Bharat Ratna Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Awards, Achievements, Role in Integration

Bharat Ratna Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Awards, Achievements, Contribution in Freedom Struggle of India, Contribution in Integration of India after Independence

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was elected as the Secretary of the Gujarat Sabha in 1917. In 1918, he led a massive No Tax Campaign that urged the farmers not to pay taxes after the British insisted on tax after the floods in Kaira.

The peaceful movement forced the British authorities to return the land taken away from the farmers. His effort to bring together the farmers of his area brought him the title of 'Sardar'.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel actively supported the non-cooperation Movement launched by Gandhi. Patel toured the nation with him, recruited 300,000 members and helped collect over Rs. 1.5 million.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel led the Satyagraha movement across Gujarat when Gandhi was under imprisonment, upon request from the Congress members.

The separatist movement lead by Muslim League leader Mohammed Ali Jinnah led to a series of violent Hindu-Muslim riots across the country just before the independence.

In Sardar Patel’s opinion, the open communal conflicts incited by the riots had the potential to establish a weak Government at the center post-independence which will be disastrous for consolidating a democratic nation.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Role in the integration of India after independence

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel went on to work on a solution with V.P. Menon, a civil servant during December 1946 and accepted his suggestion of creating a separate dominion based on the religious inclination of states. He represented India in the Partition Council.

After India achieved independence, Patel became the first Home Minister and also the Deputy Prime Minister. Patel played a very crucial role in post-independence India by successfully integrating around 562 princely states under the Indian Dominion.

The British Government had presented these rulers with two alternatives - they could join India or Pakistan, or they could stay independent. This clause magnified the difficulty of the process to mammoth proportions.

Congress entrusted this intimidating task to Sardar Patel who started lobbying for integration on August 6, 1947. He was successful in integrating all of them barring Jammu and Kashmir, Junagarh and Hyderabad. He eventually dealt with the situation with his sharp political acumen and secured their accession.