15th august 1947. A young India had phoenixed itself from Bharat, in a modern world. This was the beginning of the fall of colonialism and imperialism worldwide. The newborn countries had to gather pieces, which were broken, blackened and contorted for obvious reasons that any colonizer has in doing so.
The relation between the newborn country and its two great executive leaders who took the task of building the country can be best understood by an analogy.
Pandit Nehru was the right part and Sardar Patel was the left part of the newborn's brain. Yes. Had it not been for the joint efforts of both together (on independence and onwards) we would not have had a united and free, though struggling, India in the present form.
Pandit Nehru had well taken care of the direction the newborn was to take, the foreign policy, the economic stance and the like. He could do all this because an adept and self-less Sardar (as the deputy PM and the Home Minister) provided him with a country by uniting more than 500 small-and-big independent provinces many of them singing their own song. It was not an easy job. Looking at it in the historical perspective one can easily identify how impossible a task it was. Even when it was done the entire world predicted its doom sooner than later. But the ancient roots of the new sapling kept it alive and growing. Sardar, for various reasons, was not so successful in case of J&K and the country still bleeds. No student of history can say that Pandit Nehru would have been able to achieve this, considering the dynamics involving him till independence.
However one can only guess what the 'Iron Man of India' could have done in the absence of Pandit Nehru in an independent India. With all his energy and focus in keeping the country together he would have found it difficult to play the role that Pandit
ji carried out with elan. Pandit
ji's visionary actions relating to Non Aligned Movement took the country in a leadership position by uniting the newly freed countries who aspired to make it big one day rather than falling an immediate prey in the skirmishes of the big. Taking the country on a path of industrialisation was a huge task. Knowing the pulse of the people well, he called the dams as the "modern temples" of India. Many hearts melted and people gave away their lands for the country's cause. Dams were built, electrification started, industries installed, Science and technology education got a push. But unfortunately, it was assumed that agriculture will automatically be benefited with new industries and technology. In any case the country started growling to protect and promote all its people in a hostile neighborhood.
These leaders were a class apart.
[The miss that Ramachandra Guha gives to Sardar Patel (in light of the present writing) in his book "Makers of Modern India" is conspicuous. The book would have done well being called "Eminent Indians" or "Selected Makers of Modern India". Even then 'Iron Man of India' couldn't have been missed.]
~HarshW
