October 31, observed as former premier Indira Gandhi's death anniversary, is being recast as National Unity Day, a celebration of Sardar Vallabbhai Patel's birth anniversary.

On the occasion, the national public broadcaster Doordarshan has envisaged a series of programmes, including reporting of celebrations at ‘Lau Purush’ (Iron man’s) village Karamsad in Gujarat for which a production team has been dispatched to do a half-an-hour documentary tracing the life of a leader who established national unity.

Archana Dutta, the news channel’s DG, said the documentary would focus on Patel's steelier role in the independence struggle and his work post-independence that were mostly related to annexing princely states to Indian union. Exceptional historical shots from the Films Division have been scooped up for the documentary which is dressed with intellectuals outlining Patel's significance in the nation's history. DD has also produced a promo explaining Patel's idea of India and stressing on the theme of National Unity Day.

"The documentary and the programmes are all being done in-house. We have already sent a DD news team to cover the celebrations at Patel's village Karamsad," Dutta said. DD will also cover events like Run for Unity expected to be held in various parts of the country. 'Ekta Daud' ( Run for Unity) will spread the Iron Man's message of good governance and national integration, information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar has said.

Earlier, Javadekar had announced that PM Narendra Modi would address the public to spread Sardar Patel's message.

The DD’s initiatives will be followed by a media blitzkrieg including advertisements in print, electronic and social media.