Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Essay: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was born on 31st October 1875 in Gujarat, India. He was a very hardworking person since his childhood. He was one of the influential leaders of Indian National Congress & one of the Republic of India’s founding fathers. He was powerful & determined person who paved new rays for India.
Essay on Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in English
Below we have provided Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Essay in English, suitable for class 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 school students.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was a great freedom fighter of India, also known as the Iron Man of India. He was born on 31st October 1875 in Nadiad village in Gujarat, India. He belonged to Leuva Patel Patidar community. Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel was his full name while he was famous as Sardar Patel. During his life, he had actively participated in the Indian Freedom movements. He was well-known being one of the most prominent and optimistic freedom fighters of India. His contribution to making India free from slaves is infinite.
Childhood & Early Life
Zaverbhai Patel was his father, served in the army of the Queen of Jhansi. Ladbai was his mother, who was a spiritual woman. Vithalbhai Patel was an elder brother of Vallabhbhai Patel who was an Indian legislator and also a famous political leader. He was also a co-founder of the Swaraj Party. Vallabhbhai Patel started his education in a Gujarati medium school while later he shifted to the English Medium. He passed out his high school in 1897 and then, started preparing for Law examination.
To pursue a degree in law, Patel travelled to England in 1910, wherein he completed his degree in the year 1913 from Inns of Court. To start his law practice, he came back to India and move to Godhra Gujarat. Being having intellectual skills, Vithalbhai Patel was offered many profitable deals from the British government. However, he rejected all and being preferred to follow the true path. The fact, Patel was a staunch opponent of the British government and also against their rules and regulations. Thus he was sure not to shake hand with the British.
In 1891, Vallabhbhai Patel got married to Jhaverba. The couple was blessed with two children Maniben Patel (she was a freedom fighter) and Dahyabhai Patel (he was worked in Insurance Company). In 1909, his wife was diagnosed with cancer, despite a successful surgery in a hospital in Bombay, she died in the hospital. After her death, his parents forced him for second marriage, but he refused and raised his children and also send them for English medium high school in Mumbai.
Contribution towards Indian National Movement
Vallabhbhai was elected as the Secretary of Gujarat as Gujarat wing of the Indian National Congress in 1917. In 1918, he was against the rule of paying taxes by the farmers after the floods in Kaira that were imposed by the British. He made all the efforts to convince the British to give back the land of farmers. His worthy efforts towards getting back the land and also bringing together the farmers of his areas honoured him with a title of ‘Sardar’.
Moreover, in 1928, the farmers of Bardoli were again trouble with a problem of hike in taxes, where farmers were unable to pay tax, their lands were seized. Vallabhbhai made able to return the lands to the farmers after finalizing a deal between farmers’ representatives and government. Patel was also an active member of the non-cooperation movement that was started by Mahatma Gandhi. He toured the nation with Gandhi Ji, where they both succeed to recruit 300000 members and also able to collect more than 1.5 million.
In 1930, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was also arrested for being participated in the famous Salt Satyagraha movement started by Mahatma Gandhi. He also spoke an inspiring speech that made the people influenced a lot. He attended massively to let the Satyagraha movement across Gujarat when Mahatma Gandhi was under imprisonment. In 1931, Patel was freed after an agreement between Lord Irwin and Mahatma Gandhi. In this same year, he was also elected as the President of Indian National Congress.
In Quit India Movement initiated by Gandhiji, Vallabhbhai Patel supported Gandhiji immensely when other contemporary leaders were opposed to him. Patel’s efforts to win this movement was continuous that made him arrested again in 1941, to 1945.
Contributions to Post Independence India
Once India got independence, Vallabhbhai Patel became the first Deputy and Home Prime Minister of India. His role for India after independence was also crucial. He was successful in integrating around 562 states under the Indian Dominion. The fact, the British government gave two alternatives to people before independence. Either they can join Pakistan or India, or they could live independently. All this made the process of dividing very difficult. Sardar Patel was elected to complete this intimidating task. Fortunately, he was successful in integrating other areas except for Junagarh, Hyderabad, and Jammu and Kashmir. Thus, he succeeded to deal with that situation with his sharp political skills and also able to secure his accession.
The India where we live today independently is a result of hard efforts put in by Sardar Patel during his whole life. Patel was also elected as a prominent member of the Constituent Assembly of India where on his consent, Dr B.R. Ambedkar was also appointed for other works. He was a primary member in establishing the Indian Police Service and the Indian Administrative Service and also tremendously took efforts to save Kashmir from Pakistan in 1947. Besides, he was somehow opposite with the policies made by the Jawaharlal Nehru, especially his decision for refugee issues.
Death
Vallabhbhai Patel’s health started deteriorating in 1950. At that time, he intuited that he would not survive for more time. After some days, his health started much declined that confined him to bed. On 15 December 1950, he got a heart attack and died on the same day. His birthday, i.e. 31st January, was declared as Rashtriya Ekta Divas or National Unity Day in 2014. In 1991, he was honoured with Bharat Ratna Award posthumously.
Statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
In October 2018, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s statue was inaugurated by the honourable Prime Minister of India – Mr Narendra Modi that was designed by the prominent sculpture Ram V. Sutar. His statue is the tallest, having 182-meter height. It is erected at Sarovar Dam, Garudeshvar in Narmada District of Gujarat. His statue is named as the ‘Statue of Unity’.
The entire life of Vallabhbhai Patel was massively motivated and inspiring. He was successful in accomplishing his professional goals with very less support from others and also played a significant role to bring the Indian people together to fight for independence. His trust for unity in diversity and even continuous efforts to stand for common causes of India’s Independence crowned him with the title of ‘The Iron of India’.