Vallabhbhai Patel

Sardar Vallabhabhai Patel was a senior leader of Indian National Congress and a prominent figure in the Indian Freedom Struggle, who later became India's first Deputy Prime Minister and first Home Minister. Sardar Patel's contribution in integrating 565 princely states into a newly independent India is unforgettable.

Vallabhabhai Patel, in full Vallabhabhai Jhaverbhai patel, by name Sardar patel, (born October 31, 1875, nadiad, Gujarat,India). Died December 15, 1950, Mumbai, Indian barrister and statesman, one of the leaders of the Indian National Congress during the struggle for Indian independence. During the first three years of Indian independence after 1947, he served as deputy prime minister, minister of home affairs, minister of information, and minister of states.

Patel had a dream to study law in England. Using his hard earned savings, he managed to get a pass and ticket to go England. However, the ticket was addressed to 'V.J. Patel'. His elder brother Vithalbhai also had same initials as Vallabhai. Sardar Patel came to know that his elder brother too cherished a dream to go to England for studies. In keeping with concerns for his family's honour, vallabhabhai Patel allowed Vithalbhai Patel to go, in his place.

Patel was born into a self-sufficient landowning family of the Leva Patidar caste. Reared in an atmosphere of traditional Hinduism, he attendedd primary school at karamasad and high school at Petlad but was mainly self-taught. Patel married at the age of 16, matriculated at 22, and passed the district pleader's examination, which enabled him to practice law. In 1900 he set up an independent office of district pleader in Godhra, and two years later he moved to Borsad. As a lawyer, Patel distinguished himself in presenting an unassailable case in a precise manner and in challenging police witnesses and British Judges. In 1908 Patel lost his wife, who had borne him a son and daughter, and thereafter remained a widower. Determined to enhance his career in the legal profession, Patel travelled to London in August 1910 to study at the Middle Temple. There he studied diligently and passed the final examinations with high honours.

In 1917 Patel found the course of his life changed after having been influened by Gandhi.Patel adhered to Gandhi's Satyagraha insofar as it furthered the Indian struggle against the British. But he did identify himself with Gandhi's moral convictions and ideals, and he regarded gandhi's emphasis on their universal application as irrelevant to India's immediate political, economic, and social problems. Nevertheless, having resolved to follow and support Gandhi, Patel changed his style and appearance. He quit the Gujarat Club, dressed in the white cloth of the Indian peasant, and ate in the Indian manner. In 1928 Patel successfully led the landowners of Bardoli in their resistance against increased taxes. His efficient leadership of the Bardoli campaign earned him the title sardar ("leader"), and henceforth he was acknowledged as a nationalist leader throughout India. He was considered practical, decisive, and even ruthless, and the British recognized him as a dangerous enemy.

Patel joined the Congress and became the secretary of the Gujarat Sabha that became a Congress stronghold later. On Gandhi's call, Patel quit his hard-earned job and joined the movement to fight for exemption of taxes in Kheda at the time of plague and famine (1918). Patel joined Gandhi's Non-cooperation Movement (1920) and travelled around West India to recruit 3,00,000 members. He also collected more than Rs 1.5 million for the party fund. There was a British law banning the hoisting of the Indian Flag. When Mahatma Gandhi was imprisoned, it was Patel who led the Satyagraha movement in Nagpur in 1923 against the British law. In 1930, British arrested Sardar Patel during the Salt Satyagraha and put him on trial without witnesses. On the outbreak of World War 2nd (1939), Patel the supported Nehru's decision to withdraw the Congress from central and provincial legislatures. Patel was at his persuasive best when he spoke at the Gwalia Tank ground in mumbai to launch the nation-wide civil disobedience movement in 1942 at the behast of Mahatma Gandhi. During Quit India Movement (1942), the British arrested Patel,he was imprisoned with the entire Congress Working Committee from 1942 to 1945 at fort in Ahmednagar.

Congress committed itself to the defence of fundamental rights and civil liberties. Patel advocated for the establishment of a secular nation. Minimum wages for workers and the abolition of untouchability were among his other priorities. Patel used his position as Congress president to organise the return of confiscated land to farmers in Gujarat.

On November 13, 1947, Sardar Patel, the then deputy Prime Minister of India, vowed to rebuild Somnath Temple. Somnath had been destroyed and built several times in the past. He felt that the story of its resurrection from ruins this time would be symbolic of the story of the resurgence of India.