More articles by

Vijaya Pushkarna
Vijaya Pushkarna

IRON MAN OF INDIA

Sardar Patel's legacy much above BJP, Cong crossfire

INDIA-STATUE/ An artist's rendering of a statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, to be constructed in Gujarat | Reuters

BJP and Congress cannot find a bigger Gujarati name to fight over as elections approach

On September 30, 1947, at Amritsar when refugees were being killed on both sides of the border, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel spoke extempore to the public to try and restore calm, and prevent revenge killings of Muslim refugees who were trying to go to Pakistan.

And in one of the greatest speeches of his life, he said, “ Here in the same city, the blood of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims mingled in the bloodbath of Jallianwala Bagh. I am grieved to think that things have come to such a pass that no Muslim can go about in Amritsar and no Hindu or Sikh can even think of living in Lahore. The butchery of defenceless men, women and children does not behove brave men. I am quite certain that India's interest lies in getting all her men and women across the border and sending out all Muslims from east Punjab. I have come to you with a specific appeal. Pledge the safety of Muslim refugees crossing the city. Any obstacle or hindrances will only worsen the plight of our refugees who are already performing prediculous feat of endurance. If we have to fight, we must fight clean. Such a fight must await appropriate time and conditions and you must be watchful in choosing your ground. To fight against refugees is no fight at all .....”

The above incident was narrated by India's well known career diplomat and former National Security Adviser, Shivshankar Menon at the Patel Memorial Lecture in 2013. Menon added that there were no further attacks on Muslims in Amritsar and a wider peace and order was soon re-established.

It is this Patel, the first deputy prime minister of India, whose legacy is now being claimed by both, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Indian National Congress, whose member he was till he died in December 1950. For the grit and steel in him, for the role he played in politically integrating India into what it is today, Patel has gone down in history as the 'Iron Man of India'.

As India celebrates his 142nd birth anniversary on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi charged the Congress, without naming the party, of ignoring his legacy in nation building. Patel has become a bone of contention for two reasons. Faced with elections in Gujarat, the BJP and the Congress cannot find a bigger Gujarati name to fight over. Mahatma Gandhi does not come into this scene, for the reason that he requested Patel to step down in favour of Jawaharlal Nehru for the post of the head of the interim government in 1946.

The BJP's determination to make a Congress-mukt Bharat necessitates that they foist everything that can be presented as having been overtaken by Nehru and his legacy. Patel fits into the bill when seen through the saffron prism.

But history notes the relationship of then prime minister Nehru and then deputy prime minister Patel as that of two colleagues working in the best spirit of democracy—daring to have an opinion and hold on to it. There was nothing that was overbearing about one and underdoggish about the other. And most importantly, the two were together in independent India for exactly 40 months, which does not make for any side-lining of Patel, or robbing him of his sheen.

It becomes clear that that is the case, going by what Menon, who was barely six months old when Patel died, said in 2013. “This is vintage Patel showing courage and bravery in the face of high and hostile emotions using reason, self interest and real politic in his argument, and achieving the impossible. Most of all for me, his integrity shines through. His intellectual honesty, no false promises, and no emotion other than patriotism. One man in a position of authority standing for what he considers right against the tide of popular emotion. No wonder when he died in Mumbai on December 15, 1950, in a gesture never repeated before or after, 1,500 civil servants gathered at his home in Delhi at 1, Aurangzeb Road and pledged to work for the nation as he had done. It was the same integrity and clarity that Patel displayed in his understanding of the world and India's place in it.” Patel, he said, was clear that it is primarily our internal strength that we must rely on to navigate the complex international situation.

The Congress claimed Patel's legacy, by recalling his “uncompromising efforts” that resulted in India getting united and remaining so after Independence. Along with a portrait of Patel, they quoted him thus: “The speeches of the Sangh leaders are poisonous. It is as a result of this venom that Mahatma Gandhi has been assassinated.”

Without mentioning names, Menon said, “ Patel set standards for party organisation that everyone claims and strives but nobody has matched.........Unlike his imitators and those who would claim his legacy, he worked tirelessly and successfully for communal harmony in the midst of the horrors of partition.” Prime Minister Modi wants the media to focus and write about democracy in party organisations now when the Congress is about to election Rahul Gandhi as its next president. 

This browser settings will not support to add bookmarks programmatically. Please press Ctrl+D or change settings to bookmark this page.

Related Reading

    Show more