sardarji whose full name is Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel had gotten a painful pustule on his hand. The original croaker
suggested that the only way to heal it was to burst it open using a red hot iron rod. Everyone including the croaker
and sardarji’s parents’ blood ran cold waves while enforcing the cure. But, our youthful Iron- man took the hot red iron rod in his hand and did what was necessary with the ulcer without a blench. This incident was a clear suggestion of the ingrain rates of abidance, undauntedness, and leadership that he held. Although Vallabhbhai passed his matriculation test at the late age of 22, he defied the odds by qualifying as a counsel over the coming two times. For that, he studied by staying down from his family and by adopting books from other attorneys. He sluggishly and steadily started developing the image of a professed and fierce counsel. After his wife’’s early demise due to cancer, Patelji took up the responsibility of furnishing for his children. likewise, at the age of 36, he traveled to England and enrolled at the Middle Temple Inn in London. Completing a 36- month course in 30 months, he finished at the top of his class despite having had no former council background. On his return to India, he made a name for himself along with wealth for his family as a barrister. So now the question pertains, why did Vallabhbhai join the freedom struggle leaving before all the hard-earned luxuries? All of it started with his family, Vithalbhai’s entry into politics through the Bombay Presidency. Patelji was now following up with the civil freedom movement. Gandhiji’s way sounded superficial to him until The Champaran Satyagraha. He was deeply moved by this movement for the growers. In 1917, he gave a speech at Borsad in Gujrat for Indians to subscribe to the Swaraj-tone rule doctrine. A month latterly he met Gandhi and was made the head of Gujrat Sabha- a public body that would go on to come to the Gujrat arm of the Indian National Congress. likewise, he decided to pursue the freedom struggle and fight for the rights of the depressed when he visited every vill in the Kheda quarter of Gujrat along with other Congress levies. They proved all the grievances and asked the people to come together for a kick against paying levies. The government agreed to negotiate with Patel and decided to suspend the payment of levies for a time, indeed spanning back the rate. Patel surfaced as an idol to Gujaratis. He came to be known as” Kisaan Neta- leader of growers.” In 1920 he was tagged chairman of the recently formed Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee; he’d serve as its chairman until 1945. When Gandhi was in captivity, Patel was asked by Members of Congress to lead the satyagraha in Nagpur in 1923 against a law banning the caregiving of the Indian flag. He organized thousands of levies from all over the country to take part in processions of people violating the law. Patel negotiated an agreement carrying the release of all captures and allowing chauvinists to hoist the flag in public. In April 1928 Patel returned to the independence struggle from his external duties in Ahmedabad when Bardoli suffered from a serious double dilemma of a shortage and a steep duty hike. After cross-examining and talking to vill representatives, emphasizing the implicit difficulty and need for non-violent cohesion, Patel initiated the struggle with a complete denial of levies. He organized levies, camps, and an information network across affected areas. The profit turndown was stronger than in Kheda, and numerous sympathy satyagrahas were accepted across Gujarat. Despite apprehensions and seizures of property and land, the struggle was boosted. The situation came to a head in August, when through sympathetic interposers, he negotiated an agreement that included repealing the duty hike, reinstating vill officers who had abnegated in kick, and returning seized property and land. It was by the women of Bardoli, during the struggle and after the Indian National Congress palm in that area, that Patel first began to be appertained to as Sardar( or principal). He presided as the head of Congress sessions numerous times and was a pivotal part of the Indian freedom struggle and was like a right-hand man to Gandhi. Fast-forward to the time 1946- 47, when everybody knew that Britishers were going to leave India but veritably many figured out their strategy of giving us not a fully independent unified nation, but rather a coalition of 562 kingly countries. These kingly countries had 3 options in front of them, to come a part of India, come a part of the recently formed Pakistan, or stay independent. Indeed though Sardarji was tagged asP.M. of independent India through internal voting in the Indian National Congress, he chose to step up on a gigantic charge to unify India under a single marquee after a letter from Gandhi. He was accompanied by V.P Menon on this trip of uniting the kingly countries, by hook or by crook. Some of them wanted to be a part of Pakistan to exploit the benefits of being a recently formed country and gaining special boons. Like that of Jodhpur fiefdom, wherein they were exempted from levies collected from Karachi harborage. still, Patel handled it diplomatically by promising the same benefits from Kutch. He also linked the ulcer that independent Hyderabad’s demand could make and removed it surgically by launching Mission Polo and winning over the Nawaab’s colors in no time. The pledges he made to the kingly state which joined India were as follows- 1- Guarantee of security from all feathers of foreign irruption and protection during internal conflicts. 2- To handle foreign affairs of the state under the country as a whole. 3- Responsibility for the development of the overall structure including introductory amenities like transport, communication, health, law, order, etc. similar was the life of a man who devoted his life to the vision of a unified nation. His intellect was so sharp that he managed to move lords who lived like royals for centuries to have rights that of every other pleb. therefore, to admire his inarguable donation, National Unity Day is famed every time on his birthday, i.e. 31st of October. Also, the establishment of the Statue of Unity was a well-justified commemoration. We feel immense pride to be a part of an institute named after a true idol. Vande Mataram! Jai Hind!

-Mandar Dumbre, Deep Patel and Piyanshu Gehani