Is Sardar Patel the best leader India never had?

By Tushar Singh

The first Deputy Prime Minister of India, Gujarat-native Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, was a barrister and statesman who played a significant role in the struggle for independence. Hailed as the ‘Iron Man of India’, Patel is popularly known for integrating over 550 states into the Indian union. Indeed, without Sardar Patel the map of India would look much different from how it does today.

Why the “Iron Man of India”?

As the story goes, when Sardar Patel’s wife passed away after an emergency surgery following cancer, Patel was working in court as a lawyer. While in court, a note was given informing him of the demise of his wife. He read the note, kept it in his pocket and continued to cross-examine the witness, going on to win the case. Patel had developed this stoic character from childhood and it is this characteristic which made him a master tactician and shrewd negotiator.

On 6 May 1947, Sardar Patel began lobbying the princes of India’s 550 separate states, attempting to open them to dialogue with the future government and forestall potential conflicts. Patel used social meetings and unofficial surroundings to engage most of the monarchs, inviting them to lunches and teas at his home in Delhi. While he proposed favourable terms of merger, including generous financial settlements, Patel did not rule out the use of force to obtain union.

All but three princely states willingly joined the Indian Union. However, Sardar Patel was forced to show his mettle by using force in the holdouts: Junagadh, Hyderabad and Jammu and Kashmir. He also played a major part in ensuring that the Hindu-majority states of Punjab and Bengal did not fall into Pakistan’s hands. In short, through his uncompromising negotiations Patel ensured that the foundations of modern Indian union were made secure, earning the name the ‘Iron Man’.

What role did Sardar Patel play before independence?

Not initially a fan of Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel became a strong supporter of his political and social—although not economic—ideas. He was a strong leader of the civil disobedience movement in Gujarat and rose to prominence through his work against the British regime within his home state.

In Gujarat, he worked extensively in the following years against alcoholism, untouchability, and caste discrimination, as well as for the empowerment of women. Sardar Patel also supported Gandhi’s controversial suspension of resistance in the wake of the Chauri Chaura incident. He was also one of the greatest supporters of the Quit India Movement, while Nehru, C Rajagopalachari, and Maulana Azad initially criticised Gandhi’s proposal for an all-out campaign of civil disobedience. One emotional speech given by Patel in Bombay in front of more than 1,00,000 people is considered to be a major event which united the people of India behind the Quit India Movement. Patel called out to people to work against the British regime, telling them that it was “an opportunity of a lifetime”.

Sardar Patel was one of the first to understand that a partition of India was necessary to avoid a civil war, claiming that “Nobody likes the division of India and my heart is heavy. But the choice is between one division and many divisions.” Patel was also a key force behind the appointment of Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar as the chairman of the drafting committee, and the inclusion of leaders from diverse political backgrounds in the process of writing the constitution.

What if Sardar Patel had been PM?

During the 1946 Congress election, 13 out of 16 states chose Sardar Patel as their president. He was the most popular face to become the first Prime Minister of an independent India. However, after a request by Gandhi, Patel withdrew his nomination, opening the way for Nehru to become the Congress President. Indeed, despite being popular inside the party, Sardar Patel was not that popular with the masses. He accepted this disappointment at a mass rally for Congress in Mumbai, when he said, “They come for Jawahar, not for me.”

However, many have proposed alternative versions of history would have been likely had Sardar become Prime Minister. Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has said, “Had Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel lived longer, Goa would have been freed from the Portuguese yoke in 1948.” Patel was also against taking the Kashmir issue to the UN, which Nehru did. Many also believe that, had Kashmir been treated as a bilateral issue, it would have been solved amicably. India might also have advanced further into Kashmir and captured more territory without it becoming an international issue.

Patel was also a pro-business politician and, under his leadership, India would have avoided Nehru’s socialist policies, which have prevented the country from developing into a superpower. Under Patel’s leadership in the post-independence period, India would have been saved from the dynastic politics of the Nehru-Gandhi family. Perhaps, with Patel as an example, India might have had better leaders than Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and—worst of all—Rahul Gandhi.

Sardar Patel also wanted India to recognise Israel sooner and was pro-American. This international outlook might have ensured that India would have obtained the military benefits that Pakistan received from the US as a part of the capitalist bloc. In reality, it was only in 1991 that India finally corrected course on some of these economic and political policies—the same year that Patel was posthumously honoured with the Bharat Ratna.

Sardar Patel’s legacy

History holds many examples of the fruits of freedom squandered by a lack of attention to stability and order, which are the twin foundations of society. In India’s case, it was Patel who ensured that the country did not squander the fruits of freedom. When Sardar Patel ordered the reconstruction of the Somnath Temple in 1948, at a time when religious tensions were at their height, there were no protests by any religious community. This holds an important lesson for today’s leaders: Patel got things done without disrupting the socio-political life of ordinary people. It was also the visionary Patel who, in 1950, predicted the 1965 India-Pakistan war and India’s constant tussle with China, including the Doklam stand-off.

However, many successive governments have given relatively little importance to Patel’s example, with the Congress busily ensuring the legacy of Nehru and Gandhi. Surprisingly, it is the BJP and the Sangha Parivar who have embraced Patel as a role model. The celebration of Rashtriya Ekta Diwas annually on his birthday since 2014 and the Statue of Unity which, when constructed, will be the largest statue of the world, are testimonies to Patel’s legacy.

It should go without saying that today India needs visionary leaders like Patel, leaders who can be symbols of unity for a highly diverse nation. It is high time that Indian history books be revised in order to highlight the achievements of leaders like Sardar Patel.

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