Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

Introduction:

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, known as the “Iron Man of India’ is a revered name in Indian politics. A lawyer and a political activist, he played a leading role during the Indian Independence Movement. After independence, he was crucial in the integration of over 565 princely states into the Indian Union. He was deeply influenced by Gandhi’s ideology and principles, having worked very closely with leader. Despite being the choice of the people, on the request of Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel stepped down from the candidacy of Congress President, which ultimately turned out to be the election to choose the first Prime Minister of independent India. He was the first Home Minister of Independent India and his uncompromising efforts towards consolidation of the country earned him the title ‘Iron Man of India’. 

In 2014, the Government of India had decided to celebrate the birthday of Sardar Patel as the "National Unity Day" to honor Sardar Patel's contribution to integrated India. Since 2014, we are celebrating the 31st October (date of birth of Sardar Patel) as the "National Unity Day". Apart from this, the world's tallest statue, the Statue of Unity, was dedicated to him on 31 October 2018, which is about 182 meters (597 ft) high.

Early life

Vallabhbhai Patel was born on October 31, 1875 in Nadiad village of modern day Gujarat to Zaverbhai and Ladbai. Vallabhbhai, his father had served in the army of the Queen of Jhansi while his mother was a very spiritual woman.

Starting his academic career in a Gujarati medium school, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel later shifted to an English medium school. In 1897, Vallabhbhai passed his high school and started preparing for law examination. He went to pursue a degree in law and travelled to England in 1910. He completed his law degree in 1913 from Inns of Court and came back to India to start his law practice in Godhra, Gujarat. For his legal proficiency, Vallabhbhai was offered many lucrative posts by the British Government but he rejected all. He was a staunch opponent of the British government and its laws and therefore decided not to work for the British.

In 1891 he married Zaverbai and the couple had two children. 

Patel shifted his practice to Ahmedabad. He became a member of the Gujarat Club where he attended a lecture by Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi’s words deeply affected Vallabhbai and he soon adopted Gandhian principles to become a staunch follower of the charismatic leader.

Role in Indian National Movement

In 1917, Sardar Vallabhbhai was elected as the Secretary of the Gujarat Sabha, the Gujarat wing of the Indian National Congress. In 1918, he led a massive "No Tax Campaign" that urged the farmers not to pay taxes after the British insisted on tax after the floods in Kaira. The peaceful movement forced the British authorities to return the land taken away from the farmers. His effort to bring together the farmers of his area brought him the title of 'Sardar'. He actively supported the non-cooperation Movement launched by Gandhi. Patel toured the nation with him, recruited 300,000 members and helped collect over Rs. 1.5 million.

In 1928, the farmers of Bardoli again faced a problem of "tax-hike". After prolonged summons, when the farmers refused to pay the extra tax, the government seized their lands in retaliation. The agitation took on for more than six months. After several rounds of negotiations by Patel, the lands were returned to farmers after a deal was struck between the government and farmers’ representatives.

In 1930, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was among the leaders imprisoned for participating in the famous Salt Satyagraha movement initiated by Mahatma Gandhi. His inspiring speeches during the "Salt Movement" transformed the outlook of numerous people, who later played a major role in making the movement successful. He led the Satyagraha movement across Gujarat when Gandhi was under imprisonment, upon request from the congress members. 

Sardar Patel was freed in 1931, following an agreement signed between Mahatma Gandhi and Lord Irwin, the then Viceroy of India. The treaty was popularly known as the Gandhi-Irwin Pact. The same year, Patel was elected as the President of Indian National Congress in its Karachi session where the party deliberated its future path. Congress committed itself towards defence of fundamental and human rights. It was in this session that the dream of a secular nation was conceived. 

During the legislative elections of 1934, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel campaigned for the Indian National Congress. Though he did not contest, Sardar Patel helped his fellow party mates during the election.

In the 1942 Quit India Movement, Patel continued his unwavering support to Gandhi when several contemporary leaders criticized the latter’s decision. He continued travelling throughout the country propagating the agenda of the movement in a series of heart-felt speeches. He was arrested again in 1942 and was imprisoned in the Ahmednagar fort till 1945 along with other Congress leaders.

Sardar Patel’s journey often saw a number of confrontations with other important leaders of the congress. He voiced his annoyance at Jawaharlal Nehru openly when the latter adopted socialism in 1936. Patel was also wary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and considered him to be "keen on more power within the party”.

Sardar Patel & the Partition of India

The separatist movement lead by Muslim League leader Mohammed Ali Jinnah led to a series of violent Hindu-Muslim riots across the country just before the independence. In Sardar Patel’s opinion, the open communal conflicts incited by the riots had the potential to establish a weak Government at the centre post-independence which will be disastrous for consolidating a democratic nation. Patel went on to work on a solution with V.P. Menon, a civil servant during December 1946 and accepted his suggestion of creating a separate dominion based on religious inclination of states. He represented India in the Partition Council.

Contributions to Post-independence India

After India achieved independence, Patel became the first Home Minister and also the Deputy Prime Minister. Patel played a very crucial role in post-independence India by successfully integrating around 562 princely states under the Indian Dominion. The British Government had presented these rulers with two alternatives - they could join India or Pakistan; or they could stay independent. This clause magnified the difficulty of process to mammoth proportions. Congress entrusted this intimidating task to Sardar Patel who started lobbying for integration on August 6, 1947. He was successful in integrating all of them barring Jammu and Kashmir, Junagarh and Hyderabad. He eventually dealt with the situation with his sharp political acumen and secured their accession. The India that we see today was a result of the efforts put in by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

Patel was a leading member of the Constituent Assembly of India and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was appointed on his recommendation. He was the key force in establishing the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service. He took personal interest in initiating a restoration endeavour of the Somnath Temple in Saurashtra, Gujarat. Patel dealt ruthlessly with the Pakistan’s efforts to invade Kashmir in September 1947. He oversaw immediate expansion of the army and marked improvement of other infrastructural aspects. He often disagreed with Nehru’s policies, especially about his dealings with Pakistan regarding the refugee issues. He organised multiple refugee camps in Punjab and Delhi, and later in West Bengal.

Death

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's health started declining in 1950. He realized that he was not going to live much longer. On 2nd November 1950, his health deteriorated further and he was confined to bed. After suffering a massive heart attack, on 15 December 1950, the great soul left the world. He was posthumously conferred the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest Civilian honour, in 1991. His birthday, October 31, was declared Rashtriya Ekta Divas in 2014.

Mother Teresa (Saint Teresa of Calcutta)

Introduction:

Mother Teresa (1910-1997) was a Roman Catholic nun from the Republic of Macedonia who adopted India as her country of service. She dedicated her life in the service of the poor, ailing and the destitute through the Missionaries of Charities, an order of Roman Catholic nuns, in Kolkata, India. She had once said, “Love cannot remain by itself – it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action, and that action is service.” Her work transcended geo-political borders and she encompassed the whole of humanity in her healing embrace.

Her work was recognised through numerous international and national awards and recognitions. She was canonised at a ceremony in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican by Pope Francis on September 4, 2016 and came to be known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta.

Early Life

Mother Teresa was born on 26th August, 1910. She was born as Anjezë (Agnes) Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, the then Ottoman Empire (now the capital of Republic of Macedonia), on August 26, 1910 in an Albanian family. She was the youngest in the family. Her father, Nikola Bojaxhiu worked as a construction contractor as well as a trader and her mother, Dranafile Bojaxhiu hailed from a village near Gjakova. The family was devout catholic and Agnes’s father was a strong proponent of Albanian independence. Nikolai fell ill and ultimately succumbed to his ailments in 1919 when Agnes was just eight-year-old. Agnes was particularly close to her mother, who was a deeply religious woman with deep commitment to charity.

From a very young age, Agnes was attracted to a monastic life. She began her education in a Convent-run school and joined the local Sacred Heart choir in her church. She had heard the stories of Catholic Missionaries and their work of serving humanity. By the age of 12, she strongly believed that it was the calling of her life. Her pilgrimages to various Catholic churches, especially the shrine of the Black Madonna of Vitina-Letnice, strengthened her beliefs and inclinations.

Education and career

Mother Teresa used to go to the Loreto Abbey in Rathfarnham, Ireland, to learn English, the language the Sisters of Loreto used to teach school children in India. After that she went to Darjeeling in India and there she learnt the language Bengali and taught at the St. Teresa's School, a schoolhouse close to her convent. She took her religious vows while serving as a teacher in eastern Calcutta.  Later on after serving the school for almost twenty years, she became the Principal of the school. She loved serving as a teacher as it satisfied her and alongside helped immensely to those in despair and horror.

Dedication to poor

Mother Teresa's group continued to expand throughout the 1970s, opening new missions in places such as Amman, Jordan; London, England; and New York, New York. She received both recognition and financial support through such awards as the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize and a grant from the Joseph Kennedy Jr. Foundation. Benefactors, or those donating money, regularly would arrive to support works in progress or to encourage the Sisters to open new ventures.

By 1979 Mother Teresa's groups had more than two hundred different operations in over twenty-five countries around the world, with dozens more ventures on the horizon. The same year she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. In 1986 she persuaded President Fidel Castro (1926–) to allow a mission in Cuba. The characteristics of all of Mother Teresa's works—shelters for the dying, orphanages, and homes for the mentally ill—continued to be of service to the very poor.

In 1988 Mother Teresa sent her Missionaries of Charity into Russia and opened a home for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS; an incurable disease that weakens the immune system) patients in San Francisco, California. In 1991 she returned home to Albania and opened a home in Tirana, the capital. At this time there were 168 homes operating in India.

The Call

When Mother Teresa was 12 years old, she began to feel called to serve God as a nun. Deciding to become a nun was a very difficult decision. Becoming a nun not only meant giving up the chance to marry and have children, but it also meant giving up all her worldly possessions and her family, perhaps forever.

For five years, Mother Teresa thought hard about whether or not to become a nun. During this time, she sang in the church choir, helped her mother organize church events, and went on walks with her mother to hand out food and supplies to the poor.

When Mother Teresa was 17, she decided to become a nun. Having read many articles about the work Catholic missionaries were doing in India, Mother Teresa was determined to go there. Mother Teresa applied to the Loreto order of nuns, based in Ireland but with missions in India.

In September 1928, 18-year-old Mother Teresa said goodbye to her family to travel to Ireland and then on to India. She never saw her mother or sister again.

 Becoming a Nun

It took more than two years to become a Loreto nun. After spending six weeks in Ireland learning the history of the Loreto order and to study English, Mother Teresa then traveled to India, where she arrived on Jan. 6, 1929.

After two years as a novice, Mother Teresa took her first vows as a Loreto nun on May 24, 1931.

As a new Loreto nun, Mother Teresa (known then only as Sister Teresa, a name she chose after St. Teresa of Lisieux) settled into the Loreto Entally convent in Kolkata (previously called Calcutta) and began teaching history and geography at the convent schools.

Usually, Loreto nuns were not allowed to leave the convent; however, in 1935, 25-year-old Mother Teresa was given a special exemption to teach at a school outside of the convent, St. Teresa's. After two years at St. Teresa's, Mother Teresa took her final vows on May 24, 1937, and officially became "Mother Teresa."

Almost immediately after taking her final vows, Mother Teresa became the principal of St. Mary's, one of the convent schools, and was once again restricted to staying within the convent's walls.

Becoming a Saint

After Mother Teresa's death, the Vatican began the lengthy process of canonization. After an Indian woman was cured of her tumor after praying to Mother Teresa, a miracle was declared, and the third of the four steps to sainthood was completed on Oct. 19, 2003, when the Pope approved Mother Teresa's beatification, awarding Mother Teresa the title "Blessed."​

The final stage required to become a saint involves a second miracle. On December 17, 2015, Pope Francis recognized the medically inexplicable waking (and healing) of an extremely ill Brazilian man from a coma on December 9, 2008, just minutes before he was to undergo emergency brain surgery as being caused by the intervention of Mother Teresa.

Mother Teresa was canonized (pronounced a saint) on September 4, 2016.

Founding the Missionaries of Charity

Mother Teresa started with what she knew. After walking around the slums for a while, she found some small children and began to teach them. She had no classroom, no desks, no chalkboard, and no paper, so she picked up a stick and began drawing letters in the dirt. Class had begun.

Soon after, Mother Teresa found a small hut that she rented and turned it into a classroom. Mother Teresa also visited the children's families and others in the area, offering a smile and limited medical help. As people began to hear about her work, they gave donations.

In March 1949, Mother Teresa was joined by her first helper, a former pupil from Loreto. Soon she had 10 former pupils helping her.

At the end of Mother Teresa's provisionary year, she petitioned to form her order of nuns, the Missionaries of Charity. Her request was granted by Pope Pius XII; the Missionaries of Charity was established on Oct. 7, 1950.

Awards and Recognitions

Mother Teresa believed in the good of Humanity. She believed “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” And that message became the basis of her life’s work. She worked tirelessly, tending to the ailing, teaching the children and speaking to the topmost tier of the society of her vision. Mother Teresa not only built a giant institution and gave it the vision but also inspired millions of people around the globe to do their bit.

She received numerous awards and recognitions for her endeavours. She received the Padma Shree in 1962 and the Bharat Ratna in 1980. She was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding in 1962 for her work in South East Asia. She accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 but refused to attend the ceremonial banquets and requested the authorities to donate the expenses to charity. She was honoured with a number of civilian recognitions in other countries like the UK, the US, Australia and Germany. The Roman Catholic Church recognised her voluminous work with the first ‘Pope John XXIII Peace Prize’ in 1979. 

Controversies

Mother’s efforts received criticism from certain human rights agencies once she vocally expressed her views against contraception and abortion. Some allegations were made against her hospices for not providing proper pain alleviating methods or medical attentions to the dying despite receiving millions of dollars in donation for that specific purpose.

Later Years and Death

Despite the controversy, Mother Teresa continued to be an advocate for those in need. In the 1980s, Mother Teresa, already in her 70s, opened Gift of Love homes in New York, San Francisco, Denver, and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for AIDS sufferers.

Throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, Mother Teresa's health deteriorated, but she still traveled the world, spreading her message.

When Mother Teresa, age 87, died of heart failure on Sept. 5, 1997 (just five days after Princess Diana's death), the world mourned her passing. Hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets to see her body, while millions more watched her state funeral on television.

After the funeral, Mother Teresa's body was laid to rest at the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata. When Mother Teresa passed away, she left behind more than 4,000 Missionary of Charity Sisters at 610 centers in 123 countries.