Sardar Patel's Collected Works to come out in January

Amid the Narendra Modi government's efforts to resurrect the memory of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, his Collected Works, including his speeches, writings and correspondence will come out in 15 volumes next month.

This will be a re-print of the 15 volumes that were published about a decade ago but which have been unavailable for years, K.P.R. Nair, founder and managing director of Konark Publishers, told IANS.

Each hardbound volume will cost Rs.1,000.

The Collected Works, edited by the late P.N. Chopra and Prabha Chopra, covers the period from 1918 when Patel - later to be called the 'Iron Man of India' - took to politics and till he died in 1950.

"The volumes are of great historical value, and will be of interest to students, scholars, political thinkers and leaders and many others," Nair said.

Ever since Modi became prime minister in May, the central government has made it a mission to propagate the ideal of Sardar Patel, saying he had been ignored by successive Congress governments.

One of the founding fathers of the Indian republic and a leading light of the Congress, Sardar Patel - as he was known - played a key role in the independence struggle.

He then guided the integration of the princely states into a united and independent nation post-1947.

After refusing a law professor's job and giving up his practice as a lawyer, Sardar Patel became a trusted and life-long companion to Mahatma Gandhi.

As he toured the country, he urged villagers to shun social evils such as drinking, child marriage and untouchability. He wanted the Hindu religion to be reformed and was critical of ritualism.

He stood for Hindu-Muslim unity and condemned those who fought over mosques, temples and gurdwaras.

The volumes also bring out the differences between Sardar Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru, his role in creating the Indian Administrative Service in place of ICS, and his warnings against Chinese designs on India.