Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is best known as the unifier of India and the present map of the country was largely drawn by him, N. Ravi, chairman, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai Kendra, said on Sunday.
Speaking on the occasion of Patel’s 146th birth anniversary at an event organised by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial Trust, he said when the British were leaving India, the nation was facing issues relating to the princely States. “Patel was given the task of bringing the princely States to the Indian Union, and he would brook no defiance, rejecting the notion that paramountcy had lapsed and that independence was never an option for the States. He was firm in persuading the rulers to sign the Instrument of Accesssion,” he said.
Unlike Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who were prolific writers, Patel wrote little beyond his letters, and famously said that it would be better to create history than to write it, Mr. Ravi noted.
S. Jagadeesan, former judge, Madras High Court, said Patel championed the cause of women and fought for the remarriage of widows. He noted that children should be encouraged to read the biographies of freedom fighters. He also distributed prizes to school and college students for competitions held recently. Rajesh Dave of the Lion’s Club spoke.
