Tribute to Vallabh Bhai Patel

The following is an extract from the Preface of the biography of Vallabh Bhai Patel by Rajmohan Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi in L.K.Advani's blog on March 11, 2014: "The establishment of independent India derived legitimacy and power, broadly speaking, from the exertions of three men, Gandhi, Nehru and Patel. But while its acknowledgements are fulsome in the case of Nehru, and dutiful in the case of Gandhi, they are niggardly in the case of Patel. “That there is today an India to think and talk about,” President Rajendra Prasad wrote in his diary on May 13, 1959, “is very largely due to Sardar Patel’s statesmanship and firm administration.” “Yet,” added Prasad, “we are apt to ignore him.” Falling in 1989, the centenary of Jawaharlal’s birth found expression on a thousand billboards, in commemorative TV serials, in festivals and on numerous other platforms. Occurring on October 31, 1975 – four months after Emergency had been declared, the Patel centenary was, by contrast, wholly neglected by official India and by the rest of the Establishment, and since then the curtain drawn on the life of one of modern India’s most remarkable sons has been only occasionally and partially lifted. To fling it wide and let today’s generation see Vallabhbhai Patel’s life is my privilege. It is not a perfect man’s life and I have neither wanted nor tried to hide Patel’s imperfections. But some at least may feel after knowing his life that Patel is a man to remember gratefully in good times and as a benchmark of India’s potential when the times seem depressing or daunting" This is an Indian way of recognising and adoring one of the genuine and committed heroes of Modern India. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++