Twentieth Century's Chanakya : Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

I was hell bent to write something about my country, my parents and more so about myself. But I was always apprehensive whether I would succeed or not. There was some inferiority complex in me, because academically I was not so strong. Partition of India uprooted us all and hopes, of my parents and myself to make my careers, dashed to the grand and it blocked my education at Matric.
There was a question of how to make both ends meet which compelled me to join service in Railways.
However, my inner urge always compelled me to shun the academic inferiority and use the God given faculties and write books.
Before my two books in Hindi were published, I got an opportunity to meet the eminent, distinguished Writer Mr Khushwant Singh at his house. His comments, on my books "one does not have to be a professional writer to write a good book nor a politician to be concerned with one's country. All it needs, is to speak from the heart without offending people Shri Jai Devi Hassija, has achieved in his first Hindi Book 'Yaado ki Perchhaiya'. His anecdotes are true and written in anguish. They make very good reading...." have given me constant encouragement; he became my mentor and I can claim that he fathered my book "Twentieth Century's Chanakya Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel". It allowed me to. cross the academic stigma. Thus I am pleased to offer my first English Book to the distinguished readers, who I am certain, will appreciate my first effort.
I had to work very hard to collect lot of material for this book, which. has been detailed in the Bibliography

India's greatest benefactor of the twentieth century was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Integrating India was a more difficult task than freeing it from the British yoke.
Imagine India with up to two fifths of its territory comprising the princely states not integrated into the country! It is not pos sible to say what would have happened without the Sardar being the Home Minister and Minister of States at that time.
That makes the achievement historically comparable with that of Otto von Bismarck who amalgamated all the German principalities (except Austria) into Prussia in the 19th century. The Iron Chancellor was given his due by European historians be cause of the role played by Germany in the 20th century. Yet, why was it easy enough to erase Patel's memory?
In this case much is now known overseas of his contribution, for the simple reason that it was hushed up at home. The question is For one, it was easy to hush it up.
The assassination of the Mahatma diverted their attention into eulogizing him and ignoring the need of perpetuating the Sardar's memory. Nothing could happen spontaneously as the key persons in power at the time of his death had a vested interest in Vallabhbhai being forgotten.
The systematic effort to bury his memory has not ended even now, 61 years after his death. The film Sardar was shown but reluctantly. The vested interests had other reasons also. Patel was known to hold pragmatic views on socio-economic issues; for example, he was not a socialist. while. Socialism was the fashion of the time. More over, Jawaharlal Nehru and others in the Congress Party believed that a socialist manifesto would help attract the poor man's vote.
With the United State's Eisenhower and Dulles making an ally of Pakistan and, by default, becoming anti-Indian, there was an international reason to strike a socialist posture and befriend the Soviet Union.
Sardar Patel was a patriot, a visionary; he was decisive and a man of action. But he had no frills, no sense of the histrionic: he did not play to the gallery. To borrow another simile, he was at rare but an uncut diamond surrounded by glittering metals: how then could he sparkle?
Yet another way of describing him is to say that he was not charismatic as Jawaharlal Nehru
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel shared neither the saintliness of his great master, Mahatma Gandhi, nor the flaming idealism of his colleague, Jawaharlal Nehru. He was a down-to-earth politician who restricted his vision to India and what is in her best interests. He was content with organizing the people to resist British rule. And in this he achieved great success, being an extraordinarily shrewd judge of men. Sardar believed in self-help and self-reliance. He stood for living within our own means and not to depend on outside assistance. A hard-boiled realist, he knew that every nation conducts its foreign policy in its own interest; that in the ultimate analysis, no nation has permanent friends or permanent enemies; that we should never proffer unsolicited advice: that is not incumbent on us to air our views on each and every event in each and every country, small and big, that our voice will be listened to with respect only if we are internally strong and united. Many politicians claim that they belong to the villages but few can claim that they had participated physically in agricultural operations on land. Sardar used to help his father physically tilling the farm.
Sardar Patel was a self confident, speculative and active as a "Man of Action" could be. He talked less and his this instinct enhanced his influence upon the other person. His silence had great effect to wherever his sight turned and created a State of 'Awe', and apprehensions. To hear arguments was below his dignity. He did not see any necessity of clearing his stand. Whatever he thought was in the National interest, he did. It made no difference to him whether people supported it or not. He believed in the earnestness of his dutiful performance. He was an excellent organizer and Manager. He had complete hold/control on the Congress party. He was the only person who could claim. for the credit of establishing a successful administrative structure after Independence. The question of integration of Indian States was very much intricate matter at the time of declaring India In dependent. The British, after declaring these States also independent had made this question very very complicated. Under these critical circumstances it was very difficult for a country weakened by its partition to maintain unity and strengthen it. Only Sardar Patel could disentangle this knotty problem. He could identify the weaknesses of the princes. He observed that the Maharajas and Princes were delicate ease loving and protection seeker. It should be known that Sardar Patel continued to work ignoring the doctors advice and even at times he ignores the re quest of the Controller of the house, his daughter Maniben, but he believes that motherland is more important than himself, un necessary to repeat that a leader, who is laborious like a bulldog. perfect in workmanship and commands a divine dignity, certainly succeeds.