With the passage of time, major players in India’s freedom struggle have been viewed from different perspectives to evaluate their lasting impact on our nation’s history. Of those who earned the privilege of being true statesmen, this book focuses on one such archetypical Indian leader–Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel–to re-examine aspects of India’s nationalist movement in its fight against colonial rule.
In the fight for independence, marked by feverish efforts towards fostering nationalism and unity, nationalism mutated from a goal to a tool and even a weapon in the hands of leaders from divergent backgrounds and ideologies. In examining the tensions between umbrella-nationalisms and mini-nationalisms, this book suggests why the problem of unity in diversity was and still remains unanswered. Patel’s idea of nationalism was defined both by his antecedents and the overpowering atmosphere of anti-colonialism then prevailing. Patel single-mindedly, often singlehandedly, and sometimes manipulatively, achieved a much-needed political unity for India. There were oversights: an inability to recognise the limitations of anti-colonial nationalism in fostering the kind of unity that Patel desired from a highly diverse India; or sometimes fostering unity at the expense of diversity. Nevertheless, the consolidated territorial map that emerged as India that is Bharat was by all accounts a monumental achievement.
To assess Patel’s invaluable direction to Indian politics the author suggests that much more is revealed about Patel as politician and statesman by observing other leaders around him; for the story of India’s nationhood is the story of many–not one, or a few. Their biggest asset was that they could work in tandem, despite their differences.
Rani Dhavan Shankardass, historian, author and activist, is Director, Penal Reform and Justice Association (PRAJA), New Delhi.
Preface Introduction 1. Provincial Heritage: Roots and Branches 2. Provincial Consolidation, 1928: The Sardar of Bardoli 3. From Province to Nation: 1928–1934 4. The Politics of Domination: 1934–1937 5. The Politics of Discipline: 1936–1938 Cartoons by Shankar 6. Congress Raj, 1937–1939: Provinces and Princely States 7. Impasse and Recovery: 1940–1945 8. The Penultimate Phase, 1946: Elections, Negotiations, Offers and Deadlocks 9. 1947, Part 1: Negotiation and the Myth of Unity 10. 1947, Part 2: Cyril and the Catastrophe, Congress and the Constitution 11. ‘A Strong Steel Frame’: The Inherited Civil Service 12. British India and ‘Indian’ India: Undoing the Mischief 13. Muslim Rulers, Hindu Subjects: Junagadh and Hyderabad 14. Jammu and Kashmir: Not Just Another State Conclusion Bibliography Index