The real builder of India

 The tallest statue on earth, it is 182 meters in height, that's two times taller than the Statue of Liberty, and 100 times taller than a human, 

But......

Who is this man !!

He is Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel & he is the Iron man of India. 

    After independence India still wasn't a nation, it was a group of princely states with every small Kingdom having its own interest. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had to go to each one of these states and negotiate with the kings and convince them to be a part of a nation. He is the reason why India is one big Nation and not 500 small ones. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is the real builder of the Nation. 

Apart from being the tallest, this is possibly the most controversial as well. majorly because of its cost, 3000 Cr. seems like a big amount. This looks like a waste of taxpayers' money. But when we complain we don't consider that majority of the portion was paid by the state government. We must understand that whatever we pay through direct taxes we pay to the central government, so when the central government spends on something it is using our money. The state government has its own way of making a revenue that people outside the state don't really contribute to in the form of taxes. The central govt paid 300 Cr. for building this statue. the those who are outside of Gujarat you may be paid around 2 to 3 rupees. is it worth it?

    Numbers can be deceiving, but when you put things in perspective Numbers get a meaning. In less than a year 18 Lakhs, people have visited this place and the entry cost is Rs. 350 & 63Cr earned just through its the basic ticket. 

India is diverse, People speak different languages, They eat different food they have different beliefs, in such a scenario it's a wonder that INDIA as a country exists! 

If someone wanted to go Kerala to Mumbai or Mumbai to Chennai, and they had to take a visa to travel, How would you feel? This may sound like a joke because India is a single country. but after India got its Independence it could have split into many pieces, but one hero kept it all together. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. We celebrate the birthday of Patel as National Unity day. 

Do you know somehow 1947 India looked like?

India in 1947 was Different!

    The British were leaving India, but they didn't give us a united nation. we had over 550 princely states and over 10 British-ruled provinces. These princely areas were 45% of the total area of India, to bring all these princely states back to us, the country had to fight a diplomatic war. In this situation, The Princely states had 3 different options, 1. Accession with India, 2. Accession with PAK, 3. Claim independence. In spite of giving these options to them, Sardar Patel used all means to bring them to India. Sardar Patel was a great leader and had the situation been just a little different, he would have been India's first Prime minister. 

India's constitution was made in the year 1950, after this, an election commission was formed. but in 1946, it was becoming very clear that India would be an independent state soon. and someone would have to lead the new nation. The leader of the Indian National Congress knew that whoever was the Congress President would lead India through this transition period. What happened after that would be decided by the country. 15 Leaders from the Internal Committee got ready to vote, 12 of them chose Sardar Patel as their leader, and 3 of the leaders did not cast their votes. Jawaharlal Nehruji did not get a single vote, Nehruji was not ready to be second in charge so Gandhiji penned a letter to Sardar Patel, Sardar Patel read the letter and took back his nomination for President.

    

   Hoisting a flag does not mean a country is Independent. To bring unity, it was important to unite 562 Princely State heads. To fulfill this huge mission Sardar Patel and his colleague VP Menon went about meeting every king across India. Accession was done considering 3 points, 

Security: The princely states who chose to join India would get security from the Indian Armed Forces.

Foreign Affairs: All foreign affairs would be managed by India, 

Communication: Whether it was posted, roads, railways, transport communication all of these will be handled by India. 

The people who spent their lives living like royalty, in just a few years found themselves a part of the world's largest democracy. Their vote was just as valuable as any other citizen's vote, This impractical-sounding idea had to be repeated 562 times by Patel when he met every king, that is how we got one united India.  

Sometimes through diplomacy or through the economy slowly and steadily, the work of joining India continued. We did not get freedom for free, till the time we don't understand this fact, we don't understand the value of our country. We'll continue to take our freedom for granted. To make India, a great person had to convince kings to live like ordinary citizens so that every common man can proudly say that India is my country.  

This is the story of Iron Man of India.