By Sabyasachee Dash*

When India won independence in 1947, it inherited not a unified nation but a political puzzle. The British departure left behind 562 princely states each a semi-sovereign entity with its own ruler, administration, and interests. The threat of a fragmented subcontinent loomed large, with the possibility of multiple currencies, customs regimes, and armed enclaves emerging overnight.

The daunting task of transforming this fractured inheritance into a cohesive Union fell upon Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel , India’s first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister. While history rightly celebrates Patel as the “Iron Man” for achieving political unification, his accomplishment was equally a masterstroke in economic statecraft. The consolidation he engineered gave India not just

See Full Page