Ethics Of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
Sardar Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel was an Indian attorney and statesman who was a founding father of the Republic of India and one of the founders of the Indian National Congress. He was a dedicated patriot, a great administrator, and a loyal servant of the nation. He was a man of great patience and perfect simplicity who dedicated his life to putting some of Gandhi's political ideas into practise throughout the struggle for freedom.
• He is regarded as an Indian social leader who played a pivotal part in the country's war for independence and subsequent unification into a united, independent nation. He was an excellent organiser and a powerful figure in the INC.
• He was a well-known lawyer who gave up his practise during the non-cooperation movement in order to follow Mahatma Gandhi's method of nonviolent struggle. He forced the great British Government to acknowledge defeat as a leader of the farmers and one of Gandhi's closest associates.
• He became the architect of India's integrity as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of free India, bringing hundreds of princely states into the Indian Union.
• For his brutal approach to consolidating India's political map, he has been dubbed the "Iron Man of India." For establishing contemporary All-India Services, he is also known as the "Patron Saint" of India's civil services.
A realist
• Patel was a dreamer and a realist. Despite his differences with Nehru, Patel urged him in a famous letter sent a few months before his death not to rely on Chinese friendship. He was disturbed by China's imperialistic policies as a realist.
• Since 1946, there has been a leadership and economic ideas fight between Nehru and Patel, which has the potential to become a political threat. Patel averted the situation by withdrawing his candidacy for Prime Minister.
• Patel was always of the opinion that India was a huge country with a long way to go in terms of development. Because India's economy is predominantly rural, small-scale cooperative industries should be encouraged over large-scale industrialization pushed by the government.
• Patel led the charge in liquidating the numerous princely states and integrating their territories with the rest of India. In regards to the princely kingdoms, Patel stated that while amputation of a limb is unpleasant, it would be a terrible tragedy if India's body were torn apart.
• As a result, every conceivable step can be done to avoid a situation like this. Nonetheless, he desired that the populace not ridicule or degrade the monarchs' dignity. Patel's leadership persuaded practically every princely state that did not have a Muslim majority to accede to India using open diplomacy supported by the option and use of military action.
Secularism
• Patel's religion played a little part in his life and politics. After Jinnah's demand for Pakistan, Patel became associated with the defence of Hindu political interests in the public mind, but there is no evidence that he was religiously devout in his personal life.
• Patel was a firm believer in Hindu-Muslim harmony. He said in his presidential address in Karachi in 1931 that as a Hindu, he would give the Muslims a Swadeshi fountain pen and invite them to write down their requests, which he would accept without condition or revision.
• He has always thought that the only way to build Hindu-Muslim unity is via trust and equality. Accepting the demands of Muslims without discussion or debate demonstrates his devotion to the goal of Hindu-Muslim unity, which was required for India's early independence from the British Raj.
Social and Political views
• As a Gandhi devotee, Patel swore by Gandhi's gospel of nonviolence, which he believed had given the oppressed poor a sense of their rights, political principles, and ideals. Sardar Patel was a passionate non co-operator who was instrumental in spreading Gandhian non-cooperation principles.
• Any campaign for social and economic emancipation in India, according to Sardar Patel, could only succeed if the agrarian system was restored.
• He claimed that agriculturists and labourers were responsible for the entire globe. Despite this, they were intimidated and punished. As a result, he wished for the peasants to be bold. He wanted people to understand that the British Empire had abolished the ideals of justice and rights. However, until the people are willing to fight without fear of pain, they will not be able to persuade the government to recognise their legitimate claims.
• In 1931, he was elected president of the Karachi Congress. The congress passed the resolution on fundamental rights in Karachi. He chastised the government for executing Bhagat Singh despite widespread calls for his death sentence to be commuted.
• He was always of the opinion that the administration should be open to public opinion and aspirations. Only then will society be able to sustain stability and order.
Relations with Mahatma Gandhi
• Patel's address at Benaras Hindu University on November 25, 1948, just after Gandhi's death, demonstrated that the two had an intense and complex relationship.
• After disagreements with Jawaharlal Nehru appeared, Patel wanted to relinquish his position, and he wrote to Gandhi about it. Patel's profound affection for Gandhi and steadfast commitment to him, however, prevented him from abandoning either Gandhi or Nehru.
• Manilal Patel, editor of the monthly journal Gram Garjana, believes the Sardar could have been Prime Minister if he had desired. He did not even show whether he was unhappy with Jawaharlal Nehru's nomination as India's first Prime Minister because of his veneration for Gandhi.
Conclusion: Patel was a political realist, but his realism never included the exaltation of force, deception, or assault on opponents. He was a guy of action who didn't have much time for abstract political philosophy theories. Nonetheless, he was guided by certain basic concepts in his political actions, and his primary political ideology was nationalism. Patel was a Gandhian, yet he never believed in nonviolence's absolute holiness. As a result, it appears that Patel only accepted nonviolence as a policy, not as a way of life.



