A NATION’S HOMAGE LIFE AND ^ ORK OF SARDAR VALLABHBHAI PATEL P. D. SAGGI, J'orctK'tinl : C. RAJAGOPALACHARI. OVERSEAS PUBLISHING HOUSE SOHRAB HOUSE, 235, Hornby Road, Fort, BOMBAY-1. " .....................]Voi'k is undoubtedlij worship but laughter is life. Anyone who takes life too seriously m us^ prepare himself for a miserable ex is te nee. An yo ne who gree is joys and sorro ws wi th equal facility can really get the best of life.” —Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. % JI pBlr4. TW lVp«t> rrW MinWtrr ol li NanUr ra*r| with lUMJi FOREWORD Vallabhbhai was to Gandhiji exactly what Lakshmana was to Shri Rama. There is nothing more to be said to those who worship Shri Ramckandy'a and Sita. Vallabhbhai was born not a day too soon for India. Rut, alas, he died too soon, hidia wishes he had not found his rest in the Tnother’s lap so hurriedly, when he was so much wanted for some time longer. —C. Ra jagopalachari. COMMWt M UTloy CaMMITTM: <-HAlRMAM 8hri & K. PfttU. M.P. p n asiD B H T Shri ChmuuiUi n Pmkh \irytjtm n Shit U. o \UvaUnkar Shri D. K. KunXe 8hn K uturbhai l.Albhat Shri a U Jalan Seth Nftvtnchandra MafatUl Shn NalhaUl D. Parikh Seth Amnt LaI HaiKoviiKUs Shn BhaiUlbhai Anand Dr K Mulabafcala OICentAl. MBCItRTARY ShM i' U. Saiq^i » « mma*. •* Tw %mrnm eMaaia rvM*- «4 kf ri>ai>i m !!■■■■”. CONTENTS Pago Recoliectiuns ■ i Portrait of a Patriot (Editorial) Ry P. D. Sagyi iv TKIBL'TES l—.H IMlOTO-CHkOMCEE 1—16 THOECIl'I'S About the Sardar 3 Anecdotes 7 Bardoli Satyagraha 10 Communal Affairs 13 Education 13 i'lxedoni Struggle 15 Wandliiji 18 Independence 19 Miscellaneous 21 Reminiscences 24 States 27 Swadeshi 29 Untoucliahility 31 War 32 SPEECHES Introductitm 3 R{jwlatt Bill 4 36th Congress Session, Alimcdabad 5 Bardoli Camijaign 7 Presidential Atklress 13 To Congress M. P. A.'s 22 Historic Struggle 24 Looking Back 30 Stales Prohlcin 32 On the Eve of Indc]>endence 36 No Retaliation 37 Sincere Snpjiort for Indonesia 40 Forget Vour MiUnal (Jnarreis 41 Integration and Democratizatiun 43 The Role of tlie Army 47 Good Out of E\ il 40 Prtnlnce and Histrihutc 16|nilal)ly 56 IGding Two Horses t/) Replv To a Civic Address 63 1-ahour at the Crossroads 69 CONTKNTS Page Need fur I^eaee i Awaken tlie Conscience An Unaslianied Imperialist The Future of the People- Problems of India Repuidic Da)’ ' BIOGRAPH ICAL SKFTCHES The Indomitable Sardar Ry K. M. Munshi ; 3 Sardar Vallal)hl)hai J. Ibitel li\ G. / WaThmhov b Neiiru and Patel ' /I’v Hr. Pallahlii SiUinniiuyyii PJ 'I'lie Leader of Men By R. R. Dheiikar 22 The Admirable Man By C. S. Bajpai 24 The Sardar As I Knew Him By V. P. Menon 27 Sardar—The Man Who Led By S. K. Patil 33 A Civil Servant's Tribute By N. M. Bitch 39 Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel—A Critical Analysis By D. B. Dhdiiapitla 42 The Gentle Hindu By Alan CatnphcU-Johnson 47 The Apostle of Reality By Pranlal Dcvkaran iVaiijec 49 The Realist By Shri Ainbalal Kihichand S3 The Swadeshi Movement By K. H. Kahbiir 55 Saurashtra's Claim By M. V. Kiipani 59 Reminiscences By Byratnjcc Cawasjce 61 History Repeats............... By Chapalakanfa Bhaffacharya M.A. LL.B. 64 Cbanakj'a of Today By Lath Sclhi 67 In Contrast with Nehni By Hartbhau Lpadhyaya 69 A Dynamic Force By Lalit Chandra Chafak - 71 The Versatile Genius By Vijaysinh Covindji 73 The Diplomat B\' /. H. Talvarhhan 75 CHRONOLOGICAL IS'iS 31st October, Sardar Patel was born at Karamsad, Nadiad Taluka. 1913 I3th February. Landed in Bombay, after brilliantly passing the Barrister’s Examination in London. 1916 First came in contact with Gandhiji. Attended Lucknow Congress as delegate on behalf of Gujerat Sabha. 1918 Took leading part in Kaira Satyagraha. Became more intimate with Gandhiji. 1921 First President of the Gujerat Provincial Congress Committee. Became Chairman of the Reception Committee of the Indian National Congress. 1922 Played a leading role in Borsad Satyagraha directed against Punitive Tax. 1923 In charge of Nagpur Flag Satyagraha from 10th July. 1924 Became President of the Ahmedabad Municipality. Remained President till 1928. 1927 Organized Gujerat Flood Relief Work. 1928 Led the Bardoli Movement with all its glorious results. 1930 Arrested for the first time on 8th March at Ras and sentenced to three months’ imprisonment. Later, was arrested thrice in eleven months. 1931 Became President of the Karachi Congress. 1932 Arrested again under Regulation Bill of 1818 along with Gandhiji. Released only in 1934. 1935 Became Chairman of the Parliamentary Sub-Committee. Remained Chairman till 1940. 1940 Arrested for individual civil disobedience movement in November. 1941 Released on medical grounds. 1942 Arrested on 9th August, taken to Ahmednagar Fort, 1945 Released on 15th June and attended the ill-fated Simla Conference. 1946 Became Minister of Statg for Home Affairs in the Interim Government at Delhi. 1947 Became Deputy Prime Minister of India in the first permanent Indian Cabinet. 1948 The climax of his performances—Integration of all the States into the Indian Union. 1949 November 25. Accession of Hyderabad to the Indian Union. 1930 April. Signing of the Indo-Pak Trade Agreement. 1939 September. Sardar Patel attended the Nasik Congress Se.ssion. Sardar Patel and his Crrandson Gautam. RECOLLECTIONS The Editor has assigned to me one of the most difficult jobs which 1 liave had to perform during a life of heavy responsibilities of various types in different positions. Sitting in this city of weird mixture of the old and the new, it is difficult to switch one’s mind back more than three scores of years and recall one’s life when one was a child. As a child it always pays to be either the eldest or the youngest. As the eldest, a cliild is the centre of (laternal hopes; as the youngest, he is the object of paternal affection. 11 is the privilege of the eldest to order about ai! his younger brothers and sisters. As the youngest one has to w'ear the brunt of accumulated orders; but at the same time, unless one is particularly unfortunate, one gets accumulated blessings as well as showers of affection. Having been bom between these two extremes, I naturally had the usual independence, initiative and resources of a middling, When the lime came, I could exercise a will of my own. It was seldom, that I had to take into account the res))onsibilities which devolve upon the eldest child or the debt of affection which bends the back of the youngest. TOWiN LIFE RETARDS FREE EiROWTH My ov.’ii view is that town life gives little scope for the display of all that is best in a child. It places restrictions and limitations which retard his free growth, cramp his style and make his mind revolve in a narrow groove; on the other hand, in the open space of a village, one can see infinity. The growth of a child is on terms of complete equality with his fellow-children. He has his share of the ‘black eye’ like any others. He rolls on dusty streets after a gentle severe push as well or as badly as any of his equals or seniors or juniors in age. He is pushed in the village pond with the same vigorous and unexpected wrap on the knuckles as any other child. It was in this atmosphere of equal ‘ give-and-take’ that I grew up with all that sturdiness and determination which grow out of a healthy atmosphere of dare-devilry and juvenile buoyancy and of impish pranks, mirth and laughter. THE CAPTAINCY OF MISCHIEF As far as I can remember, I yielded to none in the captaincy of mischief or of sly attempts to hood-wink one’s elders. I can LIFE & WORK OF SARDAR VALLABHBHAI PATEL recall however it was almost always in a good cause—of course, a good cause from my own point of view. I took to studies as seriously as I took to play cheerfully. I had no patience with an indifferent teacher and never spared a lazy one-. As children we had our own methods of correcting our teachers and we fully exploited all the subtleties of manoeuvres which only children can. I can vividly recall one particular incident. My teacher at school got annoyed because I persuaded the class to make fun of him for being late. He prescribed a task for me as punishment, I came to school the next day without my task being done, and the punishment increased doublefold for each day that went by until it was my task to write out the sums two hundred times. I wrote on the slate just the figure 200 and took it to my teacher with an innocent air. The teacher asked me where the f-.uins (in Gujarati that means both sums and buffaloes) were. I told him I could write write only 200 when the f'mias (buffaloes) ran away. The teacher was all sound and fury. I was presented before the Headmaster, who, instead of punishing me, took the teacher to task for not knowing the cori'ect method of prescribing tasks. THOSE BLISSFUL DAYS They say, “Child is Father of the Man”. I do not know how much of w hat I am I owe to those blissful days. I knov/ this much, however, my constitution today is what I built up as a child and the many qualities or defects of character which I might exhibit today can probably be traced to the characteristics which I displayed when I was a child.