The fact that Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel were the Independent India’s first Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister respectively, nowhere leads us to the wrong conclusion that they were against each other.
It was country’s fortune to have two such personalities who had characteristics so complementary to each other.
Both had immense loyalty and commitment towards their country and to their common master, Mahatma Gandhi, which further united them to work for country’s common good.
‘Only I know how much Nehru toiled for India’, this essay was written by Sardar Patel on 14th October 1949 appreciating Pandit Nehru on his 60th birthday.
“Having known each other in such intimate and varied fields of activity we have naturally grown fond of each other, our mutual affection has increased as years have advanced, and it is difficult for people to imagine how much we miss each other when we are apart and unable to take counsel together in order to resolve our problems and difficulties,” this statement written in the essay shows the respect and love both the personalities held for each other.
It is BJP which falsely implicated them to be rivals, stooping down to a level of even saying that Nehru did not attend Patel’s funeral in 1950.
But the fact remains, that both of them were true patriots and it was a remarkable sight to see them working together as respective heads, cooperating and coming together when the country needed them the most.
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