E very year, on October 31, India observes Rashtriya Ekta Diwas — National Unity Day — to honour the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, independent India’s first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister. Few figures shaped the foundations of the Republic as decisively as Patel, who brought together more than 560 princely states after 1947 to create a single political entity.

Patel’s realism, patience and firmness prevented the subcontinent from fracturing in the wake of Partition. Junagarh, Hyderabad, and Jammu & Kashmir might well have slipped into uncertainty but for his persuasion and resolve. The idea of unity he espoused was never uniformity; it was a federation of minds and hearts bound by shared heritage. That belief remains India’s anchor in an age of widening diversit

See Full Page