As India marks Ekta Diwas (National Unity Day) in 2025, it is timely to revisit the life and legacy of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Iron Man whose statesmanship and resolve welded a vast and fragile subcontinent into a single republic.

Seven decades on, Patel’s lessons about unity, institutional discipline and civic responsibility remain indispensable for a nation that thrives on its diversity.

The Architect of Unity

When Sardar Patel took office as India’s first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister in August 1947, the map of the subcontinent was a jigsaw of more than 560 princely states — some eager to join the Union, others uncertain or hostile.

Through a mixture of tact, negotiation and firmness he managed to integrate the great majority into India, converting a precarious polit

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