Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, often referred to as the “Iron Man of India”, was a prominent leader of the Indian independence movement and one of the founders of the modern Indian Republic. He played an important role in the integration of the princely states into the newly independent nation. Today, on his birth anniversary on 31st October, let us know some things about him.
Contribution of Sardar Patel after independence
On August 15, 1947, Sardar Patel took oath as the first Deputy Prime Minister.
He also took charge as the first Home Minister of independent India and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. He remained on these posts till December 15, 1950. His achievements during this period were –
Merger of Princely States into India – Political integration of the country
When the country became independent, there were 17 British-ruled territories and more than 560 princely states in India. The British gave these princely states the freedom to remain with India or Pakistan. Apart from this, he also had the option of remaining independent. In such a situation, merging these princely states with India was a very difficult task. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel demonstrated efficient leadership by V.P. This work was accomplished with the help of Menon. During this period, Sardar Patel had to take tough decisions, due to which he came to be called “Iron Man”.
Death and legacy
Sardar Patel died on December 15, 1950 at the age of 75. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is remembered as a steadfast politician who played an important role in shaping the modern Indian nation.
In his honour, the “Statue of Unity”, the tallest statue in the world, was built in Gujarat. It stands as a symbol of his contribution to the unity and integrity of India.
In the year 1991, the Government of India honored him with ‘Bharat Ratna’ in recognition of his contribution. National Unity Day: 31 October is celebrated in his honour.
Bharat Ratna Award List
| Year | Recipients | About |
| Bharat Ratna 1954 | C. Rajagopalachari | Activist, statesman, and lawyer |
| Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan | India’s first Vice-President and second President | |
| C. V. Raman | Physicists, mathematicians, and scientists | |
| Bharat Ratna 1955 | Bhagwan Das | Activist, philosopher, and educationist |
| M. Visvesvaraya | Civil engineer, statesman, and Diwan of Mysore | |
| Jawaharlal Nehru | Activist and author served as the Prime Minister of India | |
| Bharat Ratna 1957 | Govind Ballabh Pant | Activist and first Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh |
| Bharat Ratna 1958 | Dhondo Keshav Karve | Social reformer and educator |
| Bharat Ratna 1961 | Bidhan Chandra Roy | Physician, political leader, philanthropist, educationist, and social worker |
| Purushottam Das Tandon | Activist and speaker of the United Provinces Legislative Assembly | |
| Bharat Ratna 1962 | Rajendra Prasad | Activist, lawyer, statesman, and scholar |
| Bharat Ratna 1963 | Zakir Husain | Activist, economist, and education philosopher served as a Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University and the Governor of Bihar |
| Pandurang Vaman Kane | Indologist and Sanskrit scholar, known for his five-volume literary work | |
| Bharat Ratna 1966 | Lal Bahadur Shastri | Activist and served as the second Prime Minister of India |
| Bharat Ratna 1971 | Indira Gandhi | First women Prime Minister of India |
| Bharat Ratna 1975 | V. V. Giri | Trade Unionist |
| Bharat Ratna 1976 | K. Kamaraj | Independence activist and statesman, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu |
| Bharat Ratna 1980 | Mother Teresa | Catholic nun and the founder of the Missionaries of Charity. |
| 1983 | Vinoba Bhave | Activist, social reformer, and a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi |
| Bharat Ratna 1987 | Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan | First noncitizen, independence activist |
| Bharat Ratna 1988 | M. G. Ramachandran | Actor turned politician, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu |
| Bharat Ratna 1990 | B.R. Ambedkar | Social reformer and leader of the Dalits |
| Nelson Mandela | Leader of the Anti-Apartheid Movement in South Africa, President of South Africa | |
| Bharat Ratna 1991 | Rajiv Gandhi | Gandhi was the ninth Prime Minister of India serving from 1984 to 1989. |
| Vallabhbhai Patel | Activist and first Deputy Prime Minister of India | |
| Morarji Desai | Activist, and Prime Minister of India | |
| Bharat Ratna 1992 | Abul Kalam Azad | Activist and first Minister of education |
| J. R. D. Tata | Industrialist, philanthropist, and aviation pioneer | |
| Satyajit Ray | Director, filmmaker, writer, novelist | |
| Bharat Ratna 1997 | Gulzarilal Nanda | Activist, and interim Prime Minister of India. |
| Aruna Asaf Ali | Activist | |
| A.P.J Abdul Kalam | Aerospace and defense scientist | |
| Bharat Ratna 1998 | M. S. Subbulakshmi | Carnatic classical vocalist |
| Chidambaram Subramaniam | Activist and former Minister of Agriculture of India | |
| Bharat Ratna 1999 | Jayaprakash Narayan | Activist, and social reformer |
| Amartya Sen | Economist | |
| Gopinath Bordoloi | Activist | |
| Ravi Shankar | Musician, sitar player | |
| Bharat Ratna 2001 | Lata Mangeshkar | Singer |
| Bismillah Khan | Hindustani classical shehnai player | |
| Bharat Ratna 2009 | Bhimsen Joshi | Hindustani classical vocalist |
| Bharat Ratna 2014 | C. N. R. Rao | Chemist and professor, author |
| Sachin Tendulkar | Cricketer | |
| Bharat Ratna 2015 | Madan Mohan Malaviya | Scholar and educational reformer. |
| Atal Bihari Bajpayee | Elected nine times to the Lok Sabha, twice to the Rajya Sabha, and served as the Prime Minister of India for three terms. | |
| Bharat Ratna 2019 | Pranab Mukherjee | Indian politician, and senior leader in the Indian National Congress. |
| Nanaji Deshmukh | A social activist from India, education, health, and rural self-reliance. | |
| Bhupen Hazarika | Indian playback singer, lyricist, musician, singer, poet, and filmmaker from Assam. |
List of Deputy Prime Ministers
| Deputy Prime Ministers of India | Tenure | Prime Minister |
| Sardar Patel | 1947–1950 | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Morarji Desai | 1967–1969 | Indira Gandhi |
| Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram (jointly) | 1979–1979 | Morarji Desai |
| Y. B. Chavan | 1979–1980 | Chaudhary Charan Singh |
| Devi Lal | 1989–1990 | V.P. Singh |
| Devi Lal | 1990–1991 | Chandra Shekhar |
| L. K. Advani | 2002–2004 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
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