Step by step he advanced towards this goal, ever keeping the final objective before himself and others and at the same time by negotiation and friendly compromise winning the willing consent of the people he was dealing with. Thus, without any ill-feeling on the part of the rulers or the people of those States, he made a united India out of a welter of States, whose separate existence would have been a powerful force for disintegration in these troublous times.He devoted himself also to the maintenance of peace and stability of India which were continuously challenged by internal strife and by the conflict that has been the heritage of the post-war world all over.As Deputy Prime Minister and in charge of two of the most important portfolios of Home and States, a heavy responsibility was cast upon him. That burden and responsibility he bore with patient courage, wisdom and equanimity. To the people of India and to the Governments at the Centre and in the States, the loss of Sardar Patel is grievous and irreplaceable.Yet he laid solid foundations and that work has to be carried on by those that follow him. It is for the people of this country to follow his shining example, his devotion to duty, his steadfastness, his sense of discipline, and thus to realise in ever growing degree that free and strong and prosperous India for which he laboured.That will be the true and imperishable monument to his memory and that of the Father of the Nation who led him to his path of destiny.”(Selected and edited by Mridula Mukherjee, former Professor of History at JNU and former Director of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library)(This piece was first published in National Herald on Sunday)
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