Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi with Jawaharlal Nehru. Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan. Sardar Patel and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad at the A.I.C.C. meeting. Delhi. 1947. Gandhi (2 October 1869  30 January 1948). was the preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1875  1950) was an Indian statesman. a leader of the Indian National Congress and a founding father of the Republic of India. He was the first Home Minister of India