Sardar Patel

• The birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is celebrated as National Unity Day or Rashtriya Ekta Diwas.
  • Rashtriya Ekta Diwas or National Unity Day was introduced by the Government of India in 2014 to pay tribute to the great man.
• Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel also dubbed as ‘Sardar Patel’ was born on October 31, 1875, into a landowning family of the Leva Patidar caste.

ROLE IN FREEDOM STRUGGLE

• In 1917, impressed by the principles of satyagraha by Gandhi ji, he decided to follow and support him.
• Patel first made his mark in 1918, when he planned mass campaigns of peasants, farmers, and landowners of Kaira, Gujarat, against the decision of the Bombay government to collect the full annual revenue taxes despite crop failures caused by heavy rains.
• In 1928 he successfully led the landowners of Bardoli in their resistance against increased taxes.
  • His efficient leadership of the Bardoli campaign earned him the title ‘sardar’ (leader).

ROLE IN CONSTITUTIONAL ASSEMBLY

• He headed various Committees of the Constituent Assembly of India– Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Committee on Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas, Provincial Constitution Committee.

POST INDEPENDENCE

• He was the first home minister of Independent India.
• Sardar Patel achieved the incredible feat of persuading almost 565 self-governing princely states, that had been released from British suzerainty, to accede to the Union of India.
  • For his commitment to the national integration of the newly independent country, he earned the sobriquet “Iron Man of India”.
• He is remembered as the ‘Patron Saint of India’s Civil Servants’ as he established the modern all-India services system.