On October 31, as India commemorates the 150th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in 2025, it is fitting to reflect on his enduring role as the architect of a unified nation.
Born in 1875 in Gujarat, Sardar Patel’s statesmanship has many implicit parallels with ancient strategist Chanakya, while his modern successor, current Home Minister Amit Shah, extends this lineage into the contemporary internal security paradigm.
All three figures, separated by centuries, prioritized pragmatic realpolitik, territorial consolidation, and unyielding national integrity, shaping India’s sovereignty amid fragmentation and threats.
Acharya Chanakya, the 4th-century BCE Mauryan economist and advisor, authored the Arthashastra, a treatise on statecraft emphasizing alliances, intel gathering, and military cohesion.
He united warring kingdoms under Chandragupta Maurya to form India’s first empire. Historical accounts from the Mudrarakshasa play and Greek ambassador Megasthenes’ Indica describe Chanakya’s ability to neutralize rivals.
His pragmatic framework ensured internal stability and external defense, countering invasions from Seleucid Greeks.
Over two millennia later, Sardar Patel mirrored this in post-independence India.
Facing British departure in 1947, the subcontinent risked Balkanization with over 560 princely states. As Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, “Iron Man” Patel deployed diplomacy and decisive force to integrate them into the Indian Union.
The Instrument of Accession, drafted under his oversight, formed a strong union out of the divided princely states. As India’s first Home Minister, Patel established the All India Services (IAS and IPS) in 1947, insisting on a steel frame of merit-based bureaucracy.
This echoed the Arthashastra’s emphasis on competent administration as the backbone of stable rule. Even in municipal governance presiding over Ahmedabad from 1924 to 1928. Patel implemented sanitation, water supply, and anti-untouchability reforms, embodying Chanakya’s vision of ethical welfare and economic prudence for societal harmony.
Ruler of Hyderabad Osman Ali Khan, backed by Razakar militias, resisted integration. Sardar Patel authorized Indian troops under Major General J.N. Chaudhuri to overrun the state in five days, ending a pro-Pakistan Nizam rule.
Contemporaries like V.P. Menon, Patel’s secretary, documented in “The Integration of the Indian States” (1956) how Patel’s use of diplomacy and force secured compliance from unyielding princes.
Junagadh’s case exemplified his Chanakya-like qualities. The Muslim Nawab acceded to Pakistan in August 1947, despite a Hindu-majority population. Sardar Patel encouraged local plebiscites; a February 1948 referendum yielded 99% support for India, leading to its takeover.
In Jammu and Kashmir, Patel advocated firm control amid Pakistani tribal invasions in October 1947. He dispatched troops to Srinagar, saving the valley, and pushed for full integration after Jawaharlal Nehru made a historic blunder.
Today Amit Shah, as Union Home Minister, channels this legacy both in modern internal security paradigms and political statecraft. HM Amit Shah’s strategies recall Chanakya’s “dand” and Patel’s integration tactics against separatists, terrorists, and border threats.
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah has revamped frameworks to tackle left-wing extremism. Amit Shah’s political ascent also mirrors Chanakya’s transformation of Chandragupta from obscurity to empire. As BJP President and campaign architect, Shah engineered BJP’s 2014 Lok Sabha triumph, securing 282 seats through micro-targeting and alliance-building.
Another landmark move was abrogating Article 370 in August 2019, fulfilling Sardar Patel’s vision for Kashmir. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act bifurcated the state into union territories, enabling direct central oversight.
Official data from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) reports a 70% drop in terror incidents from 2018 to 2023, with stone-pelting ceasing post-abrogation.
Amit Shah has bolstered the Multi-Agency Centre for real-time intelligence sharing. reducing response times in attacks. The 2023 launch of the National Security Guard’s regional hubs and amended Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act targeted terror financing.
Over the past 11 years Maoist terror in India has been drastically curtailed through an integrated strategy of security, development, and rehabilitation, mirroring the philosophy of Chanakya niti and reducing affected districts from 126 (with 35 most affected) in 2014 to just 12 (with 6 most affected) a 90% decline while the affected area shrank from 18,000 sq km to 4,200 sq km.
Left-wing extremism incidents fell from a 2004-2014 total of 16,463 (averaging -1,200 annually) to 7,700 between 2014 and 2024, with only 374 recorded in 2024, a 53% overall reduction.
Total fatalities dropped 73%. From 6,984 (2004-2014) to 2,020 (2014-2023): security forces deaths declined 73% from 1,851 to 509, and civilian deaths fell 70% from 4,766 to 1,495, with just 23 civilians killed in 2024 and combined security-civilian deaths dropping below 100 in 2022 for the first time in three decades.
Naxalite casualties surged, with 290 killed in 2024 and 333 in 2025 so far, while over 10,000 surrendered nationwide since 2015 including 881 in 2024, 1,849 in 2025 (1,225 in Chhattisgarh alone), and 303 in a single 75-hour period in October 2025—reducing active Maoist cadre to 500-600 and their Central Committee from 42 members in 2004 to just 13 in 2025.
Infrastructure gains include 612 fortified police stations, 280 new forward operating bases, 11,503 km of highways, 20,000 km of rural roads, and over 4,800 mobile towers for 4G coverage by December 2025, alongside 10,000+ development projects (of which 85% are complete).
Today Maoist violence is at a 30-year low, positioning India to achieve a Naxal-free status by March 31, 2026, under HM Shah.
In Northeast India, HM Amit Shah has brokered peace accords resolving the Assam-Meghalaya border dispute, rehabilitating Bru-Reang refugees, and signing several other agreements reducing insurgency by over 70 percent since 2019.
Chanakya, Sardar Patel, and HM Amit Shah share a profound commitment to personal asceticism and iron discipline, embodying the leader as an exemplar of selfless service to the nation.
Chanakya, the austere scholar, lived a life of deliberate simplicity, renouncing luxury and material comforts to maintain clarity of purpose and moral authority.
Chanakya Niti verses repeatedly stress self-control and detachment as essential for unbiased statecraft. Over two millennia later, Sardar Patel mirrored this ethos with a simple lifestyle clad only in khadi, adhering to vegetarianism, and working relentless 18-hour days during the integration of princely states, as recorded in his daughter Maniben Patel’s diaries.
He refused British honors and channeled all energy into forging a united India. In the present day, HM Amit Shah upholds this legacy through a disciplined routine, eschewing ostentation despite wielding immense power.
This shared ascetic resolve rooted in Chanakya’s philosophy, lived by Patel, and practiced by HM Shah ensures that personal integrity fortifies national interest, keeping the flame of nation first untainted by ego or indulgence.
As India marks Sardar Patel’s 150th anniversary, from Chanakya’s Mauryan empire to Patel’s republic and HM Amit Shah’s secure union, the triad underscores the principle of nation first, discipline, pragmatism, and eternal vigilance. In an era of constant threats, their collective legacies affirm that iron-willed pragmatism remains Bharat’s bulwark.
