Sardar Patel ranks among the greatest statesmen of all time, Governor Banwarilal Purohit said on Wednesday.
While speaking at the 143rd birth anniversary celebrations of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, he said: “The farmers of Bardoli faced a problem of tax-hike. When the farmers refused to pay higher tax, the government seized their lands in retaliation. The farmers’ agitation went on for more than six months. After several rounds of negotiations by Patel, the lands were returned to the farmers. The successful practice of Satyagraha against the British earned him the title of Sardar.”
N. Ravi, chairman of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai Kendra, and publisher of The Hindu Group, said unlike Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru who wrote prolifically, Sardar Patel let his actions speak and wrote little beyond personal letters. One of his famous arguments was that it was better to create history than to write it.
“Sardar Patel’s pragmatism and determination complimented Nehru’s idealism, and the two worked closely with mutual affection and respect for achieving the goal of nation building,” he said.
Retired IPS officer K.V.S. Gopalakrishnan and the chairman of the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial Trust N. R. Dave spoke on the occasion.
