Vallabhbhai Patel

Vallabhbhai Patel (born October 31, 1875, Nadiad, Gujarat, India—died December 15, 1950, Bombay [now Mumbai]) was an Indian barrister and statesman who was 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.

Early life and legal career

Patel was born into a self-sufficient landowning family of the Leva Patidar caste in what is now the state of Gujarat. Reared in an atmosphere of traditional Hinduism, he attended 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 by presenting an unassailable case in a precise manner and by challenging police witnesses and British judges. In 1908 Patel’s wife, who had borne him a son and daughter, died, and thereafter Patel remained a widower. Determined to enhance his career in the legal profession, Patel traveled to London in August 1910 to study at the Middle Temple. There he studied diligently and passed the final examinations with high honors.

Returning to India in February 1913, he settled in Ahmadabad, rising rapidly to become the leading barrister in criminal law at the Ahmadabad bar. Reserved and courteous, he was noted for his superior mannerisms, his smart, English-style clothes, and his championship in bridge at Ahmadabad’s fashionable Gujarat Club. He was, until 1917, indifferent to Indian political activities.

In 1917 the course of Patel’s life changed after he was influenced by Mohandas K. Gandhi. Patel adhered to Gandhi’s satyagraha (policy of nonviolence) insofar as it furthered the Indian struggle against the British. But he did not 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 started following a more traditional Indian lifestyle.

From 1917 to 1924 Patel served as the first Indian municipal commissioner of Ahmadabad and was its elected municipal president from 1924 to 1928. Patel first made his mark in 1918, when he planned mass campaigns of peasants, farmers, and landowners of Kheda, Gujarat, against the decision of the Bombay government to collect the full annual revenue taxes despite crop failures caused by heavy rains.

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.

Get Unlimited Access

Try Britannica Premium for free and discover more.

Subscribe

Political philosophy and independence efforts

Patel, however, was no revolutionary. In the crucial debate over the objectives of the Indian National Congress during the years 1928 to 1931, Patel believed (like Gandhi and Motilal Nehru, but unlike Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose) that the goal of the Indian National Congress should be dominion status within the British Commonwealth—not independence. In contrast to Jawaharlal Nehru, who condoned violence in the struggle for independence, Patel ruled out armed revolution, not on moral but on practical grounds. Patel held that armed revolution would be abortive and would incite severe repression. Patel, like Gandhi, saw advantages in the future participation of a free India in a British Commonwealth, provided that India was admitted as an equal member. He emphasized the need to foster Indian self-reliance and self-confidence, but, unlike Gandhi, he did not regard Hindu-Muslim unity as a prerequisite for independence.

Patel disagreed with Jawaharlal Nehru on the need to bring about economic and social changes by coercion. A conservative rooted in traditional Hindu values, Patel belittled the usefulness of adapting socialist ideas to the Indian social and economic structure. He believed in free enterprise and thus gained the trust of conservative elements and collected the funds that sustained the activities of the Indian National Congress.

Patel was the second candidate after Gandhi to the presidency of the 1929 Lahore session of the Indian National Congress. Gandhi shunned the presidency in an attempt to prevent the adoption of the resolution of independence and exerted pressure on Patel to withdraw, mainly owing to Patel’s ambivalent attitude toward the Muslims of India, and Jawaharlal Nehru’s greater appeal to Muslims and popularity among the youth and intellectuals; Patel withdrew, and Nehru was elected. As a result of his involvement in Gandhi’s 1930 Salt Satyagraha (prayer and fasting movement), Patel served three months’ imprisonment. In March 1931 Patel presided over the Karachi session of the Indian National Congress. He was imprisoned again in January 1932 for his involvement in the Indian Independence Movement. From January 1932 to May 1933, he was cellmates with Gandhi. Released in July 1934, he marshaled the organization of the Congress Party in the 1937 elections and was the main contender for the 1937–38 Congress presidency. Again, because of Gandhi’s pressure, Patel withdrew, and Nehru was elected. Along with other Congress leaders, Patel was imprisoned in October 1940, released in August 1941, and imprisoned once more from August 1942 until June 1945.

During World War II Patel rejected as impractical Gandhi’s nonviolence in the face of the then-expected Japanese invasion of India. On the transfer of power, Patel differed with Gandhi in that Patel realized that the partition of the subcontinent into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan was inevitable, and he asserted that it was in India’s interests to part with Pakistan.

Patel was the leading candidate for the 1945–46 presidency of the Indian National Congress, but Gandhi once again intervened for the election of Nehru. Nehru, as president of the Congress, was invited by the British viceroy to form an interim government. Thus, had Gandhi not interceded again on behalf of Nehru, Patel would have become the first prime minister of India rather than Nehru. Under Nehru’s interim government in 1946, Patel held the posts of minister of home affairs and minister of information and broadcasting. After India’s independence on August 15, 1947, Patel additionally served as deputy prime minister, home minister, and minister of states for the next three years until his death.

Often called the “Iron Man of India,” Patel is credited, along with V.P. Menon, with arranging the incorporation of more than 560 princely states into a unified India during the country’s transition from a colony to independence in 1947. Britain’s departure from India did not necessarily ensure the unity of the country, and Patel worked to ensure that the princely states—which were independently ruled by monarchs, albeit with agreements with the British—were incorporated into the fledgling country. Patel was posthumously honored with the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, in 1991. In 2014 India declared that October 31, Patel’s birth anniversary, would be celebrated as National Unity Day. Above all, Patel’s enduring fame rests on his achievement of the peaceful integration of the princely Indian states into the Indian Union and the political unification of India.

Statue of Unity

On October 31, 2018—which was the 143rd anniversary of Patel’s birth—Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a statue of Patel in honor of his efforts to integrate India. Dubbed the Statue of Unity and located near Vadodara, Gujarat, on an island in the Narmada River, the statue stands 597 feet (182 meters) tall, and upon construction it held the distinction of being the tallest statue in the world. Including the base, its height is 787 feet (240 meters). It is located downstream from the Sardar Sarovar Dam, a project that Patel had envisioned and that was completed in 2017. In recognition of his popular moniker as the “Iron Man of India,” the statue is partially constructed of iron from recycled tools from farmers across India. The base of the statue features an exhibition hall detailing Patel’s life and also includes the Wall of Unity, which is made from soil collected from villages around India, signifying national unity. A viewing gallery is located in the statue’s chest at 633 feet (193 meters) aboveground. At night a light show projected onto the statue tells the story of Patel’s life and his significance in India’s history.