By Fr Cedric Prakash sj* Come October 31st 2016: India remembers Sardar Vallabhai Patel who was born on this day in 1875 in Gujarat; he was more famously called ‘the Iron Man of India’. As free India’s first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, he worked tirelessly for national integration, fully convinced that groups like the RSS (whom he banned) were doing their best to destroy the unity and secular fabric of the country. Unfortunately, today the ‘powers-that-are’ are doing great disservice to this visionary statesman and of all the values he embodied, by attempting to construct a so-called ‘statue of unity’ (at a scandalous cost and great profits for China), by displacing the poor tribals and destroying the environment and the fragile eco-system. We need to learn from Sardar Patel what unity, integration and service to the country is all about! Come October 31st 2016: On this day, Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India was assassinated in 1984; this heinous deed was condemne