Source:
http://pibphoto.nic.in/photo//2015/Oct/l2015103172641.jpg
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi paying floral tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on Rashtriya Ekta Diwas, at Patel Chowk, in New Delhi on October 31, 2015.
Statue of Unity - In Honour of Sardar Patel
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Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's native place was Karamsad. While
his actual date of birth was never officially recorded—31 October 1875 was his date of birth on his matriculation
examination papers. His family lived in
the village of Karamsad, Bombay Presidency, where his father Jhaverbhai owned a
homestead. Somabhai, Narsibhai and Vithalbhai Patel were his elder brothers. He
had a younger brother, Kashibhai and a sister, Dahiba.
Patel traveled to attend schools in Nadiad, Petlad and
Borsad. Patel passed his matriculation
at the late age of 22. Studying on his own with books borrowed from
other lawyers and Patel passed law examinations within two years. Patel
set up his household in Godhra and was called to the bar. As a lawyear Patel earned reputation as a fierce and skilled lawyer. He
had a daughter, Maniben, born in 1904, and a son, Dahyabhai, born in 1906.
Patel practised law in Godhra, Borsad and Anand. Patel was also the first chairman and founder
of the E.M.H.S. "Edward Memorial High School" Borsad which is at
presently known as Jhaverbhai Dajibhai Patel High School. In 1909, Patel's wife
Jhaverba was hospitalised in Bombay (now Mumbai) to undergo a major surgical
operation for cancer. Her health suddenly worsened and despite successful
emergency surgery, she died in the hospital. Patel was given a note informing
him of his wife's demise as he was cross-examining a witness in court.
According to others who witnessed, Patel read the note, pocketed it and
continued to intensely cross-examine the witness and won the case. Patel
himself decided against marrying again. He raised his children with the help of
his family and sent them to English-medium schools in Mumbai. At the age of 36,
he journeyed to England and enrolled at the Middle Temple Inn in London.
Finishing a 36-month course in 30 months, Patel topped his class despite having
no previous college background.
Returning to India, Patel settled in the city of Ahmedabad
and became one of the city's most successful barristers.
At the urging of his friends, Patel won an election to
become the sanitation commissioner of Ahmedabad in 1917. While often clashing
with British officials on civic issues, he did not show any interest in
politics. Patel was deeply impressed
when Gandhi defied the British in Champaran for the sake of the area's
oppressed farmers. Against the grain of Indian politicians of the time, Gandhi
wore Indian-style clothes and emphasised the use of one's mother tongue or any
Indian language as opposed to English—the lingua franca of India's
intellectuals. Patel was particularly attracted to Gandhi's inclination to
action—apart from a resolution condemning the arrest of political leader Annie
Besant, Gandhi proposed that volunteers march peacefully demanding to meet her.
Patel gave a speech in Borsad in September 1917, encouraging
Indians nationwide to sign Gandhi's petition demanding Swaraj—independence—from
the British. Meeting Gandhi a month later at the Gujarat Political Conference
in Godhra, Patel became the secretary of the Gujarat Sabha—a public body which
would become the Gujarati arm of the Indian National Congress—at Gandhi's
encouragement. Patel now energetically fought against veth—the forced servitude
of Indians to Europeans—and organised relief efforts in wake of plague and
famine in Kheda. The Kheda peasants' plea for exemption from taxation had been
turned down by British authorities. Gandhi endorsed waging a struggle there,
but could not lead it himself due to his activities in Champaran. When Gandhi
asked for a Gujarati activist to devote himself completely to the assignment,
Patel volunteered.
Supported by Congress volunteers Narhari Parikh, Mohanlal
Pandya and Abbas Tyabji, Vallabhbhai Patel began a village-to-village tour in
the Kheda district, documenting grievances and asking villagers for their
support for a statewide revolt by refusing the payment of taxes. Patel
emphasised potential hardships with the need for complete unity and
non-violence despite any provocation. When the revolt was launched and revenue
refused, the government sent police and intimidation squads to seize property,
including confiscating barn animals and whole farms. Patel organised a network
of volunteers to work with individual villages—helping them hide valuables and
protect themselves during raids. Thousands of activists and farmers were
arrested, but Patel was not. The revolt began evoking sympathy and admiration
across India, including with pro-British Indian politicians. The government
agreed to negotiate with Patel and decided to suspend the payment of revenue
for the year, even scaling back the rate. Patel emerged as a hero to Gujaratis
and admired across India. In 1920, he was elected president of the newly formed
Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee—he served
as its president till 1945.
Patel supported Gandhi's Non-cooperation movement and toured
the state to recruit more than 300,000 members and raise over Rs. 15 lakh in
funds.] Helping organise bonfires of British goods in Ahmedabad, Patel threw in
all his English-style clothes. With his daughter Mani and son Dahya, he
switched completely to wearing khadi. Patel also supported Gandhi's
controversial suspension of resistance in wake of the Chauri Chaura incident.
He worked extensively in the following years in Gujarat against alcoholism,
untouchability and caste discrimination, as well as for the empowerment of
women. In the Congress, he was a resolute supporter of Gandhi against his
Swarajist critics. Patel was elected Ahmedabad's municipal president in 1922,
1924 and 1927—during his terms, Ahmedabad was extended a major supply of
electricity and the school system underwent major reforms. Drainage and
sanitation systems were extended over all the city. He fought for the
recognition and payment of teachers employed in schools established by
nationalists and even took on sensitive
Hindu-Muslim Issues.
When Gandhi was in prison, Sardar Patel was asked by Members
of Congress to lead the satyagraha in Nagpur in 1923 against a law banning the
raising of the Indian flag. He organised thousands of volunteers from all over
the country in processions hoisting the flag. Patel negotiated a settlement
that obtained the release of all prisoners and allowed nationalists to hoist
the flag in public.
In April 1928, Sardar Patel returned to the freedom struggle
from his municipal duties in Ahmedabad when Bardoli suffered from a serious
predicament of a famine and steep tax hike. The revenue hike was steeper than
it had been in Kheda even though the famine covered a large portion of Gujarat.
After cross-examining and talking to village representatives, emphasising the
potential hardship and need for non-violence and cohesion, Patel initiated the
struggle—complete denial of taxes. Sardar Patel organised volunteers, camps and
an information network across affected areas. The revenue refusal was stronger
than in Kheda and many sympathy satyagrahas were undertaken across Gujarat.
Despite arrests, seizures of property and lands, the struggle intensified. The
situation reached a head in August, when through sympathetic intermediaries, he
negotiated a settlement repealing the tax hike, reinstating village officials
who had resigned in protest and the return of seized property and lands. It was
during the struggle and after the victory in Bardoli that Patel was
increasingly addressed by his colleagues and followers as Sardar.
Leading the Congress
As Gandhi embarked on the Dandi Salt March, Patel was
arrested in the village of Ras and tried without witnesses, with no lawyer or
pressman allowed to attend. Patel's arrest and Gandhi's subsequent arrest
caused the Salt Satyagraha to greatly intensify in Gujarat—districts across
Gujarat launched an anti-tax rebellion until and unless Patel and Gandhi were
released. Once released, Patel served as interim Congress president, but was
re-arrested while leading a procession in Mumbai. After the signing of the
Gandhi-Irwin Pact, Patel was elected Congress president for its 1931 session in
Karachi—here the Congress ratified the pact, committed itself to the defence of
fundamental rights and human freedoms, and a vision of a secular nation,
minimum wage and the abolition of untouchability and serfdom. Patel used his
position as Congress president in organising the return of confiscated lands to
farmers in Gujarat. Upon the failure of the Round Table Conference in London,
Gandhi and Patel were arrested in January 1932 when the struggle re-opened, and
imprisoned in the Yeravda Central Jail. During this term of imprisonment, Patel
and Gandhi grew close to each other, and the two developed a close bond of
affection, trust, and frankness. Their mutual relationship could be described
as that of an elder brother (Gandhi) and his younger brother (Patel).
Patel's position at the highest level in the Congress was
largely connected with his role from 1934 onwards (when the Congress abandoned
its boycott of elections) in the party organisation. Based at an apartment in
Mumbai, he became the Congress's main fund-raiser and chairman of its Central Parliamentary
Board, playing the leading role in selecting and financing candidates for the
1934 elections to the Central Legislative Assembly in New Delhi and also for
the Provincial elections of 1936. As well as collecting funds and selecting
candidates, he would also determine the Congress stance on issues and
opponents.[28] Not contesting a seat for himself, Patel nevertheless guided
Congressmen elected in the provinces and at the national level. Patel would
guide the Congress ministries that had won power across India with the aim of
preserving party discipline—Patel feared that the British would use opportunities
to create conflicts among elected Congressmen, and he did not want the party to
be distracted from the goal of complete independence. But Patel would clash
with Nehru, opposing declarations of the adoption of socialism at the 1936
Congress session, which he believed was a diversion from the main goal of
achieving independence. In 1938, Patel organised rank and file opposition to
the attempts of then-Congress president Subhas Chandra Bose to move away from
Gandhi's principles of non-violent resistance. Patel considered Bose to want
more power over the party. He led senior Congress leaders in a protest, which
resulted in Bose's resignation. But criticism arose from Bose's supporters,
socialists and other Congressmen that Patel himself was acting in an
authoritarian manner in his defence of Gandhi's authority.
On the outbreak of World War II Patel supported Nehru's
decision to withdraw the Congress from central and provincial legislatures,
contrary to Gandhi's advice, as well as an initiative by senior leader
Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari to offer Congress's full support to Britain if it
promised Indian independence at the end of the war and install a democratic
government right away. Gandhi had refused to support Britain on the grounds of
his moral opposition to war, while Subhas Chandra Bose was in militant
opposition to the British. The British rejected Rajagopalachari's initiative,
and Patel embraced Gandhi's leadership again. He participated in Gandhi's call
for individual disobedience, and was arrested in 1940 and imprisoned for nine
months. He also opposed the proposals of the Cripps' mission in 1942.
While Nehru, Rajagopalachari and Maulana Azad initially
criticised Gandhi's proposal for an all-out campaign of civil disobedience to
force the British to Quit India, Patel was its most fervent supporter. Arguing
that the British would retreat from India as they had from Singapore and Burma,
Patel stressed that the campaign start without any delay. Though feeling that
the British would not quit immediately, Patel favoured an all-out rebellion
which would galvanise Indian people, who had been divided in their response to
the war, In Patel's view, an all-out rebellion would force the British to
concede that continuation of colonial rule had no support in India, and thus
speed power transfer to Indians. Believing strongly in the need for revolt,
Patel stated his intention to resign from the Congress if the revolt was not
approved. Gandhi strongly pressured the All India Congress Committee to approve
of an all-out campaign of civil disobedience, and the AICC approved the
campaign on 7 August 1942. Though Patel's health had suffered during his stint
in jail, Patel gave emotional speeches to large crowds across India, asking
people to refuse paying taxes and participate in civil disobedience, mass
protests and a shutdown of all civil services. He raised funds and prepared a
second-tier of command as a precaution against the arrest of national leaders.
Patel made a climactic speech to more than 100,000 people gathered at Gowalia
Tank in Bombay (Mumbai) on 7 August. Historians believe that Patel's speech was
instrumental in electrifying nationalists, who had been sceptical of the
proposed rebellion. Patel's organising work in this period is credited by
historians for ensuring the success of the rebellion across India. Patel was
arrested on 9 August and was imprisoned with the entire Congress Working
Committee from 1942 to 1945 at the fort in Ahmednagar. Here he spun cloth,
played bridge, read a large number of books, took long walks, practised
gardening. He also provided emotional support to his colleagues while awaiting
news and developments of the outside.
In the 1946 election for the Congress presidency, Patel
stepped down in favour of Nehru at the request of Gandhi. The election's
importance stemmed from the fact that the elected President would lead free
India's first Government. Gandhi asked all 16 states representatives and
Congress to elect the right person and Sardar Patel's name was proposed by 13
states representatives out of 16, but Patel respected Gandhi's request to not
be the first prime minister. As the first Home Minister, Patel played a key
role in integration of many princely states into the Indian federation.
In the elections, the Congress won a large majority of the
elected seats, dominating the Hindu electorate. But the Muslim League led by
Muhammad Ali Jinnah won a large majority of Muslim electorate seats. The League
had resolved in 1940 to demand Pakistan—an independent state for Muslims—and
was a fierce critic of the Congress. The Congress formed governments in all
provinces save Sindh, Punjab and Bengal, where it entered into coalitions with
other parties.
When the British mission proposed two plans for transfer of
power, there was considerable opposition within the Congress to both. The plan
of 16 May 1946 proposed a loose federation with extensive provincial autonomy,
and the "grouping" of provinces based on religious-majority. The plan
of 16 June 1946 proposed the partition of India on religious lines, with over
600 princely states free to choose between independence or accession to either
dominion. The League approved both plans, while the Congress flatly rejected
the 16 June proposal. Gandhi criticised the 16 May proposal as being inherently
divisive, but Patel, realising that rejecting the proposal would mean that only
the League would be invited to form a government, lobbied the Congress Working
Committee hard to give its assent to the 16 May proposal. Patel engaged the
British envoys Sir Stafford Cripps and Lord Pethick-Lawrence and obtained an
assurance that the "grouping" clause would not be given practical
force, Patel converted Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad and Rajagopalachari to
accept the plan. When the League retracted its approval of the 16 May plan, the
viceroy Lord Wavell invited the Congress to form the government. Under Nehru,
who was styled the "Vice President of the Viceroy's Executive
Council," Patel took charge of the departments of home affairs and
information and broadcasting. He moved into a government house on 1, Aurangzeb
Road in Delhi—this would be his home till his death in 1950.
Vallabhbhai Patel was one of the first Congress leaders to
accept the partition of India as a solution to the rising Muslim separatist
movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He had been outraged by Jinnah's Direct
Action campaign, which had provoked communal violence across India and by the
viceroy's vetoes of his home department's plans to stop the violence on the
grounds of constitutionality. Patel severely criticised the viceroy's induction
of League ministers into the government, and the revalidation of the grouping
scheme by the British without Congress approval. Although further outraged at
the League's boycott of the assembly and non-acceptance of the plan of 16 May
despite entering government, he was also aware that Jinnah did enjoy popular
support amongst Muslims, and that an open conflict between him and the
nationalists could degenerate into a Hindu-Muslim civil war of disastrous
consequences. The continuation of a divided and weak central government would
in Patel's mind, result in the wider fragmentation of India by encouraging more
than 600 princely states towards independence.[43] Between the months of
December 1946 and January 1947, Patel worked with civil servant V. P. Menon on
the latter's suggestion for a separate dominion of Pakistan created out of
Muslim-majority provinces. Communal violence in Bengal and Punjab in January
and March 1947 further convinced Patel of the soundness of partition. Patel, a
fierce critic of Jinnah's demand that the Hindu-majority areas of Punjab and
Bengal be included in a Muslim state, obtained the partition of those
provinces, thus blocking any possibility of their inclusion in Pakistan. Patel's
decisiveness on the partition of Punjab and Bengal had won him many supporters
and admirers amongst the Indian public, which had tired of the League's
tactics, but he was criticised by Gandhi, Nehru, secular Muslims and socialists
for a perceived eagerness to do so. When Lord Louis Mountbatten formally
proposed the plan on 3 June 1947, Patel gave his approval and lobbied Nehru and
other Congress leaders to accept the proposal. Knowing Gandhi's deep anguish
regarding proposals of partition, Patel engaged him in frank discussion in
private meetings over the perceived practical unworkability of any
Congress-League coalition, the rising violence and the threat of civil war.
Following Gandhi's and Congress' approval of the plan, Patel
represented India on the Partition Council, where he oversaw the division of
public assets, and selected the Indian council of ministers with Nehru.
However, neither he nor any other Indian leader had foreseen the intense
violence and population transfer that would take place with partition. Patel
would take the lead in organising relief and emergency supplies, establishing
refugee camps and visiting the border areas with Pakistani leaders to encourage
peace. Despite these efforts, the death toll is estimated at between 5 to 10
lakh people. The estimated number of refugees in both countries exceeds 1.5
crore. Understanding that Delhi and Punjab policemen, accused of organising
attacks on Muslims, were personally affected by the tragedies of partition,
Patel called out the Indian Army with South Indian regiments to restore order,
imposing strict curfews and shoot-at-sight orders. Visiting the Nizamuddin
Auliya Dargah area in Delhi, where thousands of Delhi Muslims feared attacks,
he prayed at the shrine, visited the people and reinforced the presence of
police. He suppressed from the press reports of atrocities in Pakistan against
Hindus and Sikhs to prevent retaliatory violence. Establishing the Delhi
Emergency Committee to restore order and organising relief efforts for refugees
in the capital, Patel publicly warned officials against partiality and neglect.
When reports reached Patel that large groups of Sikhs were preparing to attack
Muslim convoys heading for Pakistan, Patel hurried to Amritsar and met Sikh and
Hindu leaders. Arguing that attacking helpless people was cowardly and
dishonourable, Patel emphasised that Sikh actions would result in further
attacks against Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan. He assured the community leaders
that if they worked to establish peace and order and guarantee the safety of
Muslims, the Indian government would react forcefully to any failures of
Pakistan to do the same. Additionally, Patel addressed a massive crowd of
approximately 200,000 refugees who had surrounded his car after the meetings:
Patel clashed with Nehru and Azad over the allocation of
houses in Delhi vacated by Muslims leaving for Pakistan—Nehru and Azad desired
to allocate them for displaced Muslims, while Patel argued that no government
professing secularism must make such exclusions. However, Patel was publicly
defended by Gandhi and received widespread admiration and support for speaking
frankly on communal issues and acting decisively and resourcefully to quell
disorder and violence.
This event formed the cornerstone of Patel's popularity in
post-independence era and even today, he is remembered as the man who united
India. He is, in this regard, compared to Otto von Bismarck of Germany, who did
the same thing in 1860s. Under the 3 June plan, more than 562 princely states
were given the option of joining either India or Pakistan, or choosing
independence. Indian nationalists and large segments of the public feared that
if these states did not accede, most of the people and territory would be
fragmented. The Congress as well as senior British officials considered Patel
the best man for the task of achieving unification of the princely states with
the Indian dominion. Gandhi had said to Patel "the problem of the States
is so difficult that you alone can solve it". He was considered a
statesman of integrity with the practical acumen and resolve to accomplish a
monumental task. Patel asked V. P. Menon, a senior civil servant with whom he
had worked over the partition of India, to become his right-hand as chief
secretary of the States Ministry. On 6 May 1947, Patel began lobbying the
princes, attempting to make them receptive towards dialogue with the future
Government and trying to forestall potential conflicts. Patel used social
meetings and unofficial surroundings to engage most monarchs, inviting them to
lunch and tea at his home in Delhi. At these meetings, Patel stated that there
was no inherent conflict between the Congress and the princely order. Nonetheless,
he stressed that the princes would need to accede to India in good faith by 15
August 1947. Patel invoked the patriotism of India's monarchs, asking them to
join in the freedom of their nation and act as responsible rulers who cared
about the future of their people. He persuaded the princes of 565 states of the
impossibility of independence from the Indian republic, especially in the
presence of growing opposition from their subjects. He proposed favourable
terms for the merger, including creation of privy purses for the descendants of
the rulers. While encouraging the rulers to act with patriotism, Patel did not
rule out force, setting a deadline of 15 August 1947 for them to sign the
instrument of accession document. All but three of the states willingly merged
into the Indian union—only Jammu and Kashmir, Junagadh, and Hyderabad did not
fall into his basket.
Junagadh was especially important to Patel, since it was in
his home state of Gujarat and also because this Kathiawar district had the
ultra-rich Somnath temple which had been plundered 17 times by Mahmud of Ghazni
who broke the temple and its idols to rob it of its riches, emeralds, diamonds
and gold. The Nawab had under pressure from Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto acceded to
Pakistan. It was however, quite far from Pakistan and 80% of its population was
Hindu. Patel combined diplomacy with force, demanding that Pakistan annul the
accession, and that the Nawab accede to India. He sent the Army to occupy three
principalities of Junagadh to show his resolve. Following widespread protests
and the formation of a civil government, or Aarzi Hukumat, both Bhutto and the Nawab
fled to Karachi, and under Patel's orders, Indian Army and police units marched
into the state. A plebiscite later organised produced a 99.5% vote for merger
with India. In a speech at the Bahauddin College in Junagadh following the
latter's take-over, Patel emphasised his feeling of urgency on Hyderabad, which
he felt was more vital to India than Kashmir:
If Hyderabad does not see the writing on the wall, it goes
the way Junagadh has gone. Pakistan attempted to set off Kashmir against
Junagadh. When we raised the question of settlement in a democratic way, they
(Pakistan) at once told us that they would consider it if we applied that
policy to Kashmir. Our reply was that we would agree to Kashmir if they agreed
to Hyderabad.
Hyderabad was the largest of the princely states, and
included parts of present-day Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra
states. Its ruler, the Nizam Osman Ali Khan was a Muslim, although over 80% of
its people were Hindu. The Nizam sought independence or accession with
Pakistan. Muslim forces loyal to Nizam, called the Razakars, under Qasim Razvi
pressed the Nizam to hold out against India, while organising attacks on people
on Indian soil. Even though a Standstill Agreement was signed due to the
desperate efforts of Lord Mountbatten to avoid a war, the Nizam rejected deals
and changed his positions. In September 1948, Patel emphasised in Cabinet
meetings that India should talk no more, and reconciled Nehru and the
Governor-General, Chakravarti Rajgopalachari to military action. Following
preparations, Patel ordered the Indian Army to integrate Hyderabad (in his
capacity as Acting Prime Minister) when Nehru was touring Europe. The action
was termed Operation Polo, in which thousands of Razakar forces had been killed,
but Hyderabad was comfortably secured into the Indian Union. The main aim of
Mountbatten and Nehru in avoiding a forced annexation was to prevent an
outbreak of Hindu-Muslim violence. Patel insisted that if Hyderabad was allowed
to continue with its antics, the prestige of the Government would fall and then
neither Hindus nor Muslims would feel secure in its realm. After defeating
Nizam, Patel retained him as the ceremonial chief of state, and held talks with
him.
Governor General Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, Nehru and
Patel formed the triumvirate which ruled India from 1948 to 1950. Prime
Minister Nehru was intensely popular with the masses, but Patel enjoyed the
loyalty and the faith of rank and file Congressmen, state leaders and India's
civil services. Patel was a senior leader in the Constituent Assembly of India
and was responsible in a large measure for shaping India's constitution. He is
also known as the "Bismarck of India" Patel was a key force behind
the appointment of Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar as the chairman of the drafting
committee, and the inclusion of leaders from a diverse political spectrum in
the process of writing the constitution.
Patel was the chairman of the committees responsible for
minorities, tribal and excluded areas, fundamental rights and provincial
constitutions. Patel piloted a model constitution for the provinces in the
Assembly, which contained limited powers for the state governor, who would
defer to the President—he clarified it was not the intention to let the
governor exercise power which could impede an elected government. He worked
closely with Muslim leaders to end separate electorates and the more potent
demand for reservation of seats for minorities. Patel would hold personal
dialogues with leaders of other minorities on the question, and was responsible
for the measure that allows the President to appoint Anglo-Indians to
Parliament. His intervention was key to the passage of two articles that
protected civil servants from political involvement and guaranteed their terms
and privileges. He was also instrumental in the founding the Indian
Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service, and for his defence of
Indian civil servants from political attack, he is known as the "patron
saint" of India's services. When a delegation of Gujarati farmers came to
him citing their inability to send their milk production to the markets without
being fleeced by intermediaries, Patel exhorted them to organise the processing
and sale of milk by themselves, and guided them to create the Kaira District
Co-operative Milk Producers' Union Limited, which preceded the Amul milk
products brand. Patel also pledged the reconstruction of the ancient but
dilapidated Somnath Temple in Saurashtra—he oversaw the creation of a public
trust and restoration work, and pledged to dedicate the temple upon the
completion of work (the work was completed after Patel's death, and the temple
was inaugurated by the first President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad).
When the Pakistani invasion of Kashmir began in September
1947, Patel immediately wanted to send troops into Kashmir. But agreeing with
Nehru and Mountbatten, he waited till Kashmir's monarch had acceded to India.
Patel then oversaw India's military operations to secure Srinagar, the
Baramulla Pass and the forces retrieved much territory from the invaders.
Patel, along with Defence Minister Baldev Singh administered the entire
military effort, arranging for troops from different parts of India to be
rushed to Kashmir and for a major military road connecting Srinagar to
Pathankot be built in 6 months. Patel strongly advised Nehru against going for
arbitration to the United Nations, insisting that Pakistan had been wrong to
support the invasion and the accession to India was valid. He did not want
foreign interference in a bilateral affair. Patel opposed the release of Rs. 55
crores to the Government of Pakistan, convinced that the money would go to
finance the war against India in Kashmir. The Cabinet had approved his point
but it was reversed when Gandhi, who feared an intensifying rivalry and further
communal violence, went on a fast-unto-death to obtain the release. Patel,
though not estranged from Gandhi, was deeply hurt at the rejection of his counsel
and a Cabinet decision.
In 1949, a crisis arose when the number of Hindu refugees
entering West Bengal, Assam and Tripura from East Pakistan climbed over
800,000. The refugees in many cases were being forcibly evicted by Pakistani authorities,
and were victims of intimidation and violence. Nehru invited Liaquat Ali Khan,
Prime Minister of Pakistan to find a peaceful solution. Despite his aversion,
Patel reluctantly met Khan and discussed the matters. Patel strongly
criticised, however, Nehru's intention to sign a pact that would create
minority commissions in both countries and pledge both India and Pakistan to a
commitment to protect each other's minorities. Syama Prasad Mookerjee and K.C.
Neogy, two Bengali ministers resigned and Nehru was intensely criticised in
West Bengal for allegedly appeasing Pakistan. The pact was immediately in
jeopardy. Patel however, publicly came out to Nehru's aid. He gave emotional
speeches to members of Parliament, and the people of West Bengal, and spoke
with scores of delegations of Congressmen, Hindus, Muslims and other public
interest groups, persuading them to give peace a final effort.
Patel was intensely loyal to Gandhi and both he and Nehru
looked to him to arbitrate disputes. However, Nehru and Patel sparred over
national issues. When Nehru asserted control over Kashmir policy, Patel
objected to Nehru's sidelining his home ministry's officials. Nehru was
offended by Patel's decision-making regarding the states' integration, having
neither consulted him nor the cabinet. Patel asked Gandhi to relieve him of his
obligation to serve, believing that an open political battle would hurt India.
After much personal deliberation and contrary to Patel's prediction, Gandhi on
30 January 1948 told Patel not to leave the government. A free India, according
to Gandhi, needed both Patel and Nehru. Patel was the last man to privately
talk with Gandhi, who was assassinated just minutes after Patel's departure.
When Nehru pressured Dr. Rajendra Prasad to decline a nomination
to become the first President of India in 1950 in favour of Rajagopalachari, he
thus angered the party, which felt Nehru was attempting to impose his will.
Nehru sought Patel's help in winning the party over, but Patel declined and
Prasad was duly elected. Nehru opposed the 1950 Congress presidential candidate
Purushottam Das Tandon, a conservative Hindu leader, endorsing Jivatram
Kripalani instead and threatening to resign if Tandon was elected. Patel
rejected Nehru's views and endorsed Tandon in Gujarat, where Kripalani received
not one vote despite hailing from that state himself. Patel believed Nehru had
to understand that his will was not law with the Congress, but he personally
discouraged Nehru from resigning after the latter felt that the party had no
confidence in him.
On 29 March 1949, authorities lost radio contact with a
plane carrying Patel, his daughter Maniben and the Maharaja of Patiala. Engine
failure caused the pilot to make an emergency landing in a desert area in
Rajasthan. With all passengers safe, Patel and others tracked down a nearby
village and local officials. When Patel returned to Delhi, thousands of
Congressmen gave him a resounding welcome. In Parliament, MPs gave a long,
standing ovation to Patel, stopping proceedings for half an hour. In his
twilight years, Patel was honoured by members of Parliament and awarded
honorary doctorates of law by the Punjab University and Osmania University.
Patel's health declined rapidly through the summer of 1950.
He later began coughing blood, whereupon Maniben began limiting his meetings
and working hours and arranged for a personalised medical staff to begin
attending to Patel. The Chief Minister of West Bengal and doctor Bidhan Roy
heard Patel make jokes about his impending end, and in a private meeting Patel
frankly admitted to his ministerial colleague N. V. Gadgil that he was not
going to live much longer. Patel's health worsened after 2 November, when he
began losing consciousness frequently and was confined to his bed. He was flown
to Mumbai on 12 December on advice from Dr Roy, to recuperate as his condition
deemed critical. Nehru, Rajagopalchari, Rajendra Prasad and Menon all came to
see him off at the airport in Delhi. Patel was extremely weak and had to be
carried onto the aircraft in a chair. In Bombay, large crowds gathered at
Santacruz Airport to greet him, to spare him from this stress, the aircraft
landed at Juhu Aerodrome, where Chief Minister B.G. Kher and Morarji Desai were
present to receive him with a car belonging to the Governor of Bombay, that
took Vallabhbhai to Birla House. After suffering a massive heart attack (his
second), he died on 15 December 1950 at Birla House in Bombay. In an
unprecedented and unrepeated gesture, on the day after his death more than
1,500 officers of India's civil and police services congregated to mourn at
Patel's residence in Delhi and pledged "complete loyalty and unremitting
zeal" in India's service. His cremation was planned at Girgaum
Chowpatty, however this was changed to Sonapur (Now Marine Lines) when his
daughter conveyed that it was his wish to be cremated like a common man in the
same place as his wife and brother were earlier cremated. His cremation in
Sonapur in Bombay, was attended by a 10 lakh strong crowd including Prime
Minister Nehru, Rajagopalachari, and President Rajendra Prasad.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vallabhbhai_Patel
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/efeatures.aspx?relid=130006
