PATEL, SARDAR VALLABHBHAIPATEL, SARDAR VALLABHBHAI (–), Indian nationalist leader. Along with Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was one of the three foremost leaders of modern India, who inspired and awakened the nation during its arduous freedom struggle and in the precarious early years of independence. Source for information on Patel, Sardar Vallabhbhai.