15/11/2020 Vallabhbhai Patel - Wikipedia

immediately moved to forestall any possible violence.[90] Within two months of Gandhi's death, Patel
suffered a major heart attack; the timely action of his daughter, his secretary, and a nurse saved
Patel's life. Speaking later, Patel attributed the attack to the grief bottled up due to Gandhi's death. [91]

Criticism arose from the media and other politicians that Patel's home ministry had failed to protect
Gandhi. Emotionally exhausted, Patel tendered a letter of resignation, offering to leave the
government. Patel's secretary persuaded him to withhold the letter, seeing it as fodder for Patel's
political enemies and political conflict in India.[92] However, Nehru sent Patel a letter dismissing any
question of personal differences or desire for Patel's ouster. He reminded Patel of their 30-year
partnership in the independence struggle and asserted that after Gandhi's death, it was especially
wrong for them to quarrel. Nehru, Rajagopalachari, and other Congressmen publicly defended Patel.
Moved, Patel publicly endorsed Nehru's leadership and refuted any suggestion of discord, and
dispelled any notion that he sought to be prime minister.[92]

Nehru gave Patel a free hand in integrating the princely states into India. [54] Though the two
committed themselves to joint leadership and non-interference in Congress party affairs, they
sometimes would criticise each other in matters of policy, clashing on the issues of Hyderabad's
integration and UN mediation in Kashmir. Nehru declined Patel's counsel on sending assistance to
Tibet after its 1950 invasion by the People's Republic of China and on ejecting the Portuguese from
Goa by military force.[93] Nehru also tried to scuttle Patel's plan with regards to Hyderabad. During a
meeting, according to the then civil servant MKK Nair in his book With No Ill Feeling to Anybody,
Nehru shouted and accused Patel of being a communalist. Patel also, on one occasion, called Nehru a
Muslim.[94]

When Nehru pressured Rajendra Prasad to decline a nomination to become the first President of
India in 1950 in favour of Rajagopalachari, he angered the party, which felt Nehru was attempting to
impose his will. Nehru sought Patel's help in winning the party over, but Patel declined, and Prasad
was duly elected. Nehru opposed the 1950 Congress presidential candidate Purushottam Das Tandon,
a conservative Hindu leader, endorsing Jivatram Kripalani instead and threatening to resign if
Tandon was elected. Patel rejected Nehru's views and endorsed Tandon in Gujarat, where Kripalani
received not one vote despite hailing from that state himself.[95] Patel believed Nehru had to
understand that his will was not law with the Congress, but he personally discouraged Nehru from
resigning after the latter felt that the party had no confidence in him.[96]

In his twilight years, Patel was honoured by members of Parliament. He was awarded honorary
doctorates of law by Nagpur University, the University of Allahabad and Banaras Hindu University in
November 1948, subsequently receiving honorary doctorates from Osmania University in February
1949 and from Punjab University in March 1949.[97][98] Previously, Patel had been featured on the
cover page of the January 1947 issue of Time magazine.[99]

On 29 March 1949 authorities lost radio contact with a Royal Indian Air Force de Havilland Dove
carrying Patel, his daughter Maniben, and the Maharaja of Patiala from Delhi to Jaipur.[100] The pilot
had been ordered to fly at a low altitude due to turbulence.[101] During the flight, loss of power in an
engine caused the pilot to make an emergency landing in a desert area in Rajasthan. [101] Owing to the
aircraft's flying at a low altitude, the pilot was unable to send a distress call with the aircraft's VHF
radio, nor could he use his HF equipment as the crew lacked a trained signaller.[101] With all
passengers safe, Patel and others tracked down a nearby village and local officials. A subsequent
RIAF court of inquiry headed by Group Captain (later Air Chief Marshal and Chief of the Air Staff)
Pratap Chandra Lal concluded the forced landing had been caused by fuel starvation.[100][101] When
Patel returned to Delhi, thousands of Congressmen gave him a resounding welcome. In Parliament,
MPs gave a long standing ovation to Patel, stopping proceedings for half an hour. [102]

Death
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