Sardar Patel

The political landscape of India has transformed greatly in the twenty first century and with the rise of Bhartiya Janata Party as a vehement nationalist force, nationalist historical figures like Sardar Patel, Vir Savarkar, Deen Dayal Upadhyay have been projected as the real heroes of the freedom struggle together with the others, thus redefining and reprioritizing the leadership profile of the Indian freedom movement. This book tries to understand Sardar Patel not from the traditional approach of viewing him just as an integrator of princely states or Iron Man but investigate the different dimensions of Patel's thinking towards India. It discusses his ideas on secularism and minorities; status of women; ideas on cleanliness and environment; scheduled castes; Indian administration; farmers and agricultural rights and land reforms; India's foreign policy and relations with its neighbours especially China and the greater world powers. First of its kind, this book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of Indian politics, Indian history, Nationalist movement, political sociology, and South Asian history.