Hyderabad: Who was India’s first deputy prime minister? While everyone recalls the name of India’s first prime minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, this name doesn’t come to mind so easily. It was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, one of the most influential personalities who foug-ht for India’s Independence. Born in Nadiad, Gujarat, on October 31, 1875, into a farmer’s family, Patel, who came to be known as the Iron Man of India, was kno-wn for his wisdom and diplomatic skills. He led from the front to forge a united India, and succeeded in integrating into the newly independent nation all the British colonial provinces “allocated” to India.



Rare images of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel such as this one are on display at the United India-Role of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel exhibition at the Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad.

Using diplomacy, tact and might, where needed, he persuaded almost every princely state to accede to India. A new digital exhibition on the life and times of the Iron Man was inaugurated at Salar Jung Museum on Tuesday. The exhibition, titled “Uniting India Sardar Vallabh-bhai Patel. Ek Bharat Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Shreshtha Bharat”, was inaugurated by Union Minister of State for Labour Bandaru Dattatreya. Salar Jung Museum director Nagender Reddy and others were present at the event sponsored by the Union Ministry of Culture.

Rare photos of Patel — as a youth, with his family, with leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru, with Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir, Nizam VII Mir Osman Ali Khan, Maharaja Bodhchandra Singh of Manipur are on display. Photographs with the Junagadh nawab, the Aundh Rulerand others that showcase the trauma of Partition can also be seen.