RIFLE RANGE BOY: sardar

Sardar (1993)

Director: Ketan Mehta

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0240879/

Sardar Vallabhai Patel is said to be the best Prime Minister India never had. Dubbed the Iron Man of India, a title given to him by Mountbatten, some believe he might have led India along a different path if he had been chosen as the first Prime Minister instead of Nehru.

It was 1946. World War II had just ended, leaving England to tend its wounds. It faced a huge bill to pay and had lost its dominance on the world stage. The sun had finally set on the British Empire. The Anglo-Saxon cousins across the Atlantic, the Americans, had come out on top, as shown by the Conference in Yalta. Managing the colonies had become an expensive undertaking. England had to cut its losses and relinquish control over the colonies.

With that background, India had just formed its interim government. The Congress Party had recently won the elections. They were preparing to select the first Prime Minister of independent India.

Maulana Azad, at that time, was the President of the Congress Party. He had been its leader since 1940. No elections were held since 1940 after the Party announced the 'Quit India' movement, and as a result, most, if not all, of its senior leaders were behind bars. Gandhi, as the senior member who commands profound respect from his members, expressed his displeasure with a leader seeking reelection. Azad withdrew his nomination for reelection as the President.

Fifteen regional and state Congress committees were tasked with nominating their candidates. Twelve of these nominated Patel. Nehru got none, and the remaining three committees chose not to nominate anyone.

Surprisingly, Gandhi vetoed their decision. He requested that Patel withdraw his candidacy and suggested the Cambridge-educated, modern-looking Nehru to become the Party President and Patel to be his Deputy. Being a 'respectful lieutenant' and showing his respect for Gandhi, Patel obliged.

Gandhi believed the modern, forward-thinking Nehru would be a better choice than the traditional-thinking Patel. However, insiders suggest that it was probably Gandhi's fear that Nehru might cause trouble if he was not selected. The Congress might split, and the British could use that as an excuse to delay self-rule.

Being the compassionate man Gandhi was towards the Muslim plight, he thought Patel, as the Prime Minister of India, would be harsh against Muslims.

Nehru became the Prime Minister with Patel as his Deputy and Home Minister during the tumultuous times of newly independent India. With Pakistan being the albatross around India's neck and Patel and Nehru disagreeing on everything about the handling of Kashmir, it is a surprise how the Indian machinery remained intact.

King Hari Singh initially aimed to remain independent, like Nepal and Bhutan. When Pakistani agents infiltrated Kashmir, Hari Singh abdicated to Jammu. He consented to accession to India. Nehru, contrary to Patel's suggestion, called in the United Nations and advocated for a plebiscite. Patel had wanted the Indian Army to march in. The result of this approach led to repeated unrest, two subsequent wars, and the latest confrontation.

Junagadh, a princely state with a Hindu majority and no shared border with Pakistan, had a Muslim ruler determined to join Pakistan. His subjects revolted against him, and he abdicated in favour of Pakistan. With India's support, Junagadh was integrated into the State of Gujarat.

Another state, quite distant from Pakistan, that wished to join the dominion was the landlocked state of Hyderabad. It was surrounded by regions under India's control. The Nizam, once the wealthiest man in the world, also ruled over a Hindu majority. Using his immense wealth, he managed to procure arms from Europe through British arms dealers, pre-Partition. The Nizam had deployed a paramilitary group, the Razakars, led by Qasim Razvi, to terrorise Hindu peasants into submission. Meanwhile, the Communists were also attempting to benefit from the situation. Patel, citing Nehru's departure as an excuse, used the nation's machinery to launch police action to forcibly annexe Hyderabad into the union.

Nehru and Patel's differences were challenged by a series of resignation letters, but they were softened by Gandhi's persuasion. Gandhi's assassination compelled these two leaders to collaborate until Patel's death.

In recognition of his contributions to India's political integration, the Statue of Unity, the tallest statue in the world, was erected in Gujarat.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Sardar (1994)

I was curious to find out the statue of the 600-feet Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel created such a buzz when it was unveiled to the world recently. From accusations of wasting taxpayers money to trying to erase the memory of Nehru's contribution to Independence, the structure, which is four times taller than the Statue of Liberty, attracted the attention for all the wrong reasons. Many feel that its cost of USD 400million, albeit being contributed by the private sector, could be used for more pressing basic needs. The monument is said to be able to withstand a wind velocity of 220 km/h and seismic movements of up to Richter scale 6.5. Then, there were allegations of misuse of land rights, environmental degradation and religious insensitivities.

Sardar was somewhat a reluctant politician who rose, from being a cynic of Gandhism to being an active member of the Congress Party to being the Deputy Prime Minister of newly independent India.

In school, we never really came close to doing about Patel in our (Malaysian) history books. So it was a surprise when some of my Indian friends told me that Patel was actually the best Prime Minister that India never had. Because of Gandhi's obsession with Nehru and Patel's reluctance to show prominence, Nehru ended up filling up the history books.

Patel, a shrewd lawyer and politician, was instrumental in many of the decisions and successes of newly Independent India. He tried to establish a robust civil service and motivations to the farmers to be self-reliant. By far, his biggest achievement is the political shadow of getting the princely states, 565 of them, to join the Indian Republic rather than be part of the Islamic state of Pakistan.

An active advocate of 'Quit India Movement', he was the first proponent of Partition after seeing senseless religious violence.

This almost 3-hour movie fast-paced movie will appeal to viewers who are familiar with the history of India. The story is a collection of many events that the screenwriter expects the audience to know beforehand as the constraint of time impedes elaborate storytelling. In that way, many may get lost in the details.

Rakesh Rawal gave a sterling performance of Patel and the black and white footage and newspaper clippings of historical events add to the authenticity to the storytelling. High educational value.

Memorable quote:''I hope I am making right decision. My biggest fear is if these decisions are wrong then people will make us evil and if decisions are right then people will make us heroes. But, they won't understand in what circumstances and situation we made these decisions.''