Vallabhbhai Patel led
the Kheda Satyagraha. The government agreed to negotiate with Patel and decided
to suspend the payment of revenue for the year, even scaling back the rate.
Patel emerged as a hero to Gujaratis and admired across India. In 1920, he was
elected president of the newly formed Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee—he
would serve as its president till 1945.
When Gandhi was in prison, Sardar Patel was asked by Members
of Congress to lead the satyagraha in Nagpur in 1923 against a law banning the
raising of the Indian flag. He organised thousands of volunteers from all over
the country in processions hoisting the flag.
In April 1928, Sardar Patel returned to the independence
struggle from his municipal duties in Ahmedabad when
Bardoli
suffered from a
serious predicament of a famine and steep tax hike. Sardar Patel organised
volunteers, camps and an information network across affected areas. It was during the struggle and after the
victory in Bardoli that Patel was increasingly addressed by his colleagues and
followers as Sardar.
While Nehru, Rajagopalachari and Maulana Azad initially
criticised Gandhi's proposal for an all-out campaign of civil disobedience to
force the British to Quit India, Patel was its most fervent supporter.
"This is going to be the opportunity of a
lifetime"
Historians believe that Patel's speech was instrumental in
electrifying nationalists, who had been sceptical of the proposed rebellion.
Patel's organising work in this period is credited by historians for ensuring
the success of the rebellion across India. Patel was arrested on 9 August
and was imprisoned with the entire Congress Working Committee from 1942 to 1945
at the fort in Ahmednagar.
When the British mission proposed two plans for transfer of
power, there was considerable opposition within the Congress to both. The plan
of 16 May 1946 proposed a loose federation with extensive provincial autonomy,
and the "grouping" of provinces based on religious-majority. The plan
of 16 June 1946 proposed the partition of India on religious lines, with over
600 princely states free to choose between independence or accession to either
dominion. The League approved both plans, while the Congress flatly rejected
the 16 June proposal. Gandhi criticised the 16 May proposal as being inherently
divisive, but Patel, realising that rejecting the proposal would mean that only
the League would be invited to form a government, lobbied the Congress Working
Committee hard to give its assent to the 16 May proposal. Patel engaged the
British envoys Sir Stafford Cripps and Lord Pethick-Lawrence and obtained an
assurance that the "grouping" clause would not be given practical
force, Patel converted Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad and Rajagopalachari to
accept the plan. When the League retracted its approval of the 16 May plan, the
viceroy Lord Wavell invited the Congress to form the government.
Vallabhbhai Patel was one of the first Congress leaders to
accept the partition of India as a solution to the rising Muslim separatist
movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
At the All India Congress Committee meeting called to vote
on the proposal, Patel said:
"I fully appreciate the fears of our brothers from [the
Muslim-majority areas]. Nobody likes the division of India and my heart is
heavy. But the choice is between one division and many divisions. We must face
facts. We cannot give way to emotionalism and sentimentality. The Working
Committee has not acted out of fear. But I am afraid of one thing, that all our
toil and hard work of these many years might go waste or prove unfruitful. My
nine months in office has completely disillusioned me regarding the supposed
merits of the Cabinet Mission Plan. Except for a few honourable exceptions,
Muslim officials from the top down to the chaprasis (peons or servants) are
working for the League. The communal veto given to the League in the Mission
Plan would have blocked India's progress at every stage. Whether we like it or
not, de facto Pakistan already exists in the Punjab and Bengal. Under the
circumstances I would prefer a de jure Pakistan, which may make the League more
responsible. Freedom is coming. We have 75 to 80 percent of India, which we can
make strong with our own genius. The League can develop the rest of the
country."
Following Gandhi's and Congress' approval of the plan, Patel
represented India on the Partition Council, where he oversaw the division of
public assets, and selected the Indian council of ministers with Nehru.
Political Integration of India: Gandhi had said to Patel "the problem of
the States is so difficult that you alone can solve it". He proposed
favourable terms for the merger, including creation of privy purses for the
descendants of the rulers. While encouraging the rulers to act with patriotism,
Patel did not rule out force, setting a 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, Junagadh, and
Hyderabad did not fall into his basket.
Hydrabad Annexation: Termed as Operation Polo, in which
thousands of Razakar forces had been killed, but Hyderabad was comfortably
secured into the Indian Union.
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