Fifth in the series, the volume covers the events of 1935, when, overcoming his personal reservations, Sardar Patel agreed to go along with the Congress decision to contest the Provincial Assembly Elections. The country wide campaign for the party took him to the plague-affected villages of Gujarat where at great personal risk he led the relief work with a band of volunteers. The Sardar exhorted the villagers to shirk social evils such as drinking, child marriage and the practice of untouchability. He wanted Hindu religion to be reformed and was critical of ritualism. The Sardar stood for Hindu-Muslim unity and condemned those who faught over mosques, temples and gurdwaras. The official and non-official sources for this period are naturally scarce and the material had to be collected from various repositories of records in India and abroad as well as newspapers of the time. This volume has been prepared under the overall supervision of a highpowered advisory committee with Mr. S. Nijalingappa as chairman, Mr. S.B. Chavan as senior vice-chairman and union ministers, chief ministers and statesmen of various states as members and Dr. P.N. Chopra, an eminent historian, as chief editor.
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