Shiban Khaibri
Majority of icons of our freedom movement were not given their due place neither in the history books written by a particular brand of historians, nor otherwise, perhaps with full backing of those in power who wanted to keep in incessant oblivion and indefinite abeyance, such icons with intent to only highlight one or two national personalities. As real and less adulterated history unfolds in small bits and tiny instalments, the layers of deceptions, mist and dust get removed with the gusty winds of realisations of what has been done intentionally where and under what design. That “bina Khadak aur bina Dhaal” rhetoric attached with how we got our independence is now increasingly made incompatible with how Neta Ji Subash Bose exhorted Indians to “Give me blood and I promise you freedom” now eulogised by the PM by honouring the legacy of Aazad Hind Government anniversary at Red Fort and that for the first time. Neta Ji raised Aazad Hind Fauj in which got enrolled, people of all religions, regions and languages and which could launch armed attacks against the British to rattle their legs and shiver their spines. He was, however, spurned and repudiated by the Congress during his life time as also after his suspected plane crash and death to ensure that he did not get projected as one of the tallest leaders of Indian freedom struggle movement.
It is Subash Chander Bose’s Aazad Hind Fauj that resulted in hastening of the process of granting of independence to India by more than a year in advance following reports that the fallout of Red Fort trials of the “POWs” of the INA and awarding punishments by the British would spark an uncontrolled swarm of mutiny across the then British Indian Army. This was confirmed later by British former PM Clement Attlee on his visit to India in Calcutta when asked about the extent of impact on granting of independence solely on account of non violent movement by Gandhi Ji. Likewise, freedom movement heroes like Surya Sen, Khudi Ram Bose, Chander Shekhar Aazad, Revolutionary Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev, Udham Singh, Ashfaq Ullah Khan, Ram Prasad Bismal, Rajindra Lahri and thousands others who preferred their country to their life resulted in attaining freedom which of course cannot dilute the contribution of Gandhi Ji and others in the long freedom struggle but to attribute the entire credit to them would be fiddling with historical facts.
Though Sardar Patel was a towering leader of Congress Party , the same Party denied him his due which he was duly entitled to, post independence which while living he did not care for, but even after his death, he was sidelined to the extent of being discounted and overlooked. It is not what we are now as a country but how we are a cohesive well knit country is what matters. He was the unifier of India and had Patel not been on the political scene when the unification process , the most critical and sensitive one immediately before the actual transfer of power as per India Independence Act, took place , perhaps it would have been a quite different situation than what we see as of now. He converted India’s diversity into unity.
Were there efforts to keep India fragmented and divided into smaller parts , there probably could be no doubt about that. Excepting Junnagarh, Hyderabad and Jammu and Kashmir, it was he alone whose dexterity and resolution prevailed upon rulers of more than 550 small princely states to get woven into one fabric of a united India and as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the credit goes to those Rajas, Maharajas and Rulers as well, who without any hesitation relinquished their centuries old ruled states and all rights of sovereignty and ownership on them which was nothing less than a “Tyag” or sacrifice. We should not only highly appreciate their deep sense of farsightedness but also underline how they proved cooperative and helpful in converting our weakness into a unique strength.
On Oct 31, this year the country celebrated the inauguration of the statue of unity at Sadhu Bet near Narmada Dam in Gujarat as a befitting, well deserved though much belated tribute to the Iron Man Of India. Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the World’s tallest statue, 182 metres in height on the occasion of Patel’s birth anniversary. The Prime Minister had conceived of this idea as back as in the year 2010 exactly on the birth anniversary of the Sardar when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat and the same was inaugurated by him as the Prime Minister, perhaps the nature rewarding the spirit of doing what for decades even in comparative small measure was not be done by those who claim the patent hood of having got freedom to us from the British. Even now, politics of the plummeted levels is being done on having the symbol of India’s integrity and symbol of oneness erected. Only a few days back, the ex- Vice President of India who held the office for 10 years apportioned blame on “us too” including him for the country’s partition and that the entire blame could not be put on the communal Muslim League that pressed and pressurised for partition on two nation formula. This is a new narrative floated in India by such more than required liberals and pseudo secularists to knowingly exonerate Muslim League and Jinnah for hard pressing for partition and resulting in the process, the worst human destruction in the annals of history .
Statue of Liberty in the US is only 97 metres in height and in ascending order, Ushiku Daibutsu in Japan with 110 meters, Lekyun Setkyar in Myanmar with 116 metres and Spring Temple Budha in China with 153 metres- all make ‘Statue of Unity’ the tallest in the world. While dedicating the statue to the nation , the Prime Minister told people assembled in large numbers there that statue of Unity was an answer to all those who question the existence of India and it was to remind the youth that the future of the country would be as huge as that statue . It was also symbolic of our engineering and technology capabilities and finest sculpturing feats. 90 years old Ram Sudhar and his illustrious son Anil Sudhar, the father son duo sculptors, made this grand Indian symbol of unity who were honoured by the PM in the function itself .
We would have been required to obtain visa to see Ghir lions, or pay obeisance at Somnath Mandir or view the Charminar in Hyderabad had the Sardar not unified India, is what the PM rightly observed at the function. The statue took 42 months to complete at a cost of Rs. 2990 crore and 250 workers worked on it continuously. In addition to the statue, there are five other related sites that are constructed along this statue , the tallest in the world and they include the walkway, the food court, the four lane approach highway and a ‘Shreshta Bharat Bhawan – a 52 room three star lodging facility for incoming visitors to see the monument. It will prove a boon for the local population especially in their economic betterment on account of it becoming a centre of tourist attraction.
The path chosen and shown by Sardar Patel has resulted in India moving towards becoming the world’s one of the greatest economic and strategic powers. It is because of India’s cohesiveness that as per the PM , we can talk to the world on our terms thanks to the Sardar’s vision. It is rued , however, that the contribution of Indian icons like Neta Ji Bose, Sardar Patel and many others has conveniently been wilfully forgotten by those who wanted to project just one or two national leaders all these decades and still continue to bake political loaves for petty and short term gains on the projects like the statue under reference which is as tall as the stature and contribution of the Sardar.
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