Perhaps no politician in contemporary history has contributed more to the safety and security of the Indian nation than Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Ironically, however, little is known or recognised about Patel's great role to the creation of India seventy years after he pieced together the map of India by uniting the princely kingdoms with British India to form a new democratic, independent nation. All the complexities of Patel's difficult life and the courageous decisions he took are frequently lost in political discourse, or worse, treated as mindless rhetoric.