Abstract
The ideas of National liberalism and state, are the major pillars around which Patel (1875–1950) espoused his political praxis of 34 years. ‘The Iron Man so dominated the assembly that the Constitution which emerged from it bore his stamp and could be aptly called the Patel Constitution’, says Dr. P M Chopra, chief editor of the Collected Works of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Volume XI. Since 1916, his approach and methods of governance of political mobilisation have been in public domain, demonstrating his ideas and capabilities. His role is vital in the development of party organisation, transfer of power, and in the integration of princely states with independent India and their territorial reorganisation, administrative reforms, in the formation of planning commission and in the making of the foreign policy have been decisive.
However, after his death in 1950, his critics, communists, socialists, Nehruvians had already charged him with being communal, bourgeois, reactionary, capitalist roader and rightist. There was not much of public discourse on his ideas and,were rarely ever part of a pan-Indian, universal curriculum, which could have been developed, premised on his praxis, speeches and letters, so to create and develop a derivative discourse. Contrary to this, Gandhi’s and Nehru’s contributions were fostered and expanded officially and, consequently, academic discourse were posited in the style of larger than life imagery-liberal, socialist, democratic, humanist and internationalist.
Patel considered the Indian state as a representative and embodiment of the Indian nation, the collective will of the citizens, irrespective of social, linguistic diversities and structural divisions. In the making of the foreign policy, Patel provided critical suggestions to Nehru through his letters, and in the cabinet meetings, where he stressed more on liberal nationalist polices where, India can maximises its national interests. Patel’s assessment of realities was universally acknowledged among his colleagues. Failure to heed to it by persons within the party or the government turned out to be disastrous.
For students of modern Indian history, Patel is a fascinating character and there is a need to site him in the context of the early twentieth century. Through this book, we hope to restore Patel to his rightful place, as one of the founders of modern India, especially in territorial reorganisation. We do not claim that this book is exhaustive; rather, it would be followed by many more studies to come, so that a balance is achieved where India is able to appreciate Sardar Patel, particularly how his ideas and practice influenced, which were never recognised and acknowledged. A proper study of Sardar Patel’s political ideas and policies would be a good way to begin, which is attempted through this book.
Until the 1980s Patel’s contribution to the making of India was niggardly acknowledged in the official, academic, political and public discourse. From the 1990s, however, his contributions began to recognised incrementally. The awardig of Bharat Ratna by the Chandrasekhar government and the political, academic discourse on his contributions during the Vajpayee-Modi regimes had cascading effect. Which has led to the emergence of pluralistic flowering of non-Nehruvian ideas and thoughts , which were hitherto suppressed or ignored, For example, his ideas of education, to begin with, which were Indic, organic, functional and feasible in application as policy for government, could not be applied.
The Book has 11 chapters besides the preface, introduction and conclusion. Chapters cover all the important facets of Patel’s political life and his ideas. Dinesh Kumar Singh’s chapter on Nationalism focus Patel’s commitment to nationalism, fundamental rights, secularism, non-violence, economic rights and role of governance and democracy. Himanshu Roy’s chapter on Political ideas of Governance is explored in detail, beginning from his participation in municipal governance in Ahmadabad. Balaji Ranganathan (Gujrat Sabha, Kheda Satyagrah) covers the early years of Patel, where he emerged as a significant organiser of peasant cause and leader in his own right.
B K Jha chapter on Hindu Mahsabha and the Rashtreey Swayamsevak Sangh is explained the relation of Patel and these organisations. In this chapter Jha has proved that Patel was convinced that Jinnah was playing the classic role of ‘divide and rule’ whose effect would be to delay independence and with a weak India. All other chapters cover different issues related to Patel political life.
To sum up Patel’s political praxis of 34 year, it would be apt to state the following:
Patel as the maker of the Indian Constitution. Some of the basic tenets of the Constitution, particularly the balancing of fundamental rights with the maintenance of law and order in the state, and the reservation of a whole set of citizens rights as non-justiciable directives of the state were evolved by Patel. It was Patel, who was the builder of the party organisation, oriented it towards electoral contests, facilitated the formation of the interim government, agreed to the demand of Pakistan and transfer of power, facilitated the formation of national government co-opting political opponents of congress, integrated the princely states with British provinces and reorganised them, facilitated and guided the formulation of the basic structure and text of the constitution, and attempted to persuade Nehru to pursue a foreign policy which is practical and serves India economically and territorially.