Galvanise Bharat with Sardar Patel's ideals

Patel's carrot and stick policy not merely involved taking the leadership into confidence but also recognizing the realities on the ground.

- SANTISHREE DHULIPUDI PANDIT

Kutch to Kohima, Kargil to Kanyakumari-if we can travel freely today across the beautiful and bountiful lands of India, it is because of one man, the Iron Man of India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. He did something unparalleled in history, with the integration of over 560 princely states. He used Kautilya and Vidyaranya's wisdom and Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj's courage to achieve the great feat of uniting India after Independence. He is an unsung hero, and rightly we need to know more about him. His 150th birth anniversary began on 31 October 2024 and was celebrated rightly as National Unity day.

UNIFYING BHARAT Enters Sardar Patel, the first Home Minister of the interim government formed in the wake of Independence in 1947. Ideally, the princely states and these principalities would be asked to make their choices. Yet, the reality was much more complex and granular. By and large, some of the kings and rulers of these princely states were either forthright to join India, some were indecisive, and others were not supportive.

For Patel, this was a challenge that, according to his strategies, needed two approaches: carrot and stick.

Remember, the challenge to integrate was indeed a political matter, but it was also a cultural and social matter, given the diversity of languages, religions, beliefs, and values in these different principalities and princely states.