Sardar Patel and Idea of India

Today is the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel. He unified India by integrating princely States and he credited Odisha for having taken the first step to integrate princely States to the Union of India. He did so in a foreword to the book titled "Beginning of End" authored by late Shri Harekrushna Mahatab who spearheaded the process for brining the princely States of Odisha to India. Sardar wrote "“....I had the privilege of initiating the twin process of integration(of princely states) and democratisation, which for its small beginnings in distant Orissa, has gradually swept over the whole of the subcontinent. Centuries ago, it was the proud privilege of Kalinga to arouse the awakening in a great monarch who became in the course of time not only a great and wise sovereign and Suzerain, but also a great guide, friend and philosopher of his people. Few had dreamt and none had imagined that it would be from the same land that will start a revolutionary change which would achieve for India the same measure of unity and strength and security which India had attained under that distinguished Ruler Ashoka.”

        As the Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India he  put a check on communal outfits which created a poisonous atmosphere  that resulted in the tragic assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. He banned those organisations, particularly the RSS, for the cause of social harmony and national unity.
He wrote that a fanatical wing of Hindu Mahasabha led by Vinayak Damodar Sarvarkar conspired to kill Mahatma Gandhi. It is rather preposterous that the ruling party, BJP, promised in Its election manifesto for the recently concluded elections for the Maharashtra Assembly that it would confer Bharat Ratna to him posthumously. It may be stated that  such an idea is inconsistent with the vision of Sardar Patel.

        It is because of Sardar Patel we have today in our Constitution special safeguards for minorities. He was the Chairman of the Committee of the Constituent Assembly which had the mandate to look into the rights of minorities. He authored that report of the Committee which recommended the special safeguards for the minorities of India and those special safeguards were accepted by the Constituent Assembly and eventually incorporated in the Constitution of  India.

India was partitioned and very unfairly Muslims of our country were and are being blamed for it. I was educated from one of Sardar’s  letters to G.D.Birla in which  he wrote that  petrol situation in the world played a role in the partition of India. We have created a myth that Muslims were responsible for partition of India. That letter is there in a book entitled “Immortal Icons” which contain correspondence of G.D.Birla with leaders of our freedom struggle.  Late Shri K.R.Narayanan as President of India wrote an illuminating foreword to it.

In 1999 the London Archives released classified papers concerning partition of India. Those papers revealed the real purpose behind the division of our country. It was found in those papers that India was divided to ensure unhindered  access of western powers to oil resources in the Gulf region . The western powers wanted to create a country by diving India and that to just next to Afghanistan so that it could be used to checkmate the erstwhile Soviet Union which had a strategy to occupy Afghanistan and use it as a base to extend its influence to the Gulf region and stop oil supply to the western powers whose economies were critically dependent on Gulf oil. That strategy of the Soviet Union was part and parcel of the grand ideological worldview of that country to defeat the capitalist block. So what was revealed by the classified papers released by the London Archives in 1999 was known to Patel in 1940s.
 

        He was the Chairman of a Municipality in Gujarat. He wrote to Mahatma Gandhi that he intended to allocate some money to a temple for its repair. Gandhiji wrote back by stating that if he wanted to allocate some money to a temple then he should also allocate some amount to repair a dilapidated Mosque. Sardar abandoned the plan.

        On one occasion when Sardar Patel came  to attend a session of the Indian National Congress he found a separate enclosure for Dalits where they would seat. He  instead of occupying a seat earmarked for him in the main enclosure, straight way proceeded to the enclosure meant for Dalits and sat there and delivered his speech from that enclosure. This point was prominently mentioned in the speech of President K.R.Narayanan when he unveiled the statute of Sardar Patel in front of Central Hall of Parliament.
At a time when the Government of India is planning to pass the Citizenship Amendment Bill which envisages to grant of citizenship status to Hindus, Christians, Buddhists and Jains who would enter India from neighbouring countries we need to be mindful that it excludes Muslims. In this context it is imperative to recall the words of Sardar Patel who while participating in the discussion on draft articles of the Constitution on citizenship rights had said that citizenship law of India should be as broad and enlightened as possible.  Let us examine if the Union Government is fulfilling that vision of Sardar Patel while planning to pass the Citizenship Amendment Bill. 

        In one of his last speeches in 1950 Sardar Patel intensely reflected on rising levels of corruption and cautioned about its danger.
In all the above mentioned points we found a constructive vision for the unity of India and for treating all citizens equally irrespective of their faith, caste and social and economic status. While saluting  Vallabhbhai Patel, Sardar of India we need to live upto his vision rooted in the Idea of India.