Vallabhbhai was the fourth of the five sons and a daughter of Ladba and Zaverbhai of Karamsad. His remarkable journey began at a young age. At his school, Vallabhbhai organized a student revolt against a corrupt teacher. His dream was to become a barrister. He went to England in 1910 and attended Middle Temple, where he topped the bar examination. He was called to the bar in 1913. He returned the same year, skipping the Continental tour, never to leave India till his death in 1950, at the age of 75.
He was a successful criminal lawyer in Ahmedabad, where, in 1915, he took the first step towards public life when he joined The Gujarat Sabha. In 1917, he was elected a member of the Ahmedabad Municipality, of which, by 1924, he became its President.
He was inspired by Gandhiji and his philosophy and started his political journey by joining the Gujarat Provincial Conference in 1917, joining the Kheda Satyagraha as Gandhiji’s deputy in 1918, leading the Indian National Congress (INC) to a thumping majority at the municipal election in 1920, and leading the Nagpur Flag Satyagraha and Borsad Satyagraha.
In 1917 Patel found the course of his life changed after having been influenced by Mohandas K. Gandhi. Patel adhered to Gandhi’s satyagraha (policy of nonviolence) insofar as it furthered the Indian struggle against the British. But he did not identify himself with Gandhi’s moral convictions and ideals, and he regarded Gandhi’s emphasis on their universal application as irrelevant to India’s immediate political, economic, and social problems. Nevertheless, having resolved to follow and support Gandhi, Patel changed his style and appearance. He quit the Gujarat Club, dressed in the white cloth of the Indian peasant, and ate in the Indian manner.
From 1917 to 1924 Patel served as the first Indian municipal commissioner of Ahmadabad and was its elected municipal president from 1924 to 1928. Patel first made his mark in 1918, when he planned mass campaigns of peasants, farmers, and landowners of Kaira, Gujarat, against the decision of the Bombay government to collect the full annual revenue taxes despite crop failures caused by heavy rains.
In 1928 Patel successfully led the landowners of Bardoli in their resistance against increased taxes. His efficient leadership of the Bardoli campaign earned him the title sardar (“leader”), and henceforth he was acknowledged as a Patel, however, was no revolutionary. In the crucial debate over the objectives of the Indian National Congress during the years 1928 to 1931, Patel believed (like Gandhi and Motilal Nehru, but unlike Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose) that the goal of the Indian National Congress should be dominion status within the British Commonwealth—not independence. In contrast to Jawaharlal Nehru, who condoned violence in the struggle for independence, Patel ruled out armed revolution, not on moral but on practical grounds. Patel held that it would be abortive and would entail severe repression.
Patel, like Gandhi, saw advantages in the future participation of a free India in a British Commonwealth, provided that India was admitted as an equal member. He emphasized the need to foster Indian self-reliance and self-confidence, but, unlike Gandhi, he did not regard Hindu-Muslim unity as a prerequisite for independence.
The book traces the life of Patel in a succinct manner. Patel was born on October 31, 1875 in the influential Patidar community as the fourth child to Ladbha and Jhaveribhai. Married at an early age, he matriculated and cleared his law examination much later. He became a successful lawyer from Godhra and then Borsad, but he decided to go to London and become a barrister.
To quote Patel, “I came from a middle class family. My father lived a humble and pious life and died in the temple he loved. He had no means to enable me to fulfill my ambitions. I realised finally that if I wanted to go to England. I had to earn money for myself. I, therefore, studied very earnestly for the law examination and resolved firmly to save sufficient money for a visit to England.” He finished his LL.B from the Middle Temple, England in June 1912 in a record two-and-a-half years and returned to India with ‘a lot of confidence, cynical attitude and a rational mindset’.
Despite tragedies in the domestic front, he went ahead to work in the public domain. Vallabhbhai Patel admitted: “No doubt, my practice is flourishing today. I am also doing something big in the Municipality. But, my practice may or may not be there tomorrow. My money will be blown tomorrow, those who inherit my money will blow it .Let me leave them a better legacy than money.”
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Sardar Patel Memorial Society and High Commission of India cordially invite you to the 75th Indian Independence Day celebrations.