after india achieved independence, patel became the first home minister and also the deputy prime minister. patel played a very crucial role in post-independence india by successfully integrating around 565 princely states under the indian dominion. the british government had presented these rulers with two alternatives - they could join india or pakistan; or they could stay independent. this clause magnified the difficulty of process to mammoth proportions. congress entrusted this intimidating task to sardar patel who started lobbying for integration on august 6, 1947. he was successful in integrating all of them barring jammu and kashmir, junagarh and hyderabad. he eventually dealt with the situation with his sharp political acumen and secured their accession. the india that we see today was a result of the efforts put in by sardar vallabhbhai patel.