Blog

Run For Unity: As a mark of respect to the National Unity Day i.e Rashtriya Ekta Divas, this was a run to commemorate Sardar Vallabhai Patel’s birthday. This is a fantastic tribute to relate the icon for the unity day as Sardar Vallabhai Patel. He is also fondly named the “Iron Man Of India”. Modi flagged off the run with a beautiful speech about the importance of Vallabhai Patel and his contribution to India. A small note of respect to Sardar Vallabhai Patel quotes can be found here.

What is unity day? 

For a nation with a population of 1.2 billion, 29 states, more than 4000 languages and umpteen cultures and diversities, a single idealogy isn’t easy. This is a tribute to promote tolerance, secularism and remind ourselves of “Unity in Diversity”. This proudly sits in our conversational and constitutional ethos.

So, why do we need a day to celebrate unity? What about a day to celebrate independence/being republic or even the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi? It is to mark the contribution of some of the most elegant leaders the world has ever seen. This is not just to make a platonic reference, but to remember the values they stood for. (Related: Independence Day quotes)

We need to understand and truly live their meaning. The idea of unity will never be obsolete for a country like India and the Run For Unity was just a start.

Meaning of Unity Day

It means that the strongest political leaders gathered together to mark the run, to spread a message. They got together with a pledge to strive to unite the nation. This meant breaking all the differences for the final goal to reinforce the image of the country over anything else.

Significance

History dates back to the 1600’s when the idea of divide and rule was in its inception. It reached its biggest success in a huge country like India under the chains of the English rule. The single most effective strategy they followed was divide and rule – divide people on the lines of their differences and pit one against each other and make the best of the situation.

You may use any word to describe the strategy followed but it proved to be a very effective one. To create a single country from 500 odd warring individual states was an accomplishment. And we have become a single country of that significance now. We will continue to promote that goal and ideal and that is the meaning of the run for unity today.

Pledge for unity day

“We the citizens of India make a pledge to uphold the ideals of unity, safety and make a promise that we will spread the message to our fellow Indians to breathe the morals of unity, tolerance, fraternity marking a nation of a value and a dream”

The idea of unity is not just a formality, it is a responsibility. And to take note, it is also a staunch remembrance that it is one of our fundamental duties as mentioned in the constitution to uphold these values of fraternity and the pledge was a certain necessity!

About Vallabhai Patel and his contribution to Unity/ Freedom

• He was the architect of Modern India
• He was a founding father of Republic India
• He organized peasants for non violent civil disobedience movement, strongly based on Gandhi’s values providing a staunch support for him
• He was the first home minister of Independent India
• He was responsible for the unification of the country, esp the princely states which wanted to maintain their own supremacy even after independence and would have chose separation from India as a whole

Who better than this man for the icon on “Unity in India”? The man who was responsible for unity, the man who strongly promoted and followed the Gandhian values and paraphrasing what our prime minister said –

“Just like the contribution of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa would have been incomplete without Vivekananda, Gandhi’s vision of unity would have been incomplete without Sardar Vallabhai Patel”

Well, who else can you think of to be a better icon for unity in India? (Related: More about sardar vallabhai Patel)