Whose name reverberates in the mind of the Hindu communalist to swear by other then Shivaji Maharaj and Swami Vivekanand certainly it's of Sardar Patel. When we study a book, COMMUNAL RAGE IN SECULAR INDIA written by Rafiq Zakaria who was an Indian politician and Islamic religious cleric born in Mumbai 1905 and he also died there in Mumbai in 2005. Though it is not wrong to say that communalists often quote Sardar Patel than Gandhi or any other top leaders of his time.
Zakaria mentioned in one viz., ' Sardar Patel', that apart from Shivaji and Vivekanand the Hindu Communalist swear by Sardar Patel and propagate him among the people. They consider that Patel was real liberator of India. But here is the question why the Muslims have been made to believe that he was their enemy and wanted to subjugate them? According to author of the said book this was said even during the freedom struggle with the result that the Mahatma Gandhi had to publicly contradict it. Gandhi said, “ It would be a travesty of truth to describe the Sardar as being anti-Muslim. He further explained that Sardar Patel's heart is so exhaustive that it can accommodate all”. It could be painful and to learn that a staunch disciple of Gandhi ji was misrepresented like this. According to Zakaria Patel was not only a firm believer in the Mahatma's philosophy of non-violence but also a strong upholder of his mission of Hindu-Muslim unity. Under this condition it will be direst adversity before the people if the realty is not being put forward.
Zakaria also delivered prestigious lectures in the memory of Sardar Patel on All-India Radio. He chose the subject: Sardar Patel and Indian Muslim and Hindu Muslims relations. Here it will be useful to mention some of the glimpses of Zakaria's meeting with Loh Purush Sardar Patel in Mumbai on 9th May in 1950 at around 10 am. At this time Sardar Patel was lying in bed as he was not in the best of helath. In this meeting Hindu-Muslim problem was discussed. Particularly the attitude of the younger Muslim generation was discussed. Sardar Patel listened Zakaria patiently and asked him to impress upon his young co-religionists the need to get rid of the barriers that Jinnah and the Muslim League had built in dividing the two communities.
We this is was the story of 1950 when Jinnah was alive the man who divided India. But question is how and by whom the same two communities are being divided now?
