When India got Independence on 15th August 1947, many great leaders played a pivotal role in laying a strong foundation for the nation to carve out a new identity in the polarised world. Among these leaders at that time, Sardar Vallabhai Patel played a pivotal role in unifying the country by integrating 17 British provinces and over 562 princely states into the Union of India to shape the structure of modern-day India. Sardar Patel accomplished this herculean task within a short span of 70 days through a bloodless revolution despite the fact that the country enjoyed vast diversity in terms of several religions, communities, languages and dialects.

Unsung Contributions in Nation Building

For spearheading and successfully executing this gigantic and crucial task of unifying India with his far-sightedness and strategic-diplomatic ability, Sardar Patel was rightly bestowed with the title of ‘The Iron Man of India’. But besides unifying India, Sardar Patel played several important roles post Independence which are least known to the world.

Therefore, as we celebrate Sardar Patel’s 150th birth anniversary as National Unity Day on 31st October, it is imperative for the new generation to understand the significance of these important roles played by Sardar Patel which shaped India and its governance structure that is followed even today. But sadly Sardar Patel’s decisive role in deciding the course of independent India has not been duly highlighted by historians and writers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, acknowledged the contributions made by Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel in 2015 by declaring his birth anniversary as National Unity Day.

Abrogation of Article 370 To Realise Sardar Patel’s Dreams

Sardar Patel always dreamt of an India which is always strong and united. Under PM Modi’s leadership, today Sardar Patel’s vision for India is coming true with the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019. With this bold and decisive decision, Sardar Patel’s vision of ‘One Country, One Flag, One Constitution’ for India has been realised. Besides realising this dream of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, this historic decision has certainly proved an important milestones for the unity and integrity of the country.

Visionary Behind Indian Civil Services as Steel Frame of India

As the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of Independent India, he laid the foundation of the all important All India Administrative Services, which are known to provide the administrative base and governance for the country. As a statesman, Sardar Patel took the landmark decision to create Indian Civil Services constituting of Indian Administrative Services (IAS) and Indian Police Services (IPS). Today, this administrative structure is known as the “Steel Frame of India”, which plays an important role in governing the nation.

The elected representatives of the people, whether MLA’s or MP’s are responsible to formulate new laws and policies which are people-centric and have a development approach. But Sardar Patel understood the need of a second layer of governance in the form of Administrative Officers who will act as the law implementing agency so that the actual benefit of government policies and laws gets delivered even to the most vulnerable sections of the society, thus ensuring their development and empowerment. Not only Sardar Patel, established the all important Indian Administrative Services, but using his wisdom, Patel also ensured a healthy working relationship between the politicians and bureaucrats by clearly defining their respective roles and responsibilities.

Reorganisation of India’s Police System

As India’s first Home Minister, Sardar Patel also oversaw the reorganization and structuring of India’s police system in 1948. He transformed the Imperial Police into the Indian Police Service (IPS), creating a nationally integrated police system, ensuring uniformity and integration across states. With this restructuring, Sardar Patel not only ensured merit-based recruitment of officers for promoting meritocracy and professionalism but also emphasised the importance of ethics, discipline, and accountability within the police force, aligning it with democratic principles.

Decisive Role in Drafting Indian Constitution

Sardar Patel also played a decisive role in the Constituent Assembly where he took the important decision in the selection of members of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution.

As the Chairman of the Advisory Committees, Patel headed the Provincial Constituent Committee and the most crucial committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities, Tribal and Excluded Area. Sardar Patel not only ensured the protection of minority rights but also played a pivotal role in creating a clear division of fundamental rights as justiciable and non-justiciable which means ensuring the Judicial remedy to the common man, thus ensuring every citizen of India has the right to approach the judiciary in case a fundamental right is violated. While in some cases the fundamental rights cannot be enforced which can be termed as justiciable. On the other hand, a citizen has the right to adequate means of livelihood, equal pay for equal work, or a living wage in non justiciable rights.

Champion of Balanced Federal Structure, Linguistic Harmony

As the chairman of the provincial constitutional committee, Sardar Patel played a pivotal role in declaring Hindi in Devanagari script as the national language of the India, so as to put aside all the conflicts that were arising in the nation due to vast diversity that prevailed in the country because of over 100 languages and 1,600 dialects spoken across India.

Sardar Patel also ensured that the Union government made a special effort to promote Hindi as an official language. Sardar Patel championed a balanced federal structure where the central government played a pivotal role to ensure stability while the states were given independence to manage their local affairs. In this federal structure, a clear demarcation of Union and State subjects was decided so that no conflict could arise in the future.

Futuristic & Visionary Son of the Soil

Taking his above contribution into account, it can be rightly said that Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel was truly a Futuristic and Visionary Leader, who through his wisdom not only united the country but also ensured that the nation can be effectively governed while experiencing a real cohesiveness among the states. For 65 years after Independence, the successive governments, however, failed to give the due recognition to the invaluable services rendered by Sardar Patel to serve the nation.

Honoring Iron Man’s Lagacy

Today, as we remember Sardar Patel on his 150th Birth Anniversary, it is important to bring forward the unforgettable contributions made by him to the knowledge of the young generation so that we can truly express the gratitude towards the soulful son of the soil. 

(Satnam Singh Sandhu is a Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha). He can be reached at satnam.sandhu@sansad.nic.in)