Sardar Patel was against anybody -including his close kin -using his name for profit. Sardar was so strict about this that he had once told his son, Dahyabhai , to stay away from Delhi if possible, so long as he (Sardar) was in the national capital.

This may sound unbelievable at a time when cast-based reservations are being demanded in his name or when the state government is building his statue to show itself as the legitimate heir of his political legacy .

His grandson, Bipin Patel has written in his memoirs that Sardar Patel had told Dahyabhai in a letter written in the late 1940s, that if he is unable to sustain himself, he could go to him in Delhi.

“Don't misuse my name. Don't use my name for any favours in Delhi. Till I am in Delhi, stay away from it as far as you can,“ Sardar had written to his son Professor Ramji Savaliya, director of BJ Institute of Learning and Research, said Rajmohan Gandhi, in his biography of Sardar Patel, had also mentioned a similar incident involving Dahyabhai and the Iron Man.

“In 1945, Sardar once asked his son to leave his room when he went to seek the former's per mission to exchange a Karachi-based company for land left by a Muslim who had gone over to Pakistan,“ said Savaliya.

“It was his concern that his position could be exploited by nefarious elements and his family might not be spared. Both his children -Dahyabhai and Maniben -became MPs but they lived by the standard set for himself by Sardar Patel,“ said Savaliya. Savaliya said that Sardar had himself set high standards for public servants. “Even today , Sardar's family has largely stayed out of politics,“ said Savaliya.

Jinnah fought for Sardar

Sardar Patel and Jinnah may seem as two opposite ends of a spectrum. But there was a time when Sardar had sought Jinnah's help in city, when corruption charges were pressed against him and 18 other councillors in Ahmedabad municipality. In April 28, 1922, a case of `misrepresentation of funds' worth Rs 1.68 lakh was registered in Ahmedabad District Court (ADC). Sardar successfully defended the case in ADC. But he was dragged to the Bombay High Court in 1923. Jinnah led a panel of lawyers and fought for Sardar Patel. Sardar finally won the case.