Sardar Patel: The architect of United Bharat

Abstract

Vallabhbhai Patel is popularly known as ‘Sardar’ Patel, the ‘Iron Man of Bharat’, the ‘Modern Ashoka’ and the ‘Bismarck of Bharat’. He was one of the most towering and revered figures in the history of Bharat who had played a pivotal role in making Bharat an independent, unified and modern nation-state. After the departure of the British from Bharat in the mid- twentieth century, he effectively and successfully merged 565 fragmented ‘Princely States’ into the ‘Union of Bharat’ within a short span of time without any bloodshed with his sharp diplomatic strategies and political foresightedness, ensuring territorial integrity and national unity. In fact, it was not a small task, rather a gigantic one of amalgamating the diverse ‘Princely States’ into a single entity. Because during the time of unification mainly three states (Hyderabad, Junagarh and Jammu and Kashmir) posed the biggest challenges. The present paper seeks to examine and evaluate the significant contributions of Sardar Patel in the integration of the ‘Princely States’ into the ‘Union of Bharat’ in the aftermath of Independence from the British colonial rule. The paper discusses the developments in the process of national unification in the subsequent years after the demise of Sardar Patel. Further, the study concludes by analyzing the recent developments in line with the Sardar Patel’s vision by the Modi Government.