no light Shah
In 1975, I happened to meet Prakashvir Shastri once by chance. Prahladbhai Patel – from our Prahladnagar. them there. The propaganda responsibility of the Janata Morcha was with Bhogilal Gandhi and me, Bhai Dasbhai Parikh was the same as Tatrlupta Saraswati. A painter's brush in propaganda literature needs a foundation. Realized in the assistance of Rajni Vyas. Introducing Pressline to Prahladbhai is their informal meeting. On the occasion of Sardar Jayanti being celebrated tomorrow, Prakashveer rushed to his senses as the Jan Sangh MP from Arya Samaj background had started the trend of celebrating Sardar Jayanti every year in Delhi on a grand scale. Talents of national level would be invited on that occasion and the Sardar's Sankirtan would be arranged. This was his undertaking because he felt that during Nehru's era Sardar Smriti was gradually left aside. It is also true that a stage has come for the Congress party to forget ('disuse') Sardar, just as the current years are for the BJP, etc., to throw him out of context, say his 'misuse'. Prakashveer said in conversation that once we invited Rajaji (India's first Hindi Governor General Chakraborty Rajagopalachari). He said well that Prime Minister Sardar and External Affairs Minister Jawahar would have been a Rude creation. But then he added such a detail that our calculation of Sardar's majesty Mandan (the publication portraying him as taller than Nehru) failed. Rajaji said that while the issue of Gandhi's or Nehru's kind of weakness (agar vegli bhumika) for partition is raised, the wider public is almost oblivious to the detail that Sardar, after running the government with the League in the interim, came to the conclusion that partition was inevitable. The decisive initiative in this direction in favor of the Congress was Sardar's. Attempting to pit Sardar and Jawahar against each other and thus to depreciate the role of Bharpadka Swaraj Suvan in the constellation of Gandhi-Nehru-Patel's swarajtriputi as well as the overall status quo is a tricky business. In any case, Sardar's idiosyncratic admirers and similarly idiosyncratic critics, it would be a good example to instill peace in the two camps. Vallabhbhai passed away on 15th December 1950. When the Hindu Mahasabha met in Poona in the following weeks, a resolution expressing regret over the Sardar's death was floated after a long delay! (In 'Sanskriti', Uma Shankar commented – Could there be a better show to uproot the notion that Sardar was a communalist?') When the news of Sardar's body being laid to rest in Mumbai came out, here is what Jawaharlal had to say in the Lok Sabha while delivering the news: 'A There is a story of Virat. The whole country knows and history will record page by page that he was the creator of Navbharat – and will say more. But many of us in this House will remember him as a great captain of the forces of the freedom struggle and as a giver of solid advice – be it in times of trouble or moments of triumph – who could always be relied upon. Whenever we are in trouble, He will remember us as a savior of our hearts.' Nehru was able to speak in the House, but when he reached Mumbai to join the final journey, he was so dazed that he could not speak. Ordinarily we remember Vallabhbhai for the merger of the desi princely states and that was indeed an extraordinary feat. But in the same months, he organized the administration efficiently and effectively, it was the British rule, but after reassuring it, he took it with him and strengthened the independence. But if Sardar got that recognition, the peasants of Bardoli fought. This fight was fought in the third decade of the last century. The final conference in Wadwan in 1922, in the third decade, is essentially a cut-off line to his leadership in a completely depersonalized way. When he arrived to participate in the conference, he saw that the Dalit brothers and sisters were kept apart. Immediately Vallabhbhai took his seat between them. Darbar was with Gopaldas and Bhaktiba. He did the same…the message got through! This third decade also belonged to the success that Ravi Shankar Maharaj brought to Patanwadis in Kheda district for better daily life. In 'Mansaina Diwa', Meghani has captured her beautiful pictures. The silent backing behind Maharaj was of course Vallabhbhai's. Becoming a leader in a democracy is not a matter of hard work but diplomacy. Can you join the last man? When we answer this question, we understand why it is illogical to compare Vallabhbhai, the son of a farmer, with Bismarck, the son of a nobleman. Although the subject is of Akhand Darshan, but even though this is a little piece of Khand Darshan, here we hope to recognize him in the way of Gandhi-Nehru-Patel's swarajtriputi as well as Sardar's own talent. This is the challenge of the politics of miss use and dis use.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
