This book examines India’s nationalist fight against the British through Vallabhbhai Patel’s life

For too long nation, national, nationalism and nationalist have served as inclusive all-embracing notions that adorned the narrative of India’s historical journey towards self-rule to suggest an idyllic unity of purpose that managed to conceal the not-so-idyllic features that lay beneath. Romanticisation and euphoria, scorn and cynicism have all formed part of the old storyline of India’s freedom struggle whose clichéd imagery has now well crossed its sell-by date. Simplistic images of nationalism still persist today for two related reasons: in ideologically trimmed and fine-tuned shapes and forms, the images are used as reference points for independent India’s political and social goals by newer vested interests.

This ideological referencing then stretches further by idealising, even idolising constructed ideas of nation and nationality, and valourising performances of particular leaders by hailing them as saviours of the nation. Apparently innocuous, when extended to the point of emulation and replication, it becomes both acontextual and ahistorical. A multi-level re-examination of leaders’ roles and contexts enables a better understanding of why even as frontrunners, only the genius of some could go beyond their contexts (Gandhi being a prime example), while the proficiency of others like Patel, Jinnah, Bose, and to some extent even Nehru –...

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