Rashtriya Ekta Diwas
- November 2, 2022
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Rashtriya Ekta Diwas
Subject : History
Context: The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi paid homage to Sardar Patel at the Statue of Unity and participated in the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas.
Concept:
- Vallabhbhai Patel was born on 31st October 1875 in Nadiad, Gujarat.
- A successful lawyer by profession, his life encountered a turning point when Mahatma Gandhi chose him as his deputy commander to lead the Kheda Satyagraha in 1918.
- Thus, as the leader of a peasants’ protest, Vallabhbhai Patel found the trajectory of his life turning towards a path of public service.
- In 1924, Patel was elected President of the Ahmedabad Municipal Board.
- Vallabhbhai Patel became increasingly involved with the struggle for independence. It was his role in the Bardoli Satyagraha of 1928 that elevated him to a new pinnacle of national glory.
- It was here that he earned the title of ‘Sardar’, the fond epithet by which he continues to be remembered and revered.
- In 1931, he was elected President of the Indian Nation Congress at its Karachi Session.
- At a time when the nation was in tumult over the execution of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, he made a sombre speech that reflected the sentiment of the hour.
- At the time of Independence, there were 17 British-Indian provinces, and the Princely States– comprising about two fifths of the geographic territory of the country- numbered more than 560.
- Sardar Patel stepped in to ensure the accession of the princely states and integrate them into the Union of India.
- On 25 June 1947, the States Department was formed under Sardar Patel. VP Menon was appointed its secretary.
- These two individuals made a formidable team whose tact and diplomacy made it possible to overcome apparently insurmountable hurdles.
- On 15 August 1947, Sardar Patel took oath as the first Deputy Prime Minister, as well as the first Home Minister of independent India. He also took charge of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
- He earned the reputation of ‘Iron Man’ because of the manner in which he brought about and maintained internal stability as Home Minister in the wake of the partition of the country.
- Another illustrious contribution made by Sardar Patel was the creation of All India Services. He had envisioned these services as the ‘Steel frame of India’ that would further safeguard the country’s unity and integrity.
- On 15 December 1950, the Iron Man of India breathed his last. He had successfully accomplished the task of integrating 565 Princely States into the Union of India within a remarkably short span of time- a feat unprecedented in history.
- On 31 October 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the world’s tallest statue – the ‘Statue of Unity’ to the nation.
Note –With Operation Vijay, Goa, Daman and Diu were annexed, from Portuguese control, into the Indian union and made into a centrally administered Union Territory of India.
His political philosophy