Question

Discuss the role of sardar vallabhbhai patel in the integration of princely states

Answer 1

Present-day India owes an immeasurable debt of gratitude to the vision, tact, diplomacy and pragmatic approach of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the indomitable man who integrated 562 princely states with the Union of India and prevented the Balkanisation of the newly-independent country.

Back in 1947, India had finally gained a hard-fought independence but it had come with besetting problems — partition, communal riots and a refugee crisis. Add to that crippling resource constraint, fledgeling institutions and an ill-equipped colonial machinery and it’s not difficult to understand why India’s new government found the integration of more than 500 princely states a tough nut to crack.