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Patel: Political Ideas and Policies comprehensively presents the different facets of Sardar Patel’s political life, his ideas and their applications. The book provides a detailed analysis of his perspectives on liberal democracy, nationalism and the state—the three pillars of his political life. Patel’s role in the Constituent Assembly, transfer of power, integration of princely states with independent India and their territorial reorganization, administrative reforms, formation of the Planning Commission and creation of India’s foreign policy were decisive to the consolidation and the very survival of India as a nation. He played an equally decisive role in the formulation of India’s economic policies. After Patel’s death in 1950, his contributions to the nation have often been undermined and various negative characteristics have been attributed to him. This book aims to debunk these notions. It is based on the collected works of Patel and attempts to fill in the gap created by the absence of any significant academic work on his life and work.

Contents: Preface. 1. Introduction: Making of a Gandhian Nationalist—Life and Times of Sardar Patel/Shakti Sinha. 2. Vallabhbhai Patel and Idea of Nationalism/Dinesh Kumar Singh. 3. Patel’s Ideas of Governance/Himanshu Roy. 4. Gujarat Sabha, Kheda Satyagraha and the Contesting Masculinities: Evaluating the Early Sardar Patel/Balaji Ranganathan. 5. Patel and Minorities Niraj Kumar Jha / Sardar Patel and the Left/Neerja Singh. 6. Patel, League and the Hindu Nationalists/Bhuwan Kumar Jha. 7. Trade Union Politics and Patel Kuver/Pranjal Singh. 8. Patel and the Accession of Jammu and Kashmir/Sonali Chitalkar and Rahul Chimurkar. 9. Patel: Reorganization of States/Vinny Jain. 10. State Building in India: Sardar Patel’s Reflections on Civil Services/Karli Srinivasulu. 11. Economic Ideas of Sardar Patel/Amit Dholakia. 12. Conclusion/Himanshu Roy. Index.