Compiled  by London Swaminathan

swami_48@yahoo.com

Date: 31 October 2018

GMT Time uploaded in London – 21-16

Post No. 5609

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Evening Standard of London has published a beautiful short write up on Sardar Vallabbhai Patel on the day Prime minister Narendra Modi opened the tallest statue in the world. Here is what Lord Gadhia wrote in today’s paper
Today, the world’s tallest statue, the Statue of Unity, is unveiled in India by prime minister Narendra Modi, standing more than twice as high as the Statue of Liberty, the man honoured with this likeness is Vallabhbhai Patel — one of India s founding fathers and the first deputy prime minister of India.

His most visible legacy was integrating 552 princely states which had the option to join either India or Pakistan or remain independent. This required a blend of determination, skilful diplomacy and steely resolve, earning him the sobriquet the Iron Man of India.

The last viceroy Louis Mountbatten, refereed to this achievement in glowing terms. He said “had you failed, the results would have been disastrous “.

However, Patel was a man of many talents. He became India’s first deputy prime minister and home minister, served as the supreme commander of the armed force s ,and established the Indian Civil Service. But he started out as a freedom fighter.

Patel’s participation in the freedom movement came at considerable personal cost. He was imprisoned by the British many times, and his wife succumbed to cancer when he was 33. He gave up a place to study law in London to his elder brother. Although the latter fulfilled this ambition, coming top of his class in Middle Temple , and he even fortified the opportunity to become prime minister at Gandhi s request.

A 300 million pound statue might be viewed as a vanity project but some of the cost is being offset by collecting scrap Iron from farmers across India. And the monument is expected to become a major tourist attraction.

India is vast, and its 29 states could easily be separate countries, yet it has remained unified and a democracy— despite the many forces pulling in different directions.

This is India s real miracle, avoiding fragmentation. Although Patel s Statue metres, his reputation as the unifier of an independent India stands far taller.

Writer Baron Gadhia, an investment banker, was made a life peer in 2016

Evening Standard dated 31 October 2018