On the 150th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami joined thousands in Dehradun on 31 October 2026 to observe Rashtriya Ekta Diwas — National Unity Day — with a floral tribute, a unity oath, and the green flag that sent the 'Run for Unity' surging through the city's streets.

A Statue, a Pledge, and a Starting Gun

CM Dhami first offered flowers at Sardar Patel's statue in the state capital, a moment of quiet reverence before the morning's energy took over. He then administered the unity pledge to the assembled crowd — a public commitment to uphold the ekta, akhandata evam samprabhu­ta (unity, integrity, and sovereignty) of the nation — before flagging off the run.

Sharing the occasion on X, Dhami wrote that Patel's entire life was a symbol of national service, iron will, and indomitable resolve, and that his dedication to the nation's unity 'will always inspire the countrymen.'

Why October 31 Carries Such Weight

Rashtriya Ekta Diwas has been observed every year since 2014, when the Government of India instituted it to mark Patel's birth anniversary and anchor a national conversation around integration. The day draws its power from Patel's defining post-independence achievement: the merger of more than 560 princely states into the Indian Union in the months after 1947, a feat that shaped the country's modern territorial boundaries. The Statue of Unity in Gujarat, inaugurated in 2018, stands as the most visible monument to that legacy.

Across India, state governments — particularly in BJP-governed states — align their programmes with the central government's emphasis on Patel's legacy, making the day one of the most uniformly observed commemorations in the national calendar. Dehradun's edition follows that well-established pattern: a symbolic tribute, a collective oath, and a mass run that turns civic participation into a statement about national identity.

Uttarakhand's Stake in the Unity Narrative

For a border state like Uttarakhand — sharing sensitive frontiers with China and Nepal — the themes of sovereignty and territorial integrity carry an especially concrete resonance. Chief ministers in such states have consistently used Rashtriya Ekta Diwas to reinforce both civic pride and the idea that national integration is not a historical event but an ongoing commitment.

The Run for Unity format, deployed simultaneously across hundreds of cities and towns, is designed to do exactly that: transform a date on the calendar into a shared, kinetic, very public act of solidarity.

Seventy-nine years after Patel began knitting a fragmented subcontinent into a single republic, the runners in Dehradun this morning were, in their own way, still making the same argument he did — that India holds together by choice, and that the choice must be renewed.