IRON MAN OF INDIA
Hi friends, in this article let us see about a person who made the unification in this country possible as he was responsible for the unification of more than 500 princely states in India and it was due to him that many prince accepted to join India which made the administration of the country possible. I believe, most of you would have guessed, who is the leader that we were discussing about. Yes, it is the “Iron Man of India”, Mr.Sardar Vallabhai Patel.
Well, he and Gandhiji had a one thing in common with respect to their birth place, and both of them were from the State of Gujarat. So let us discuss it in points, with respect to his early life
#) Date of Birth: October 31, 1875
#) Place of Birth: Nadiad, Gujarat
#) Father’s Name: Jhaverbhai
#) Mother’s Name: Ladba Patel
#) He was the fourth son for his parents.
#) His elder Brothers: Somabhai, Narsibhai and Vithalbhai Patel
#) In 1891, he married to Zaverbai( who was 13 years old at that time)
#) At the age of 22 he passed the matriculation
#) They had two children, a girl named, Maniben born in 1904 and a boy called Dayabhai, in 1905.
#) But unfortunately his wife died on 1909, due to cancer.
#) He never married again
#) He travelled to London do his higher studies in Law and he also stood first.
He is such a great man and at this point of time we will discuss some of the efforts he made for the people against the British
1) It was in 1917, Patel was given a huge post of the Gujarat Sabha’s secretary, but unfortunately during his period, in 1918, Gujarat suffered heavy floods and the farmers were in a very critical situation as they couldn’t pay any taxes. So the British decided to take all the lands of the farmers. So Patel started a “No Tax Campaign” and as a result of this the British were forced to return their land to the people. This act by Patel made him one of the famous politician and moreover this is the act which got him the name “Sardar”, because people were very happy and called him Sardar as soon as they got their land back. A similar kind of problem occurred in Bardoli in 1928, when the lands of the farmers were taken by the British and Patel managed to solve the problem.
2) He was also imprisoned in 1930, when he actively took part in Gandhiji’s salt Stayagraha and in 1931 he was released when an agreement was signed between Gandhiji and Lord Irwin, who was the viceroy at that time.
3) Apart from all these activities in the freedom struggle, the most important thing that Patel did was the unification of all the princely states. When the Britishers gave freedom, there was lot of princely states in India. In fact there were three categories, which include states which were under British rule, princely states and states which were occupied by other countries like France, Portugal. It was a really tough task, because the Britishers said that the Princely states can either join India or Pakistan, else they can be an independent state. This made the job for the Indian politicians very difficult and as a matter of fact many politicians failed to come out with a deal, with these princely states. But the real hero Sardar Patel, took a stupendous effort and he made an agreement and was responsible for the unification of more than 565 princely states.
This great man left this world o December 15, 1950. So we must salute this true Indian and we will never forget him.
JAIHIND
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