Minister of Home Affairs (India) in the context of "Lal Bahadur Shastri"

The Statue of Unity is the world's tallest statue, with a height of 182 metres (597 feet), located in Narmada valley, near Kevadia in the state of Gujarat, India. It depicts Indian politician and independence activist Sardar Patel (1875–1950), who was the first deputy prime minister and home minister of independent India. Patel played a significant role in the political integration of India. The statue is on the Narmada River in the Kevadiya colony, facing the Sardar Sarovar Dam, 100 kilometres (62 miles) southeast of the city of Vadodara.

The project was first announced in 2010 by Narendra Modi, then Chief Minister of Gujarat, and construction started in October 2013 by Indian company Larsen & Toubro, with a total construction cost of ₹27 billion (US$422 million). It was designed by Indian sculptor Ram V. Sutar and was inaugurated by Modi, then Prime Minister of India, on 31 October 2018, on what would have been Patel's 143rd birthday.

Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (Gujarati: [ʋəlːəbʱ.bʱɑi dʒʱəʋeɾbʱɑi pəʈel]; 31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950), commonly known as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, was an Indian independence activist and statesman who served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India from 1947 to 1950. He was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress, who played a significant role in the Indian independence movement and India's political integration. In Persian and elsewhere, he was often called Sardar meaning "chief". He acted as the Home Minister during the political integration of India and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947.

Patel was born in Nadiad city (present-day Kheda district, Gujarat) and raised in the countryside of the state of Gujarat. He was a successful lawyer. One of Mahatma Gandhi's earliest political lieutenants, he organised peasants from Kheda, Borsad and Bardoli in Gujarat in non-violent civil disobedience against the British Raj, becoming one of the most influential leaders in Gujarat. He was appointed as the 49th President of Indian National Congress. Under the chairmanship of Patel "Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy" resolution was passed by the Congress. Patel's position at the highest level in the Congress was largely connected with his role from 1934 onwards (when the Congress abandoned its boycott of elections) in the party organisation. Based at an apartment in Bombay, he became the Congress's main fundraiser and chairman of its Central Parliamentary Board, playing the leading role in selecting and financing candidates for the 1934 elections to the Central Legislative Assembly in New Delhi and for the provincial elections of 1936. While promoting the Quit India Movement, Patel made a climactic speech to more than 100,000 people gathered at Gowalia Tank in Bombay on 7 August 1942. Historians believe that Patel's speech was instrumental in electrifying nationalists, who up to then had been sceptical of the proposed rebellion. Patel's organising work in this period is credited by historians with ensuring the success of the rebellion across India.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (IAST: Gṛha Mantrālaya), or simply the Home Ministry, is a ministry of the Government of India. It is mainly responsible for the maintenance of internal security and domestic policy. It is headed by the minister of home affairs.

The Ministry of Home Affairs is also the cadre controlling authority for the Indian Police Service (IPS), DANIPS, DANICS and Central Secretariat Official Language Service (CSOLS).

Lal Krishna Advani (born 8 November 1927) is an Indian politician and statesman who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004 under Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He is one of the co-founders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindutva paramilitary organisation. He was the longest serving Minister of Home Affairs serving for 6 years and 64 days from 1998 to 2004, until his protége Amit Shah overtook him in 2025. He is also the longest serving Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, as well as the longest serving President of the BJP, the current ruling party of India. He was the party's prime ministerial candidate during the 1989, 1991, and 2009 general elections.

Advani was born in Karachi and migrated to India during the Partition of India and settled down in Bombay where he completed his college education. Advani joined the RSS in 1941 at the age of fourteen and worked as a pracharak (RSS officer) in Rajasthan. In 1951, Advani became a member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh party founded by Syama Prasad Mookerjee and performed various roles, including supervisor of parliamentary affairs, general secretary, and president of the Delhi unit. In 1967, he was elected as the chairman of the First Delhi metropolitan council and served till 1970 while becoming a member of the RSS national executive. In 1970, Advani became a member of the Rajya Sabha for the first time and would go on to serve four terms until 1989. He became the president of Jan Sangh in 1973, and it merged into the Janata Party before the 1977 general election. Following the Janata party's victory in the elections, Advani became the union minister for Information and Broadcasting and leader of the house in Rajya Sabha.