Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel

• 16 Dec 2021

Why in News

Recently, the Prime Minister paid tribute to India's first home minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, on his 71^st death anniversary on 15^th December.

Key Points

• Born:
  
  • 31^st October 1875 in Nadiad, Gujarat. 
  • First Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India.
  • He always requested the people of India to live together by uniting (Ek Bharat) in order to create a foremost India (Shresth Bharat).
    
    • This ideology still reflects in the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative which seeks to make India Self-Reliant.
• Headed various Committees of the Constituent Assembly of India, namely:
  
  • Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights.
  • Committee on Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas.
  • Provincial Constitution Committee.
• Reforms:
  
  • He worked extensively against alcohol consumption, untouchability, caste discrimination and for women emancipation in Gujarat and outside.
  • Integrated the farmer’s cause in Kheda Satyagraha (1918) and Bardoli Satyagraha (1928) with the national freedom movement.
    
    • Women of Bardoli bestowed the title ‘Sardar’ on Vallabhbhai Patel, which means ‘a Chief or a Leader’.
  • Remembered as the ‘Patron Saint of India’s Civil Servants’ as he established the modern all-India services system.
• Integration of the Princely States:
  
  • As India’s first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Sardar Patel played a key role in the integration of about 565 princely states into the Indian Union.
  • Few princely states like Travancore, Hyderabad, Junagadh, Bhopal and Kashmir were averse to joining the state of India.
  • Sardar Patel worked tirelessly to build a consensus with the princely states but did not hesitate in employing methods of Sama, Dama, Dand and Bhed wherever necessary.
  • He had used force to annex princely states of Junagadh ruled by Nawab and Hyderabad ruled by Nizam, both of whom had wished not to merge their respective states with the Union of India.
  • Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel stitched the princely states along with British Indian territory and prevented the balkanization of India.
  • Known as the “Iron Man of India” for playing an important role in unification and integration of Indian princely states into the Indian federation and for convincing princely states to align with the Indian Union.
• Death:
  
  • 15^th December 1950 in Bombay.

Statue of Unity

• The Statue of Unity is built in honor of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
• It was inaugurated on 31^st October, 2018 to mark the 143^rd birth anniversary of Sardar Patel.
• The Statue of Unity is the tallest statue in the world. At 182 meters, it is 23 meters taller than China's Spring Temple Buddha statue and almost double the height of the Statue of Liberty (93 meters tall) in the US.
• In January 2020, it was added to the ‘Eight Wonders’ of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Source: PIB