Indomitable visionary
R.L. Singal

Sardar Vallabhbhal Patel: India’s Iron Man
by B. Krishna. Rupa, New Delhi. Pages 567. Rs 295.

Sardar Patel’s forbidding image as the Iron Man of India: bold, blunt and shrewd, at the same time, principled and benign but uncompromising on national issues, is true. The author rightly states: "Princes, politicians and administrators called upon him with certain trepidation, fearing the scorn of his eyes; much worse the rap of his caustic tongue." If Churchill and Jinnah (both collaborators in the creation of Pakistan) feared anybody in the Indian National Congress, it was Patel who unerringly gauged their intention and sinister moves, darting his arrows to pierce through their evil alliance aimed at thwarting India’s unity and integrity.

It was Patel who built the Congress Party machine through imposition of strict discipline and by giving it a mass base. As party boss, he supervised and directed the functioning of Congress ministries, formed in 1937 after the elections held under the Government of India Act of 1935, with unfailing accuracy. He organised and directed Congressmen all over the country in his capacity as chairman of the Congress Parliamentary Board. The Congress at that time was a seething mass of ambitions. Patel broke through hostile combinations, aligned new forces and brought order and discipline in the party.

This voluminous book unravels many facets of this indomitable visionary. He was a man of few words who could keep silent in the midst of the most provoking conversation. According to K.M. Munshi, Patel could attack, appeal, heap, ridicule; he could make his audience weep; he was a master of winged words which, like shafts, could pierce the heart. His words never missed their mark.

Mahatma Gandhi’s struggle for India’s independence spanning 30 years (1917-47) couldn’t have the same success without his support. The dazzling success of Bardoli Salyagrah helped Patel climb to new heights of eminence. This satyagraha bestowed upon him the title of Sardar. The British, out of fear, called him Lenin. Judging from the total obedience he commanded and the iron discipline he had imposed on the 87,000 non-cooperating peasants, they came to the conclusion that Sardar Patel had "instituted there a Bolshevik regime in which he plays the role of Lenin", quotes the author.

Patel’s role after 1945 concerned the speedy achievement of freedom and reducing the efficacy of Jinnah’s evil designs. He negotiated directly with Cripps (after the failure of the Cabinet Mission P1an) and helped the Congress form the interim government. But Loard Wavell’s manoeuvring brought the Muslim League into the Cabinet as an equal partner with the Congress, which Jawaharlal Nehru couldn’t resist. With that, Jinnah conducted his fight from within the Cabinet and succeeded in sabotaging the functioning of the government.

Ultimately after Wavell’s replacement with Mountbatten, things started moving fast. Mountbatten was able to convince Patel that if the Congress accepted Partition, they could have a strong centre and rule over India without any hindrance from the Muslim League. The ways of the latter had also disgusted both Nehru and Patel. That is why they ultimately accepted Partition.

Patel then directed all his energies and acumen in consolidating the unity of India through the integration of the Princely States numbering about 600. Securing the accession of Bhopal, Jodhpur, Junagarh and the Kathiawar states was an uphill task because of Jinnah’s allurements to the rulers of these states. Patel’s iron will and diplomacy ultimately carried the day. Only the state of Jammu and Kashmir turned out to be an ulcer because Nehru insisted on handling it himself: Had it been assigned to Patel, the problem would have been solved in 1947 itself.

Sardar Patel has often been compared with Bismarck, who had likewise consolidated Germany by integrating a handful of Princely States. "President Zakir Hussain," the author writes, "considered Patel even greater Bismarck because he had unified the country within a short time and without much noise and trumpeting."

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