Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial is housed in an old palace known as Motishahi Palace, which has an interesting history. This palace was constructed by the Moghul emperor, Shahjahan in 1622 mainly to provide employment to his poor subjects in those times of scarcity. Later it was the residence of British residents and after the formation of Gujarat state in 1960, it was renovated for becoming Rajbhavan, the residence of Governor of the Gujarat state and remained so till 1978. To mark the birthday centennial year of Sardar Patel, free India’s first Home Minister and whose untiring efforts helped in the unification of 562 states with the country, the whole complex having huge garden was endowed to be the memorial Patel’s honour and was established as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel memorial in 1980. The building has 2 floors and some rooms with a large backyard behind it. As one enters the main entrance he would find a central floor, 2 rooms on the left side and 2 rooms on the right. One room has Patel’s portraits of freedom struggle, biographical descriptions and quotes by his admirers and friends. In 2 rooms are hosed relics of Patel’s life, his personal possessions and political cartoons. Sardar Patel’s work with Mahatma Gandhi, glimpses of his young life, education, legal and political career-- all are depicted in another room. Another room contains his personal effects like Khadi kurta, dhoti, jacket, shoes etc. besides European style of dresses. An interesting item is the flag that Congress has designed in 1930. One room shows his photos illustrating his efforts to commission Sardar Sarovar Dam and other Irrigation projects for Gujarat. Rooms on the first floor display many portraits, pictures and paintings about Rabindranath Tagore who is known to have lived here in 1878 when he was just 17 years old. There is so much information about the life of Sardar Patel, great freedom fighter and the main force in uniting India after freedom. However, I regret to comment that the management is not taking enough care, Rest rooms or toilets are outside on the left flank but without proper maintenance and hygiene. A restaurant serving nearby training institute is available but not worth visiting. The memorial is supposed to have Laser show on Saturdays, for which we waited for one hour but it was cancelled due to less people. To attract more visitors to this memorial in honour of a great son of India, the management must show some interest and vision.The photographu is not permitted but I could manage to take afew.

The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial, an imposing and elegant building (an erstwhile palace), is dedicated to a splendid display of artifacts related to the life and times of the great leader who was responsible for the merger and integration of the Princely states in India into the Union of India, after India’s independence. Moti Shahi Mahal , as this palace was initially named, was built by Emperor Shahjahan between 1618 and 1622. The museum has photographs, writings and other memorabilia of the leader, displayed neatly. Two multimedia halls with interactive exhibits are the highlights here but for lack of time, we couldn’t enjoy them fully. A small entry fee is charged to enter the Memorial. A basement gallery has amazing portraits of all the great leaders of India. Just outside the building are statues of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, seemingly engaged in conversation! An endearing moment beautifully and deftly captured by the sculptor! The toilet block was clean but the latch of the toilet I entered was faulty. The Memorial’s complex has a small privately managed cafeteria which had lots of items on its menu but could serve us only some vegetable sandwiches after a lot of time! The chutney was very pungent so I could barely manage one of those sandwiches and gobbled some biscuits to curb my hunger pangs.