Political Contribution Of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel To The Indian Politics

International Journal of Advance and Applied Research Peer Reviewed | International Open Access Journal ISSN: 2347-7075 | Impact Factor – 8.141 | Website: https://ijaar.co.in/ Volume-13, Issue-1 | September - October 2025 63 Original Article POLITICAL CONTRIBUTION OF SARDAR VALLABHBHAI PATEL TO THE INDIAN POLITICS Sri. Baswaraj Swamy Head. Dept of Political Science Siddharth Arts and Commerce Degree College, Janwada Road Bidar. Manuscript ID: IJAAR-130111 Abstract: This research article focuses on the political contribution of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to the Indian politics. sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Contribution in Building the Modern India Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is one of the Most Popular Leaders of India who is respected by almost everyone in India, He was one of those Leaders who participated in the Freedom Struggle Actively and has contributed a lot in Building the Modern India, Mostly he is respected by us Indians because of his contribution after the Independence. He was the First Deputy PM of India. Vallabh Bhai Patel was an Indian barrister and statesman, one of the leaders of the Indian National Congress. He had known to be social leader of India who played a major role in the country's struggle for independence and guided its integration into a united, independent nation. Keywords: Democracy, Constitution, Indian Politics. Executive Council, Unify, Republic of India, Statesman of Intgrity. Executive Council. ISSN: 2347-7075 Impact Factor – 8.141 Volume - 13 Issue - 1 SeptemberOctober 2025 Pp. 63-71 Submitted: 30 Sept 2025 Revised: 19 Oct 2025 Accepted: 28 Oct 2025 Published: 31 Oct 2025 Corresponding Author: Sri. Baswaraj Swamy Quick Response Code: Website: https://ijaar.co.in/ DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17677688 DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenod o.17677688 Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), which permits others to remix, adapt, and build upon the work non-commercially, provided that appropriate credit is given and that any new creations are licensed under identical terms. How to cite this article: Sri. Baswaraj Swamy. (2025). Political Contribution Of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel To The Indian Politics. International Journal of Advance and Applied Research, 13(1), 63–71. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17677688 International Journal of Advance and Applied Research Peer Reviewed | International Open Access Journal ISSN: 2347-7075 | Impact Factor – 8.141 | Website: https://ijaar.co.in/ Volume-13, Issue-1 | September - October 2025 64 Introduction: Popularly known as the Iron Man of India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was one of the founding fathers of the Republic of India. As a statesman of integrity, he played a quintessential role in helping India garner independence from the British rule. However, his role in the independence struggle did not end with just that as he was the man who guided the country to become a united, independent nation. Born in a Gujarati family, Patel was academically trained to become a lawyer. However, inspired by the works and teachings of Gandhi, he switched to give his life for the Indian struggle for independence. One of the leaders of the Indian National Congress, he raised to prominence in his home state for his outstanding work of saving peasants of Gujarat from the oppressive policies imposed by the British Raj, through nonviolent civil disobedience. Patel severely criticised the viceroy's induction of League ministers into the government, and the revalidation of the grouping scheme by the British without Congress approval. Although further outraged at the League's boycott of the assembly and non-acceptance of the plan of 16 May despite entering government, he was also aware that Jinnah did enjoy popular support amongst Muslims, and that an open conflict between him and the nationalists could degenerate into a Hindu-Muslim civil war of disastrous consequences. The continuation of a divided and weak central government would in Patel's mind, result in the wider fragmentation of India by encouraging more than 600 princely states towards independence. It wasn't long before Patel became the trailblazer in the nationalist movement. It was for his ability to lead from the front that he was given the forename, Sardar, meaning Chief. Patel is also credited for establishing modern all-India civil services and for the same, is remembered as the 'Patron Saint' of India's civil servants. It was his sheer sense of wisdom, practical acumen, sharp mind, great organizational skills and political insight that helped Patel become one amongst the greatest leaders of India. Objectives of the Study: 1. To study the Sardar Vallabhai Patel contribution of Indian politics. 2. To identify the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel‘s role in Unifying India. Methodology: The research is mainly aimed at understand the political contribution of sardar vallabhai patel to the Indian politics. the methodology for this study is described in detail Below In order to achieve the research aim and objectives, the article mainly based on secondary data are drawn classified from the Publications of books, monthly journals, internet, magazines and article. Saradar Patel and Congress: After the Bardoli campaign, Sardar Patel, as Vallabhbai was also known, remained one of the best known and respected Congress leaders of the country, but most of his activities from then on until the transfer of power were either as Gandhi's chief lieutenant in national campaigns against British rule or as the principal party International Journal of Advance and Applied Research Peer Reviewed | International Open Access Journal ISSN: 2347-7075 | Impact Factor – 8.141 | Website: https://ijaar.co.in/ Volume-13, Issue-1 | September - October 2025 65 and electoral organizer and fund-raiser for the Indian National Congress. Throughout the remainder of his political career, though he was considered one of the four or five topmost Congress leaders of the country, he remained subordinate first to Gandhi and, after Gandhi's death, to Nehru as prime minister. Although he was proposed for president of the Indian National Congress after the Bardoli satyagraha, he gave place in 1929 to Jawaharlal Nehru, and did not receive this high honour until 1931. During the nationalist movement, beginning with his first arrest during Gandhi's salt satyagraha of 1930, Patel spent many years in gaol. The longest periods were for sixteen months, which he spent with Gandhi, in 1932–4; nine months in 1940–41; and nearly three years from 1942 to 1945. Patel was supreme in the party organization in the country, though he was second to Nehru in the government. Although Nehru was the more popular figure in the country and Gandhi's choice for prime minister, Patel demonstrated his ability to checkmate Nehru in the party on several occasions after independence, the most notable being the selection of Rajendra Prasad as India's first president and the victory of his candidate for president of the Indian National Congress in 1950, Purushottam Das Tandon—in both cases against the wishes of Nehru. Nehru was not able, in fact, to assert his primacy over the party organization as well as the government until after Patel's death. Constitution of India: Patel also left his imprint upon the constitution of India through his participation as chairman on important committees. His most important interventions involved support for measures to strengthen the central government in relation to the states and governmental authority in relation to society, protect private property against government expropriation without adequate compensation, and promote the unity of the Indian peoples. He supported a clause in the constitution, article 356, empowering the central government to take over the administration of any state under certain circumstances, the right of dispossessed landlords to adequate compensation for their land, the payment of privy purses in perpetuity to the former Indian princes in compensation for the loss of their kingdoms, the maintenance of the status and importance in government of the élite British Indian Civil Service, renamed the Indian administrative service, and the abolition of the system of separate electorates for Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs. Executive Council: Patel became home member of the executive council on 3 September 1946. In this capacity he shared authority with Nehru and the Congress president, Azad, in formulating strategy for dealing with the Muslim League demands for Pakistan and with the viceroy in attempting to control the developing violence which surrounded the decision finally to partition India. Although hostile to Jinnah and the Muslim League's demands, Patel was among the earliest of the Congress leaders to accept the impossibility of Congress–League co-operation in an independent India and hence to accept the inevitability of partition. As the violence and International Journal of Advance and Applied Research Peer Reviewed | International Open Access Journal ISSN: 2347-7075 | Impact Factor – 8.141 | Website: https://ijaar.co.in/ Volume-13, Issue-1 | September - October 2025 66 mass transfer of populations began between India and Pakistan, Patel pressed Wavell, Colville, and Mountbatten in succession for sterner measures to be taken to control the violence, including the imposition of martial law. However, neither the British rulers nor Patel as home minister after independence proved able to act effectively to stem the violence, which reached terrible proportions during and after the transfer of power. He failed even to bring under control massive rioting in Delhi before extensive violence and murder had taken place. He was blamed also for failing to prevent the murder of Gandhi in Delhi, though he was prevented by Gandhi himself from imposing stricter security measures to protect his life. Deputy Prime Minister: As deputy Prime Minister Patel held three portfolios: home, information and broadcasting, and states. Patel also served as acting prime minister on four occasions. However, the balance in the relationship gradually shifted in favour of Nehru after the death of Gandhi in 1948 and Patel's weakened condition after his first heart attack in March of the same year. Nevertheless, in his capacity as minister for states, Patel had virtually complete control over one of the most critical matters faced by the government of India during and after the transfer of power from Britain, namely, the integration into the Indian Union of the now formally independent princely states. With the able assistance of his principal secretary, V. P. Menon, Patel bargained with, cajoled, and threatened when necessary the 562 rajas and maharajas into giving up their rule and acceding to the Indian Union. When even threats failed, Patel did not shrink from the use of armed force, as in the case of both the tiny state of Junagarh, and the much larger state of Hyderabad. In the case of Kashmir, however, Patel played a strongly supportive, but secondary role to Nehru, who took the integration of that state into the Indian Union as his personal responsibility. Political Contribution of Sardar Vallabhai Patel: Although Patel never developed a systematic set of ideas for India's political development, economic policies, or foreign relations, he had strong views on many matters, which were expressed in his actions and statements. He stood for the transformation of India into a major industrial power, which he thought could be achieved only by a strong, centralized state. Although not averse to a governmental role in industrial development and agrarian transformation, he did not support assaults against private industrial and commercial enterprises. He was sharply critical of and opposed politically the communist and socialist parties and their leaders, whose ideas he considered unrealistic and irrelevant to Indian society and economy. In agriculture he supported the rights of peasant proprietors against both the former landlords and the state. He opposed the demands for the reorganization of the internal boundaries of the Indian states on linguistic grounds as a potential threat to Indian unity, and favoured the adoption of Hindi as the official language of the country. As home minister he used his powers of arrest to stave off militant Sikh demands in Delhi for a special International Journal of Advance and Applied Research Peer Reviewed | International Open Access Journal ISSN: 2347-7075 | Impact Factor – 8.141 | Website: https://ijaar.co.in/ Volume-13, Issue-1 | September - October 2025 67 status for the Sikhs in Punjab. Although he declared his belief in the secular ideology of the Indian state, he adopted a patronizing attitude towards the Muslims who remained in India after partition, while on the other hand accepting as patriotic Indians the members of the militant Hindu organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He disputed the complicity of this organization in the murder of Mahatma Gandhi and urged an early removal of the ban imposed on it after Gandhi's assassination. However, Patel took a much stronger stand against communists: he successfully piloted the Preventive Detention Act through parliament in February 1950; it was intended to strengthen the government's ability to detain communists in gaol for longer periods without trial than the courts were willing to allow. In foreign relations Patel took such a strong stand in favour of sanctions against Pakistan after partition that he earned the displeasure of Gandhi. He took a position opposite to that of Nehru in relation to Tibet and China, adopting an attitude of distrust towards China in general, condemnation of the Chinese invasion of Tibet in particular, and a willingness to provide Indian diplomatic support to Tibet. He favoured strong condemnation of North Korea's aggression against South Korea in June 1950. Nor did he share the mistrust of Nehru and others on the left in Indian politics of the United States and their reluctance to accept US aid. Patel also supported strongly the maintenance of India's membership in the Commonwealth. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s role in Unifying India: This event formed the cornerstone of Patel's popularity in post-independence era and even today, he is remembered as the man who united India. Patel asked v.p.menon a senior civil servant with whom he had worked over the partition of india to become his right-hand as chief secretary of the States Ministry. On 6 May 1947, Patel began lobbying the princes, attempting to make them receptive towards dialogue with the future Government and trying to forestall potential conflicts. Patel used social meetings and unofficial surroundings to engage most monarchs, inviting them to lunch and tea at his home in Delhi At these meetings, Patel stated that there was no inherent conflict between the Congress and the princely order. Nonetheless, he stressed that the princes would need to accede to India in good faith by 15 August 1947. Patel invoked the patriotism of India's monarchs, asking them to join in the freedom of their nation and act as responsible rulers who cared about the future of their people. He persuaded the princes of 565 states of the impossibility of independence from the Indian republic, especially in the presence of growing opposition from their subjects. He proposed favourable terms for the merger, including creation of privy purses for the descendants of the rulers. Deadline of 15 August 1947 for them to sign the instrument of accession document. All but three of the states willingly merged into the Indian union— only Jammu and Kashmir unagadh and Hyderabad did not fall into his basket. Junagadh was especially important to Patel, International Journal of Advance and Applied Research Peer Reviewed | International Open Access Journal ISSN: 2347-7075 | Impact Factor – 8.141 | Website: https://ijaar.co.in/ Volume-13, Issue-1 | September - October 2025 68 since it was in his home state of Gujarat and also because this Kathiawar district had the ultra-rich Somnath temple which had been plundered 17 times by Mahmud of Ghazni who broke the temple and its idols to rob it of its riches, emeralds, diamonds and gold. The Nawab had under pressure from Sir shah nawaz bhuttoacceded to Pakistan. It was however, quite far from Pakistan and 80% of its population was Hindu. Patel combined diplomacy with force, demanding that Pakistan annul the accession, and that the Nawab accede to India. He sent the Army to occupy three principalities of Junagadh to show his resolve. Following widespread protests and the formation of a civil government, or Aarzi Hukumat, both Bhutto and the Nawab fled to karachi and under Patel's orders, Indian Army and police units marched into the state. A plebiscite later organised produced a 99.5% vote for merger with India. In a speech at the Bahauddin College in Junagadh following the latter's take-over, Patel emphasised his feeling of urgency on Hyderabad, which he felt was more vital to India than Jammu and Kashmir unagadh. If Hyderabad does not see the writing on the wall, it goes the way Junagadh has gone. Pakistan attempted to set off Kashmir against Junagadh. When we raised the question of settlement in a democratic way, they (Pakistan) at once told us that they would consider it if we applied that policy to Kashmir. Our reply was that we would agree to Kashmir if they agreed to Hyderabad. Hyderabad was the largest of the princely states, and included parts of present-day Andharapradesh Karnataka, and maharashtra states. Its ruler, the Nizam osman Ali Khan was a Muslim, although over 80% of its people were Hindu. The Nizam sought independence or accession with Pakistan. Muslim forces loyal to Nizam, called the razakars under Qasim razvi pressed the Nizam to hold out against India, while organising attacks on people on Indian soil. Even though a Standstill Agreement was signed due to the desperate efforts of Lord Mountbatten to avoid a war, the Nizam rejected deals and changed his positions. In September 1948, Patel emphasised in Cabinet meetings that India should talk no more, and reconciled Nehru and the Governor-General,chakravarti rajagopalachari to military action. Following preparations, Patel ordered theindian army to integrate Hyderabad (in his capacity as Acting Prime Minister) when Nehru was touring Europe.The action was termed operation polo in which thousands of Razakar forces had been killed, but Hyderabad was comfortably secured into the Indian Union. Communist Challenge to Indian Democracy: some recollections : Dwarka Prasad Mishra 29 recollects: ― ...When in the wake of independence, mass murders and migrations, and later the Kashmir problem, made the first government of independent India vulnerable, the Communists found their opportunity and by a series of bloody insurrections tried to smash and replace what they called bourgeois democracy by socialist democracy. In the Telengana region of Hyderabad they had successfully engineered peasant revolts and now wanted to extend them to other parts of India. In the urban International Journal of Advance and Applied Research Peer Reviewed | International Open Access Journal ISSN: 2347-7075 | Impact Factor – 8.141 | Website: https://ijaar.co.in/ Volume-13, Issue-1 | September - October 2025 69 areas they concentrated on mobilizing violence and bringing about a general strike. They tried to form shock brigades and guerilla squads and train their workers to raid police stations and ambush police parties. They planned to develop a mass movement by their violent activities throughout the country, hoping that these would culminate in people themselves taking up arms to throw out the government. But Home Minister Patel acted swiftly and the Communist design was almost nipped in the bud. Very soon their violence lost its fury and force and the planned mass insurrections degenerated into terrorist activities. In Telengana peasant revolts stopped and murders of individual zamindars began. In the cities bombs continued to be thrown on trains and buses but terrorism on any large scale, which would lead to any kind of revolution, had vanished. Of course, their calling upon the Indian army to turn their guns and bayonets and fire upon the Congress fascists was an act of sheer desperation.‖ Patel and Pakistan: Who moved that resolution in the constituent assembly that implied discarding the proposal of separate electorates for the Muslims, a crucial privilege granted to Dr. Ambedkar. Sardar Patel had disliked the consequences of separate Muslim electorates, before partition. Indian Muslims paid a heavy price as a result. He was blunt enough to tell Muslims , ―I respectfully appeal to all believers in the two nation theory to go and enjoy the fruits of their freedom and leave us here in peace.” He had firm belief in a united India, resolving, What nature and God had intended to be one on no account can be split in two for all times. He termed the two-nation theory, the false doctrine of two nations. Patel himself had an awareness of the criticism of his not following Gandhiji, he had said, ―While people talk of our failing to follow Gandhiji’s teachings, I wish to give you an example which I remember from his conversation.” He goes on to record how happy and proud he found Gandhiji when the latter heard about the operation in Kashmir by the Indian army. It was this formidable leader who was responsible to airlift troops in Srinagar, Kashmir, under the British commanders. Sardar Patel, also wanted to attack Pakistan, if possible. He had said, ―If all the decisions rested on me, I think I would be in favor of extending this little affair in Kashmir to a full scale war with Pakistan. Let us get it over with once and for all and settle down as a united continent.‖Was it for this, that Gandhiji preferred the calmer Nehru over him‖. Major Achievements of Sardar Patel: 1. Patel was the backbone of Gandhi‘s satyagrahas. During the Dandi March in 1930, he played the role of John the Baptist to Gandhi as a forerunner who ―baptised‖ people en route. In a speech as Wasna, on his way to Dandi, Gandhi admitted: ―I could succeed in Kheda [in 1918] on account of Vallabhbhai, and it is on account of him that I am here today.‖ 2. In the Bardoli satyagraha in 1928, Patel played the role of a Lenin. The British-owned and edited Times of India wrote that Patel had ―instituted International Journal of Advance and Applied Research Peer Reviewed | International Open Access Journal ISSN: 2347-7075 | Impact Factor – 8.141 | Website: https://ijaar.co.in/ Volume-13, Issue-1 | September - October 2025 70 there a Bolshevik regime in which he plays the role of Lenin‖. 3. As chairman of the Congress Parliamentary Board, Patel played the role of a strict boss in the conduct of the provincial elections in 1937. In that capacity he declared: ―When the Congress roller is in action, all pebbles and stones will be levelled.‖ He did not spare senior leaders like K. F. Nariman and N. B. Khare; not even the indomitable Subhash Chandra Bose. He was an uncompromising disciplinarian. That was a major contribution to the party‘s unity and strength. 4. Without Patel‘s support Lord Wavell could not have formed the interim government in August 1946, nor could Lord Mountbatten, in 1947, have implemented transfer of power smoothly and within the time-frame. In return, Patel got for India half of Punjab and half of Bengal and the whole of Assam. Patel also got termination of paramountcy, which enabled him to achieve integration of over 560 princely states. That was his master-stroke, which demolished Churchill‘s imperial strategy. What was that strategy? An account is given in the chapter A Churchillian Plan: Partition of India. 5. Briefly discussed is what would have been India‘s position in Kashmir, Tibet and Nepal had Patel‘s proposals been implemented. Kashmir had been taken away from Patel‘s charge by Nehru under Sheikh Abdullah‘s pressure, while Tibet and Nepal were foreign territories directly under Nehru‘s charge. 6. Philip Mason (ICS) has written in the Dictionary of National Biography: ―Patel has been compared to Bismarck but the parallel cannot be carried far. Patel was courageous, honest and realistic, but far from cynical.‖ 7. On his demise on 15 December 1950, the Manchester Guardian (now Guardian) wrote: ―Without Patel, Gandhi‘s ideas would have had less practical influence and Nehru‘s idealism less scope.‖ Conclusion: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Contribution in Building the Modern India Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is one of the Most Popular Leaders of India who is respected by almost every one in India, He was one of those Leaders who participated in the Freedom Struggle Actively and has contributed a lot in Building the Modern India, Mostly he is respected by us Indians because of his contribution after the Independence. He is one of the Followers of Mahatma Gandhi who always shown his Faith in Mahatma and followed his path till he lived, Sardar patel actively participated in Champaran, Kheda Satygraha's and in almost every Movement which is led by Mahatma Gandhi. But as I said he is More popular because of his work after the Independence of India, He was the First Deputy PM of India. We have sharer Some of his words on various occasions Sardar Patel was considered to be a statesman of integrity with the practical acumen capable of Solving any problem. As a man of action, International Journal of Advance and Applied Research Peer Reviewed | International Open Access Journal ISSN: 2347-7075 | Impact Factor – 8.141 | Website: https://ijaar.co.in/ Volume-13, Issue-1 | September - October 2025 71 he watched the administration in operation. As a political and social worker, with his ears to the ground and his heart close to the people it was not difficult for him with his sensitivity to understand the failings of the administrative system and the personnel manning it. The inspiration or the motive force of this insight and effort was the quest for deliverance from foreign domination. His width of outlook or vastness of mental horizon, charity of heart, and sensitivity to public feeing were largely responsible for his remarkable achievements as a politician as well as an administrator. Straight, simple, yet shrewd, he acquired a comprehensive and realistic grasp of all matters relating to the administration of public affairs. References: 1. Sardar Patel's speech delivered at Calcutta Maidan where more than half a million people had gathered to listen to him on January 3 rd , 1948 vide, P.D.Saggi edited, Life & Work of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Bombay: Overseas Publishing House, [Date not Stated], p.52 2. Hyderabad's Relations with the Dominion of India (in three volumes issued by the Government of Hyderabad and Berar, 1948). 3. Extracts from Sardar Patel's letter to Nehru on China, dated, 7 November, 1950, (D.O. No. 821-DPM/50, Strictly Personal) vide, K.M.Munshi, Pilgrimage to Freedom, op.cit., pp.175-181. 4. Extract from Sardar Patel's letter to all Premiers [Chief Ministers] on ―Global Matters‖, New Delhi, 15 October, 1948 vide, Durga Das, ed. Sardar Patel's Correspondence: 1945-50, vol.6, Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House, 1973, pp.440-41 . 5. D. Hardiman,(1981) Peasant nationalists of Gujarat: Kheda district, 1917–1934 ·D.P.Mishra, The Nehru Epoch: from Democracy to Monocracy, New Delhi: Har-Anand Publications, 2001, 6. Molina, I (2006). ‗Women and Teaching in Costa Rica in the Early 20th Century‘ in Cortina & SanRoman (eds.) Women and Teaching: Global Perspectives on the Feminisation of a Profession. NewYork: Palgrave MacMillan. 7. D.P.Mishra, The Nehru Epoch: from Democracy to Monocracy, New Delhi: Har-Anand Publications, 2001, 8. Dwarka Prasad Mishra (1901-1988), freedom fighter, twice Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. Mishra was a close participant in post independent India's politics till well into the 1970s. 9. D. Das, ed., (1971) · Sardar Patel's correspondence, 1945–50, 10 vols. 10. P. N. Chopra, ed., The collected works of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, 10 vols. · 11. N. D. Parikh, (1953–6)Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, 2 vols.