SARDAR VALLABH BHAI JHAVERBHAI PATEL LIFE STORY

          SARDAR VALLABH BHAI JHAVERBHAI PATEL 

NAME : – Sardar Vallabh Bhai Jhaverbhai Patel
FATHER’S NAME : – Jhaverbhai Patel
MOTHER’S Name :- Lad Bai
BIRTH :- 31 October 1875
DEATH :- 15 December 1950

 Achievements  : –

 India’s first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Sardar Patel is also popularly known as Iron Man. His full name was Vallabhbhai Patel. He played an important role in the Indian freedom struggle and became the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India. He is credited with political integration of India.

 Early Life  : –

 Vallabhbhai Patel was born on October , 31 , 1875 in Nadiad, alittle village in Gujarat. His father Jhaverbhai was a farmer and mother Ladbai was an ordinary woman. Sardar Vallabh bhai had his early education at Karamsad. He then entered a school in Petlad. After two years, he joined a high school in the city of Nadiad. He passed his high school examination in 1896. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was a brilliant student throughout his education.

 Vallabh Bhai wanted to become a lawyer and had to go to England to fulfill his dream but he did not have enough financial means to get admission in an Indian college. In those days a candidate could study in person and sit for the advocacy examination. Therefore, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel borrowed books from an acquaintance of his lawyer and started studying at home. From time to time he also participated in the proceedings of the courts and listened carefully to the arguments of the lawyers. After that Vallabh bhai successfully passed the advocacy examination.

 Carrier  : –

 After this Sardar Patel started his advocacy in Godhra and soon his advocacy started. He was married to Jhabarba. In 1904, daughter Maniben and her son Dahya Bhai were born in 1905. Vallabh bhai sent his elder brother Vitthalbhai, who himself was a lawyer, to England for higher education in law. Patel was just 33 years old when his wife died. They did not wish to marry again. After the return of his elder brother, Vallabh Bhai went to England and studied diligently and got the first position in the legal examination.

 Sardar Patel returned to India in 1913 and started his advocacy in Ahmedabad. He soon became popular. At the insistence of his friends, Patel contested the election of Sanitation Commissioner of Ahmedabad in 1917 and won it. Sardar Patel was greatly influenced by the success of Gandhiji’s Champaran Satyagraha. In 1918, there was a drought in the Kheda section of Gujarat. The peasants demanded relief from taxes but the British government refused. Gandhiji raised the issue of farmers but he could not devote all his time to Kheda, so he was looking for a person who could lead this struggle in his absence. At this time Sardar Patel voluntarily came forward and led the struggle. Thus he left his successful advocacy profession and entered social life.

 Political Life  : –

 Vallabhbhai successfully led the struggle of the peasants in Kheda, as a result of which the British Government stopped the collection of revenue and withdrew the taxes and the conflict ended in the year 1919. Vallabhbhai Patel emerged as a national hero from the Kheda Satyagraha. Vallabh bhai supported Gandhiji’s non-cooperation movement and helped organize the British goods boycott in Ahmedabad as the President of the Gujarat Congress. He discarded his foreign clothes and started wearing Khadi. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was elected president of the Municipal Corporation of Ahmedabad in 1922, 1924 and 1927. During his tenure, power supply in Ahmedabad was enhanced and education improved. The drainage and sanitation system was expanded throughout the city.

 In the year 1928, Bardoli taluka of Gujarat was suffering from floods and famine. In this hour of crisis, the British government increased revenue taxes by thirty percent. Sardar Patel came out in support of the farmers and requested the governor to reduce taxes. The governor refused this and the government also announced the day of collection of taxes. Sardar Patel gathered the farmers and asked them not to pay a single pie of taxes. The government tried to suppress this struggle but eventually had to bow to Vallabhbhai Patel. The victory during and after this struggle in Bardoli led to the rise of Sardar Patel’s political stature throughout India. Patel now began to be known as Sardar by his colleagues and followers.

 He was arrested during the Salt Satyagraha in 1930, which aggravated the movement throughout Gujarat and the British government was forced to release Gandhi and Patel. After this, he was arrested once again in Mumbai. After the signing of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact in 1931, Sardar Patel was released from prison and was elected President of the Congress for the 1931 session in Karachi. Gandhiji and Sardar Patel were arrested in January 1932 on the failure of the Round Table Conference in London and imprisoned in the Central Jail of Yerwada. During this period of imprisonment, Sardar Patel and Mahatma Gandhi came close to each other and a deep bond of affection, trust and candor between the two. Sardar Patel was finally released in July 1934.

 In August 1942, the Congress started the Quit India Movement. The government put all the prominent Congress leaders including Vallabhbhai Patel in jail. All the leaders were released after three years. After attaining independence on 15 August 1947, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minister of independent India and Sardar Patel the Deputy Prime Minister. In addition, he was also in charge of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the states.

Merger of home states (princely states)  : – 

 At the time of independence India had a total of 565 princely states.  Some Maharajas and Nawabs, who ruled these princely states, were aware and patriotic but many of them were intoxicated by wealth and power.  When the British left India, they were dreaming of becoming independent rulers.  He argued that the government of independent India should give them equal status.  Some of them even went to the extent of planning to send their representatives to the United Nations Organization.  Patel called upon the kings of India to be patriotic and asked them to join the freedom of the country and behave like a responsible ruler who only cares about the future of his subjects.  He made it clear to the kings of 565 princely states that his dream of a separate state is impossible and it is only good for him to be a part of the Indian Republic.  He then organized small princely states with great intelligence and political foresight.  People of the princely states were also with him in this initiative.  He controlled the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Nawab of Junagadh, who initially did not want to join India.  He organized a scattered country without any bloodshed.  Sardar Patel got the title of Iron Man for the achievement of this huge work.

Death  : –

 Sardar Patel died on 15 December 1950 due to heart failure.

 Sardar Patel was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1991 for his services to the country.