Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Birth Anniversary: Remembering the Iron Man Of India - PICS

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in his young age.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Law school.

The first official meeting of the governors of India's nine provinces at Government House in New Delhi, India, 8th May 1949. From left to right, Sir Hormasji Pherozshah Modi (Uttar Pradesh), Krishna Kumarsinhji Bhavsinhji, Maharaja of Bhavnagar (Madras), Madhav Shrihari Aney (Bihar), Mangal Das Pakvasa (Central Provinces), Sir Chandulal Trivedi (East Punjab), Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 - 1964), Governor-General C. Rajagopalachari, Deputy Premier Sardar Patel, Dr Kailash Nath Katju (West Bengal), Raja Sir Maharaj Singh (Bombay), Asaf Ali (Orissa) and Sri Prakasa (Assam).

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel with Nejaji Subhas Chandra Bose and others.

Mahatma Gandhi waiting for a car outside Birla House, on his return from Rajkot. Amongst the group with him are Pandit Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel.

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Jawaharlal Nehru walk to a Congress meeting, while Sardar Patel is pulled alongside in a rickshaw. 

Indian President Rajendra Prasad swearing in new cabinet minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as India becomes a republic, January 30th, 1950.

Government officials outside the Council Room in the Viceroy's House, New Delhi, shortly before their swearing-in ceremony. (L to r) Mr Sarat Chandra Bose, Mr Jagjivan Ram, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Mr Asaf Ali, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, and Mr Syed Ali Zaheer.

Patel was born in Nadiad, Kheda district, and raised in the countryside of the state of Gujarat.[4] He was a successful lawyer. One of Mahatma Gandhi's earliest political lieutenants, he organised peasants from Kheda, Borsad, and Bardoli in Gujarat in non-violent civil disobedience against the British Raj, becoming one of the most influential leaders in Gujarat. 

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, his daughter Indira Gandhi, and Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Patel at a reception held by Nehru in honour of the delegates to the Asian Regional Conference in New Delhi in November 1947.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1875 - 1950); first, Deputy Prime Minister of India. Indian barrister and statesman, a leader of the Indian National Congress and a founding father of the Republic of India who played a leading role in the country's struggle for independence.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi with Sardar Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru.