History remembers few statesmen who turned vision into enduring legacy. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was one such titan — a man whose clarity of purpose transformed a continent-sized idea into a living nation.

When India was born in 1947, it wasn’t a single entity but a jigsaw of princely states, regions, and provinces. The British had left behind not one India, but many Indias — divided by geography, power, and suspicion.

Amid this uncertainty, Patel saw not fragments but a possibility: a nation that could hold together through shared destiny.

Appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, Patel worked relentlessly to bring over 560 princely states into the Indian Union. His diplomacy with kings, nawabs, and maharajas was a masterclass in negotiation — a blend of persuasion, pragmatism, and principle.

He convinced rulers like those of Mysore, Bhopal, and Gwalior to accede through goodwill; he resolved the Hyderabad crisis through swift action; he ensured the annexation of Junagadh through the will of its people.

Patel’s success was not merely administrative — it was civilisational. In just two years, he stitched together the fabric of a nation that might otherwise have torn itself apart.

Patel’s understanding of India’s essence was profound. He saw its diversity not as disorder, but as divine design. He believed that India’s many faiths, languages, and traditions were like rivers flowing into one ocean.

He once said, “India has to live as one family, with all its children equal before her."

That philosophy is visible in the India........

© News18