OPINION | Sardar Patel’s Legacy: Unity, integration, and the spirit of Ekta

According to historian Rajmohan Gandhi, author of “Patel: A Life”, Patel's views on Kashmir changed completely only after September 13, 1947.

(RSSFACTS is a column that demystifies the functioning, organisational structure and ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.)

India observes Rashtriya Ekta Diwas on 31 October every year to commemorate the birth anniversary of India’s first Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who played a crucial role in the national integration process following independence in 1947.

This year’s celebration of Rashtriya Ekta Diwas is particularly special, as it marks the 150th birth anniversary of Sardar Patel.

Sardar Patel and the RSS

Critics of the RSS have often quoted Sardar Patel’s speeches and letters selectively to suggest that Patel was highly critical of the organisation. The backdrop of this critique is the ban imposed on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on 4 February 1948, following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on 30 January 1948.

A look at the correspondence between the then RSS Sarsanghchalak M. S. Golwalkar and Sardar Patel, as well as between Sardar Patel and the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, paints a different picture. This correspondence is available in the sixth volume of Sardar Patel’s Correspondence (1945–50), edited by noted journalist and public intellectual Durga Das. The ten volumes of this correspondence are a treasure trove of information about Sardar Patel and were first published in 1973.

Nehru had a known dislike for the RSS and apparently used Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination to target the organisation. This became evident when he raised another false alarm through a letter dated 26 February 1948 to Sardar Patel. Nehru wrote: “The Delhi Police has apparently a goodly number of sympathisers with the RSS. It may not be easy to deal with all of them. But I think something more than has been done can be undertaken.

I do not know what exactly to suggest to you (Sardar Patel). But I have a feeling of uneasiness about the situation in Delhi especially. I think the police and the local authorities have to be kept up to the mark. They have a habit of slackening off after the spurt; what is more dangerous is that a number of them appear to sympathise with the RSS. Hence an impression is created that nothing very effective is being done.”

Sardar Patel replied in detail to Nehru on 27 February 1948: “I have kept myself almost in daily touch with the progress of the investigation regarding Bapu’s assassination case. I devote a large part of my evening to discussing with Sanjevi the day’s progress and giving instructions to him on any points that arise. All the main accused have given long and detailed statements of their activities. In one case, the statement extends to ninety typed pages. From their statements, it is quite clear that no part of the conspiracy took place in Delhi. The centres of activity were Poona, Bombay, Ahmednagar and Gwalior. Delhi was, of course, the terminating point of their activity, but by no means its centre; nor do they seem to have spent more than a day or two at a time, and that too only twice between 19 and 30 January.

It also clearly emerges from these statements that the RSS was not involved in it at all. It also appears that the conspiracy was limited to some ten men, of whom all except two have been apprehended. Every bit of these statements is being carefully checked, verified and scrutinised, and, where necessary, followed up. Sanjevi devotes considerable time every day to it. Senior officers of Bombay and the CP are in charge of the investigation. Delhi Police hardly comes into the picture.”

In the same letter, Sardar Patel emphasised that false information was being fed against the RSS and that the allegations made were vague.

“Every item of information that is being communicated to us through sources, known and unknown, real, anonymous or pseudonymous, is being investigated. More than 90 per cent of these have been found to be pure imagination. Most of these have been directed to the activities of RSS men in various centres. We have followed this up, and except for vague allegations that sweets were distributed or joy was expressed, hardly anything of substance has been found in them,” Patel wrote to Nehru.

Golwalkar–Patel Letters

The correspondence following the ban on the RSS between Golwalkar and Sardar Patel has an interesting aspect, as the latter addressed the former as “Bhai (Brother) Golwalkar.” Golwalkar wrote to Sardar Patel on 11 August 1948 clarifying the RSS’s position as a nationalist socio-cultural organisation. Patel wrote back on 11 September (Guruji–Patel–Nehru Patra Vyavhar; Suruchi Prakashan; p.11), where he expressed some disagreement with the RSS but also categorically mentioned: “No one can doubt that the RSS has served Hindu society.”

Apparently referring to the RSS’s work during Partition, he further said: “In those areas where the RSS was required, its young cadres made significant contributions by saving the lives of women and children. No wise man can have a complaint against the RSS on this front.”

Diary of Maniben Patel

It is also pertinent to mention the diary of Maniben Patel. Maniben Vallabhbhai Patel (1903–1990) was the daughter of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. She served as her father’s devoted personal secretary, companion, and caretaker, managing his household and political correspondence for many years. She maintained a detailed diary, which later became an important source of information on Sardar Patel’s life and the political events of the time.

She made an interesting entry in this diary (Inside Story of Sardar Patel: The Diary of Maniben Patel 1936–50; p. 298) on 3 August 1949: “Glad at release of Golwalkar.” The ban on the RSS was lifted at midnight on 11 July 1949, and Golwalkar was released from prison on 13 July 1949.

Rashtriya Ekta Diwas

The day was first celebrated in 2014, following a declaration by the Narendra Modi government to honour and celebrate Sardar Patel’s remarkable contribution to nation-building. Critics of the RSS would do well to recall that Modi is a former RSS pracharak (full-time worker), and the party he represents — the Bharatiya Janata Party — is an ideological mentee of the RSS.

During Rashtriya Ekta Diwas on 31 October 2015, Prime Minister Modi announced the initiative Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat for sustained and structured connections between people of different regions of the country, to foster enhanced understanding and bonding among them. More than ten central ministries, state governments, schools, colleges, and youth organisations have since been celebrating through various activities to promote such bonding between people from different parts of India.

Earlier RSSFACTS columns can be read here.

(Arun Anand has authored two books on the RSS. His X handle is @ArunAnandLive.)

Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.