Vallabhbhai Patel was a barrister and a senior leader of the Indian National Congress, who played a leading role in the country's struggle for independence, guiding its integration into a united, independent nation.
133 Facts About Vallabhbhai Patel
2.
Vallabhbhai Patel acted as the Home Minister during the political integration of India and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947.
3.
Vallabhbhai Patel was appointed as the 49th President of Indian National Congress, organising the party for elections in 1934 and 1937 while promoting the Quit India Movement.
4.
Vallabhbhai Patel led the task of forging a united India, successfully integrating into the newly independent nation those British colonial provinces that formed the Dominion of India.
5.
Vallabhbhai Patel persuaded almost every princely state to accede to India.
6.
Vallabhbhai Patel is remembered as the "patron saint of India's civil servants" for having established the modern All India Services system.
7.
Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel, one of the six children of Jhaverbhai Patel and Ladba, was born in Nadiad, Gujarat.
8.
Vallabhbhai Patel followed Vaishnavism and belonged to Pushtimarg sect of Mahaprabhu Vallabhacharya and took the diksha from the descendant of Vallabhacharya.
9.
Vallabhbhai Patel belonged to the Leva Patel clan of Gujar community of Central Gujarat, although after his fame, both Leva Patel and Kadava Patidar have claimed him as one of their own.
10.
Vallabhbhai Patel travelled to attend schools in Nadiad, Petlad, and Borsad, living self-sufficiently with other boys.
11.
When Vallabhbhai Patel passed his matriculation at the relatively late age of 22, he was generally regarded by his elders as an unambitious man destined for a commonplace job.
12.
Vallabhbhai Patel spent years away from his family, studying on his own with books borrowed from other lawyers, passing his examinations within two years.
13.
Vallabhbhai Patel cared for a friend suffering from the Bubonic plague when it swept across Gujarat.
14.
When Vallabhbhai Patel himself came down with the disease, he immediately sent his family to safety, left his home, and moved into an isolated house in Nadiad ; there, he recovered slowly.
15.
Vallabhbhai Patel practised law in Godhra, Borsad, and Anand while taking on the financial burdens of his homestead in Karamsad.
16.
Vallabhbhai Patel was the first chairman and founder of "Edward Memorial High School" Borsad, today known as Jhaverbhai Dajibhai Vallabhbhai Patel High School.
17.
In keeping with concerns for his family's honour, Vallabhbhai Patel allowed Vithalbhai to go in his place.
18.
Vallabhbhai Patel was given a note informing him of his wife's demise as he was cross-examining a witness in court.
19.
Vallabhbhai Patel broke the news to others only after the proceedings had ended.
20.
Vallabhbhai Patel raised his children with the help of his family and sent them to English-language schools in Bombay.
21.
Vallabhbhai Patel nurtured ambitions to expand his practice and accumulate great wealth and to provide his children with modern education.
22.
Vallabhbhai Patel had made a pact with his brother Vithalbhai to support his entry into politics in the Bombay Presidency, while Patel remained in Ahmedabad to provide for the family.
23.
On Gandhi's encouragement, Vallabhbhai Patel became the secretary of the Gujarat Sabha, a public body that would become the Gujarati arm of the Indian National Congress.
24.
When Gandhi asked for a Gujarati activist to devote himself completely to the assignment, Vallabhbhai Patel volunteered, much to Gandhi's delight.
25.
Vallabhbhai Patel emphasised the potential hardships and the need for complete unity and non-violence in the face of provocation response from virtually every village.
26.
Vallabhbhai Patel organised a network of volunteers to work with individual villages, helping them hide valuables and protect themselves against raids.
27.
The government agreed to negotiate with Vallabhbhai Patel and decided to suspend the payment of taxes for a year, even scaling back the rate.
28.
Vallabhbhai Patel supported Gandhi's Non-cooperation movement and toured the state to recruit more than 300,000 members and raise over Rs.
29.
Vallabhbhai Patel supported Gandhi's controversial suspension of resistance in the wake of the Chauri Chaura incident.
30.
Vallabhbhai Patel was elected Ahmedabad's municipal president in 1922,1924, and 1927.
31.
Vallabhbhai Patel personally led relief efforts in the aftermath of the torrential rainfall of 1927 that caused major floods in the city and in the Kheda district, and great destruction of life and property.
32.
Vallabhbhai Patel established refugee centres across the district, mobilised volunteers, and arranged for supplies of food, medicines, and clothing, as well as emergency funds from the government and the public.
33.
When Gandhi was in prison, Vallabhbhai Patel was asked by Members of Congress to lead the satyagraha in Nagpur in 1923 against a law banning the raising of the Indian flag.
34.
Vallabhbhai Patel organised thousands of volunteers from all over the country to take part in processions of people violating the law.
35.
Vallabhbhai Patel negotiated a settlement obtaining the release of all prisoners and allowing nationalists to hoist the flag in public.
36.
Vallabhbhai Patel organised hundreds of Congressmen, sent instructions, and received information from across the district.
37.
Vallabhbhai Patel organised volunteers, camps, and an information network across affected areas.
38.
Once released, Vallabhbhai Patel served as interim Congress president, but was re-arrested while leading a procession in Bombay.
39.
Vallabhbhai Patel used his position as Congress president to organise the return of confiscated land to farmers in Gujarat.
40.
When Gandhi embarked on a fast-unto-death protesting the separate electorates allocated for untouchables, Vallabhbhai Patel looked after Gandhi closely and himself refrained from partaking of food.
41.
Vallabhbhai Patel was later moved to a jail in Nasik, and refused a British offer for a brief release to attend the cremation of his brother Vithalbhai, who had died in October 1933.
42.
Not contesting a seat for himself, Vallabhbhai Patel nevertheless guided Congressmen elected in the provinces and at the national level.
43.
In 1935 Vallabhbhai Patel underwent surgery for haemorrhoids, yet continued to direct efforts against the plague in Bardoli and again when a drought struck Gujarat in 1939.
44.
Vallabhbhai Patel clashed with Nehru, opposing declarations of the adoption of socialism at the 1936 Congress session, which he believed was a diversion from the main goal of achieving independence.
45.
In 1938 Vallabhbhai Patel organised rank and file opposition to the attempts of then-Congress president Subhas Chandra Bose to move away from Gandhi's principles of non-violent resistance.
46.
Vallabhbhai Patel saw Bose as wanting more power over the party.
47.
Vallabhbhai Patel led senior Congress leaders in a protest that resulted in Bose's resignation.
48.
Vallabhbhai Patel promptly handed the money over to the Vithalbhai Memorial Trust.
49.
The British government rejected Rajagopalachari's initiative, and Vallabhbhai Patel embraced Gandhi's leadership again.
50.
Vallabhbhai Patel participated in Gandhi's call for individual disobedience, and was arrested in 1940 and imprisoned for nine months.
51.
Vallabhbhai Patel opposed the proposals of the Cripps' mission in 1942.
52.
Vallabhbhai Patel lost more than twenty pounds during his period in jail.
53.
Vallabhbhai Patel raised funds and prepared a second tier of command as a precaution against the arrest of national leaders.
54.
Historians believe that Vallabhbhai Patel's speech was instrumental in electrifying nationalists, who up to then had been sceptical of the proposed rebellion.
55.
Vallabhbhai Patel's organising work in this period is credited by historians with ensuring the success of the rebellion across India.
56.
Vallabhbhai Patel was arrested on 9 August and was imprisoned with the entire Congress Working Committee from 1942 to 1945 at the fort in Ahmednagar.
57.
Vallabhbhai Patel provided emotional support to his colleagues while awaiting news and developments from the outside.
58.
Vallabhbhai Patel was deeply pained at the news of the deaths of Mahadev Desai and Kasturba Gandhi later that year.
59.
When Vallabhbhai Patel was released on 15 June 1945, he realised that the British government was preparing proposals to transfer power to India.
60.
Vallabhbhai Patel engaged in discussions with the British envoys Sir Stafford Cripps and Lord Pethick-Lawrence and obtained an assurance that the "grouping" clause would not be given practical force, Vallabhbhai Patel converted Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, and Rajagopalachari to accept the plan.
61.
Under Nehru, who was styled the "Vice President of the Viceroy's Executive Council", Vallabhbhai Patel took charge of the departments of home affairs and information and broadcasting.
62.
Vallabhbhai Patel moved into a government house on Aurangzeb Road in Delhi, which would be his home until his death in 1950.
63.
Vallabhbhai Patel was one of the first Congress leaders to accept the partition of India as a solution to the rising Muslim separatist movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
64.
Vallabhbhai Patel had been outraged by Jinnah's Direct Action campaign, which had provoked communal violence across India, and by the viceroy's vetoes of his home department's plans to stop the violence on the grounds of constitutionality.
65.
Vallabhbhai Patel severely criticised the viceroy's induction of League ministers into the government, and the revalidation of the grouping scheme by the British government without Congress's approval.
66.
In December 1946 and January 1947, Patel worked with civil servant V P Menon on the latter's suggestion for a separate dominion of Pakistan created out of Muslim-majority provinces.
67.
When Lord Louis Mountbatten formally proposed the plan on 3 June 1947, Vallabhbhai Patel gave his approval and lobbied Nehru and other Congress leaders to accept the proposal.
68.
Vallabhbhai Patel took the lead in organising relief and emergency supplies, establishing refugee camps, and visiting the border areas with Pakistani leaders to encourage peace.
69.
Understanding that Delhi and Punjab policemen, accused of organising attacks on Muslims, were personally affected by the tragedies of partition, Vallabhbhai Patel called out the Indian Army with South Indian regiments to restore order, imposing strict curfews and shoot-on-sight orders.
70.
Vallabhbhai Patel suppressed from the press reports of atrocities in Pakistan against Hindus and Sikhs to prevent retaliatory violence.
71.
Vallabhbhai Patel assured the community leaders that if they worked to establish peace and order and guarantee the safety of Muslims, the Indian government would react forcefully to any failures of Pakistan to do the same.
72.
Additionally, Vallabhbhai Patel addressed a massive crowd of approximately 200,000 refugees who had surrounded his car after the meetings:.
73.
However, Vallabhbhai Patel was criticised by Nehru, secular Muslims, and Gandhi over his alleged wish to see Muslims from other parts of India depart.
74.
Vallabhbhai Patel clashed with Nehru and Azad over the allocation of houses in Delhi vacated by Muslims leaving for Pakistan; Nehru and Azad desired to allocate them for displaced Muslims, while Vallabhbhai Patel argued that no government professing secularism must make such exclusions.
75.
However, Vallabhbhai Patel was publicly defended by Gandhi and received widespread admiration and support for speaking frankly on communal issues and acting decisively and resourcefully to quell disorder and violence.
76.
Vallabhbhai Patel is, in this regard, compared to Otto von Bismarck who unified the many German states in 1871.
77.
Vallabhbhai Patel was considered a statesman of integrity with the practical acumen and resolve to accomplish a monumental task.
78.
On 6 August 1947, Vallabhbhai Patel began lobbying the princes, attempting to make them receptive towards dialogue with the future government and forestall potential conflicts.
79.
Vallabhbhai Patel used social meetings and unofficial surroundings to engage most of the monarchs, inviting them to lunch and tea at his home in Delhi.
80.
At these meetings, Vallabhbhai Patel explained that there was no inherent conflict between the Congress and the princely order.
81.
Vallabhbhai Patel invoked the patriotism of India's monarchs, asking them to join in the independence of their nation and act as responsible rulers who cared about the future of their people.
82.
Vallabhbhai Patel persuaded the princes of 565 states of the impossibility of independence from the Indian republic, especially in the presence of growing opposition from their subjects.
83.
Vallabhbhai Patel proposed favourable terms for the merger, including the creation of privy purses for the rulers' descendants.
84.
Vallabhbhai Patel combined diplomacy with force, demanding that Pakistan annul the accession, and that the Nawab accede to India.
85.
Vallabhbhai Patel sent the Army to occupy three principalities of Junagadh to show his resolve.
86.
In September 1948 Vallabhbhai Patel emphasised in Cabinet meetings that India should talk no more, and reconciled Nehru and the Governor-General, Chakravarti Rajgopalachari, to military action.
87.
Vallabhbhai Patel insisted that if Hyderabad were allowed to continue as an independent nation enclave surrounded by India, the prestige of the government would fall, and then neither Hindus nor Muslims would feel secure in its realm.
88.
The Governor-General of India, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, along with Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel, formed the "triumvirate" that ruled India from 1948 to 1950.
89.
Prime Minister Nehru was intensely popular with the masses, but Vallabhbhai Patel enjoyed the loyalty and the faith of rank and file Congressmen, state leaders, and India's civil servants.
90.
Vallabhbhai Patel was a senior leader in the Constituent Assembly of India and was responsible in large measure for shaping India's constitution.
91.
Vallabhbhai Patel was the chairman of the committees responsible for minorities, tribal and excluded areas, fundamental rights, and provincial constitutions.
92.
Vallabhbhai Patel worked closely with Muslim leaders to end separate electorates and the more potent demand for reservation of seats for minorities.
93.
Vallabhbhai Patel's intervention was key to the passage of two articles that protected civil servants from political involvement and guaranteed their terms and privileges.
94.
Vallabhbhai Patel was instrumental in the founding the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service, and for his defence of Indian civil servants from political attack; he is known as the "patron saint" of India's services.
95.
Vallabhbhai Patel pledged the reconstruction of the ancient but dilapidated Somnath Temple in Saurashtra.
96.
Vallabhbhai Patel oversaw the restoration work and the creation of a public trust, and pledged to dedicate the temple upon the completion of work.
97.
Vallabhbhai Patel then oversaw India's military operations to secure Srinagar and the Baramulla Pass, and the forces retrieved much territory from the invaders.
98.
Vallabhbhai Patel strongly advised Nehru against going for arbitration to the United Nations, insisting that Pakistan had been wrong to support the invasion and the accession to India was valid.
99.
Vallabhbhai Patel did not want foreign interference in a bilateral affair.
100.
Vallabhbhai Patel strongly criticised Nehru's plan to sign a pact that would create minority commissions in both countries and pledge both India and Pakistan to a commitment to protect each other's minorities.
101.
Vallabhbhai Patel gave emotional speeches to members of Parliament, and the people of West Bengal, and spoke with scores of delegations of Congressmen, Hindus, Muslims, and other public interest groups, persuading them to give peace a final effort.
102.
Vallabhbhai Patel was instrumental in the creation of the All India Services which he described as the country's "Steel Frame".
103.
Vallabhbhai Patel reminded them that the ICS was no-longer neither Imperial, nor civil, nor imbued with any spirit of service after Independence.
104.
Rajmohan Gandhi, in his book writes that Nehru was focused on maintaining religious harmony, casting an independent foreign policy, and constructing a technological and industrial base, while Vallabhbhai Patel focused on getting the princely states to join the Indian Union, modernising the administrative services, and constructing a cross-party consensus on the significant elements of the Constitution.
105.
Vallabhbhai Patel was intensely loyal to Gandhi, and both he and Nehru looked to him to arbitrate disputes.
106.
When Nehru asserted control over Kashmir policy, Vallabhbhai Patel objected to Nehru's sidelining his home ministry's officials.
107.
Nehru was offended by Vallabhbhai Patel's decision-making regarding the states' integration, having consulted neither him nor the Cabinet.
108.
Vallabhbhai Patel asked Gandhi to relieve him of his obligation to serve, believing that an open political battle would hurt India.
109.
Vallabhbhai Patel was the last man to privately talk with Gandhi, who was assassinated just minutes after Vallabhbhai Patel's departure.
110.
At Gandhi's wake, Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel embraced each other and addressed the nation together.
111.
Vallabhbhai Patel gave solace to many associates and friends and immediately moved to forestall any possible violence.
112.
Emotionally exhausted, Vallabhbhai Patel tendered a letter of resignation, offering to leave the government.
113.
Vallabhbhai Patel's secretary persuaded him to withhold the letter, seeing it as fodder for Vallabhbhai Patel's political enemies and political conflict in India.
114.
Vallabhbhai Patel reminded Patel of their 30-year partnership in the independence struggle and asserted that after Gandhi's death, it was especially wrong for them to quarrel.
115.
Moved, Vallabhbhai Patel publicly endorsed Nehru's leadership and refuted any suggestion of discord, and dispelled any notion that he sought to be prime minister.
116.
Nehru sought Vallabhbhai Patel's help in winning the party over, but Vallabhbhai Patel declined, and Prasad was duly elected.
117.
Vallabhbhai Patel rejected Nehru's views and endorsed Tandon in Gujarat, where Kripalani received not one vote despite hailing from that state himself.
118.
Vallabhbhai Patel believed Nehru had to understand that his will was not law with the Congress, but he personally discouraged Nehru from resigning after the latter felt that the party had no confidence in him.
119.
Vallabhbhai Patel had remarked that the "RSS men expressed joy and distributed sweets after Gandhi's death".
120.
Vallabhbhai Patel was awarded honorary doctorates of law by Nagpur University, the University of Allahabad and Banaras Hindu University in November 1948, subsequently receiving honorary doctorates from Osmania University in February 1949 and from Punjab University in March 1949.
121.
Previously, Vallabhbhai Patel had been featured on the cover page of the January 1947 issue of Time magazine.
122.
When Vallabhbhai Patel returned to Delhi, thousands of Congressmen gave him a resounding welcome.
123.
In Parliament, MPs gave a long standing ovation to Vallabhbhai Patel, stopping proceedings for half an hour.
124.
Vallabhbhai Patel later began coughing blood, whereupon Maniben began limiting his meetings and working hours and arranged for a personalised medical staff to begin attending to Patel.
125.
Vallabhbhai Patel was extremely weak and had to be carried onto the aircraft in a chair.
126.
Vallabhbhai Patel's cremation was planned at Girgaum Chowpatty, but this was changed to Sonapur when his daughter conveyed that it was his wish to be cremated like a common man in the same place as his wife and brother were earlier cremated.
127.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is a widely celebrated Indian freedom fighter in India, as well as a respected leader.
128.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was all three, a rare combination in any historic epoch and in any country.
129.
Dahyabhai Vallabhbhai Patel was a businessman who was elected to serve in the Lok Sabha as an MP in the 1960s.
130.
Vallabhbhai Patel was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, in 1991.
131.
In 2012, Vallabhbhai Patel was ranked third in Outlook India's poll of the Greatest Indian.
132.
Vallabhbhai Patel is the namesake of many public institutions in India.
133.
The intent is to pay tribute to Vallabhbhai Patel, who was instrumental in keeping India united.