Why did Mahatma Gandhi stop Sardar Patel from becoming the first Prime Minister of the country?

If Mahatma Gandhi had not used his influence, Patel could have become the first Prime Minister of the country.

National Unity Day 2025: Sardar Patel’s birth centenary in 1975 was spent amidst neglect and indifference. The then Congress governments at the Center and in the states did not even bother to remember him. On the contrary, in 1989, on the birth centenary of Pandit Nehru, there was a lot of government events on a large scale. Both Nehru and Patel are great heroes of the country. But the process of promoting Nehru at the expense of Patel had started even before independence. Interestingly, the blame for this is not on anyone else but Mahatma Gandhi. Although Patel may have been neglected on the occasion of his birth centenary, everything has changed on the occasion of his 150th birth anniversary.

BJP governments from the Center to the states have started a series of massive events throughout the year at the government and party levels to keep alive the memories of Iron Man Sardar Patel, the symbol of the country’s unity. Then why only on this occasion, in 2013, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he started the construction of such a statue of Patel, which is the tallest statue in the world, at some distance from the Sardar Sarovar Dam.

As Prime Minister, he dedicated it to the nation in 2018. At present, the Congress is claiming Patel as its own and complaining about the BJP’s false claim on his legacy, but it is true that after his death, the Congress Party and its governments generally forgot Patel.

Why couldn’t Patel become Prime Minister?

If Mahatma Gandhi had not used his influence, Patel could have become the first Prime Minister of the country. Patel could have achieved this chair even by disobeying Mahatma Gandhi. The party was strongly with him. But instead of the post, Patel bowed to the wishes of his guru and mentor Gandhi. He also considered this sacrifice necessary in the interest of the country.

This was not the first but the third time when Gandhi had stopped Patel from taking charge of the Congress. But compared to 1929 and 1939, this year of 1946 was important because whoever became the Congress President would lead the interim government of the country. Contrary to the wishes of the party, Gandhi gave this opportunity to Nehru and after independence, he reserved the post of Prime Minister for Nehru.

Gandhi was with Nehru

Even before he was elected Congress President in 1946, Gandhi had expressed his opinion in favor of Nehru. Despite this, the Congress committees of 12 out of 15 states had proposed the name of Sardar Patel. Two states were with Kripalani. One state remained neutral. Gandhi was present in that decisive meeting. Nehru may not have got support from any state but Gandhi was with him. In the meeting, Kripalani handed over the paper of Gandhi’s wish to Patel in which he had to sign to withdraw his name in favor of Nehru.

Patel saw this paper and then passed it towards Gandhi. Gandhi had already expressed his opinion in favor of Nehru but still in the meeting he said that there was no state committee in support of Nehru. Nehru’s silence was his answer. It became clear that he would not accept anything less than the first position. Gandhi once again extended the paper towards Patel. Patel respected Gandhi’s wish. Immediately signed and withdrew his name. The way was cleared for Nehru to take the chair of the interim government, which after independence was known as the Prime Minister.

Why did Gandhi give preference to Nehru?

Why Gandhi preferred Nehru over Patel was made public after a year. What did Gandhi find important at the time of transfer of power, while fighting against the British and the British in the long struggle for independence? Gandhi’s grandson Rajmohan Gandhi quoted him in his book Patel: A life, “No one can replace Jawahar Lal at this time. Talks have to be made with the British. He has studied at Harrow. He is a graduate of Cambridge. He is a barrister. Even if only with a section of Muslims, he has communication with them. He is better known in other countries than Sardar. He will ensure a better role for India in the international world. At the same time, Jawahar Lal will not accept being in second place.”

If Nehru was less approving of the leadership of the government, on the other hand Gandhi was confident about Patel. Gandhi said that with the selection of Jawahar Lal the country would not be deprived of Patel’s services. They will drive the government’s vehicle like two oxen. Both will need each other and together they will take the country forward.

Differences between Nehru and Patel from the beginning

Of course, Nehru and Patel remained together later, but the tussle between the two started during the interim government itself. At the Meerut session of the Congress, Nehru said that he and other party ministers would resign from the interim government. On the other hand, Patel in Bombay said that there is no such plan. Still, even if everyone resigns, at least I will not resign. The complaint reached Gandhi. He sought answers from Patel. Patel wrote that I am not worried about the post of minister. But the repeated fake drama of Jawahar Lal’s resignation worsens the position of Congress in the eyes of the Viceroy.

Patel did not work on Kashmir

Patel is best remembered for strengthening the unity of India through the merger of 552 princely states. State Department Secretary V.P. Menon had a commendable role in his success. But Nehru’s choice was not Menon but HVR Iyengar. Despite Nehru’s opposition, Patel was successful in keeping Menon with him. Of course Nehru was the head of the government but Patel played a decisive role in the matters of princely states other than Kashmir.

In the Kashmir issue, Patel remained in action till the military action in Kashmir, despite Nehru’s hesitation and Mountbatten’s opposition, after receiving the letter of accession from Raja Hari Singh. But Nehru had a different thinking regarding Kashmir. Patel was against taking the Kashmir issue to the United Nations. They were not ready to trust even Sheikh Abdullah. Patel kept protesting from time to time but the final decisions on the question of Kashmir were of Nehru.

Patel is adamant about Junagadh and Hyderabad

Apart from Kashmir, Junagadh and Hyderabad were two such concessions which were not merged into India till 15 August 1947. Both these princely states with majority Hindu population had Muslim rulers. As soon as he got information about the proposal of the Nawab of Junagadh to merge the princely state with Pakistan and Jinnah’s approval to it, Patel ensured the siege of that place. The Nawab was in such a hurry to escape that even one of his wives was left behind. Then, according to the wishes of the population of the princely state, Patel confirmed the merger of Junagadh with India.

It was only after Junagadh that Patel started taking interest in Kashmir. But due to Nehru’s objection, Patel did not go beyond a limit. There were differences between Patel and Nehru on the issue of Hyderabad also. Nehru was not allowed to move forward due to fear of his image as well as international reaction and the fear of getting entangled in the issue of Hyderabad like Kashmir. Patel was a purely practical and grassroots leader whose fear of adverse consequences never stopped him from moving forward. Of course, Operation Polo in Hyderabad had cabinet approval but in reaching this decision Nehru and Patel clashed on several occasions.

Continuation of differences since Gandhi’s lifetime

This conflict between Nehru and Patel continued even during Gandhi’s lifetime. Gandhi was not unaware of this. Unfortunately, on the fateful day on January 30, 1948, when both of them were scheduled to sit together, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated. Both Nehru and Patel were deeply saddened by the loss of their patron. This sorrow kept them together in the interest of the country. But their ideological disagreements were exposed at every step. Patel’s efforts to warn Nehru about China’s evil vision regarding Tibet continued.

He wrote to Nehru, “China’s expansion has reached our doorstep. We consider it a friend but China is betraying us.” Nehru’s choice for the post of President was C. Rajagopalachari while Patel was in favor of Dr. Rajendra Prasad. In 1950, Patel helped Purushottam Das Tandon win the post of Congress President amid strong opposition from Nehru. Nehru had said that if Tandon won, he would resign from the post of Prime Minister. However, Nehru once again backed out from his announcement.

Trying to forget Patel?

Sardar Patel played a memorable role in the creation of independent India in a short period of time. With his death on 15 December 1950, that only voice became silent, who had played an equal role despite being a member of the Nehru cabinet. Patel did not lag behind in challenging Nehru when necessary. He had unlimited administrative ability along with taking accurate decisions and implementing them in time. His contribution to the country is unmatched. But he soon began to be forgotten. Was this all planned?

President Dr. Rajendra Prasad wrote in his diary on 13 May 1959 that what India is today is largely the result of Sardar Patel’s political skills and strong administrative ability, but we are ignoring his contribution. In 1989, Gandhi’s grandson Rajmohan Gandhi, while watching the pomp of Nehru centenary, TV serials, thousands of hoardings and listening to Nehru’s praises on various government forums, remembered that silent and neglected year of 1975, which was also the year of Patel’s birth centenary and the year in which Nehru’s daughter Indira Gandhi had imposed emergency on the country, four months before his birthday on October 31. Rajmohan wrote in the beginning of Patel’s biography that the curtain from the memory of Patel, one of the sons who played the most important role in the construction of modern India, is removed on certain special occasions or partially.

BJP does not accept neglect of Patel

Whatever the Congress governments or the party after Nehru were thinking about remembering Patel, first the Jan Sangh and then the BJP did not waste any opportunity to remember him. While being the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi took a big initiative on 31 October 2013. Resolved to build the world’s tallest statue of Iron Man.

This statue, installed near Sadhu Bet, Sardar Sarovar Dam, was dedicated to the nation by Modi as Prime Minister on 31 October 2018. Sardar Patel has also been given a place in the state-of-the-art Prime Minister’s Museum. A life-size AI-powered Holobox-17 of Patel has been installed there. Visitors there can have live, interactive interactions with a hyper-realistic 3D avatar of Iron Man Patel.

Patel may have been neglected in his birth centenary year, but in his 150th year, the Center along with many state governments as well as the BJP are organizing various programs on a large scale to commemorate his contribution throughout the year. The Center has decided to organize a mega event on this occasion. In this episode, a 90-minute play based on his life will be staged by the artists of National School of Drama (NSD) first on 30 and 31 October in Kevadiya, Gujarat. After this the play will be staged in other cities across the country including New Delhi and Ahmedabad. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the grand ceremony to be held in Kevadiya.

Also read: When Sardar Patel narrowly escaped the plane crash, the engine and radio were switched off, read the story of crash landing in Jaipur.