Search e-Library

Patel : Viṭhalbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (1873-1933), elder brother of Vallabhbhai (Sardar Patel). In 1905, he went to England & studied at the Middle Temple Inn in London, completing the 36-month course in 30, as the topper of his class. There he met Naoroji & was converted to constitutionalism. Back in India, he started working as a barrister in Bombay & Ahmedabad. In 1913 he was elected to the Bombay Legislative Council as a representative of the District Local Board of Gujarat. As a member of the Council he, along with Gokuldas Parekh & others, not only raised issues relating rights of elected representatives but also of farmers & common people, esp. the injustices to Hindu women by enforcing irrational medieval Hindu customs under ‘Hindu Law’ while ignoring the more rampant injustices to Moslem women; their efforts got the Compulsory Education Bill & the Ayurvedic & Yunāni Medicine Bills passed. In 1918, he was nominated to the Imperial Legislative Council & the next year to the Viceregal Legislative Council. In both these institutions his work was path-breaking. He introduced The Hindu Marriages (Validity) Bill in the Imperial Council on 5 September 1918 meant to provide legal sanction to marriages between Hindus of different castes. The Bill was condemned by orthodox Hindus, & found inadequate by West-blinded Hindu ‘reformers’ but believed by Hindu leaders like Lajpat Rai as a step in the right direction. “Many of our present social forms were shaped, many of our customs originated, in a [time] of contraction & decline. They had their utility..., but are a drag upon our progress in the present hour when we are called upon once again to enter upon a free & courageous self-adaptation & expansion. I believe in an aggressive & expanding, not in a narrowly defensive & self-contracting Hinduism.” [CWSA 36:274-5] When the Central Budget for 1922-23 doubled the salt tax, Patel who had joined the Swaraj Party got that clause thrown out of the Budget & the Viceroy put it back proving the reforms had not granted elected Indians the power to control the budget. In 1924 Patel was elected the Mayor of the City of Bombay, but resigned his Mayorship rather than receiving the Viceroy who was recognized as a symbol of the state of the country’s subjugation. The same year in 1924 he was elected to the Central Legislative Assembly along with Motilal & others of the Swaraj Party. They were doing very well there when Gandhi, prematurely released from jail, tripped & tied them up in his coils. Patel, Das & Motilal fumed in vain, knowing that Gandhi’s ‘civil disobedience’ would once again lead the nation in to chaos. Nevertheless they took the bait Gandhi offered & were re-elected in 1925. ― After Das’s death, Patel was the chief thorn in Gandhi’s side; Motilal who had taken over the Party’s reins & was under the thumb of Gandhi got rid of Viṭhalbhai by making him stand & win the Speakership of the Central Assembly. During his tenure healthy traditions were set out & democratic institutions matured in an unprecedented way. For instance, since 1921, Delhi’s Central Assembly had separate toilets marked for Europeans & non-Europeans; he removed this segregation. He maintained the dignity & status of the Chair by ruling that the Viceroy wouldn’t enter the House with pomp & retinue but would enter from the Speaker’s chamber & occupy a chair next to him. This practice was never witnessed before. He also didn’t permit the Commander-in-Chief to address the House till an apology was received for disregarding the House by absenting from the House when his speech was under discussion. In 1929, Govt. introduced a Public Safety Bill to deal with terrorist crimes in the Central Assembly. On 8th April, before Patel could give his ruling on the Bill, Bhagat Singh threw a bomb on the Assembly floor. Three days later Patel ruled the Bill out of order as the issues it raised were sub judice in the Meerut conspiracy case against certain Communists & would be prejudicial to a fair trial. Viceroy Lord Irwin issued an ordinance enacting the measure. In September, when Irwin referred to these happenings, Viṭhalbhai, as Speaker of the House, wrote to him that no one could question his ruling within the precincts of the House. Irwin wrote back that he had not meant to question the ruling & expressed regret for his remarks. Later, seeing how the Simon Commission’s Report (5-Sept-1929) had created a furore with Congress declaring it would take up ‘civil disobedience’ in 1930 if Govt. did not accept the new constitution framed by the Nehru Report in 1928, Irwin persuaded Macdonald to announce a Round Table Conference but Gandhi dismissed the promise of Dominion Status “as undated & undefined”. Viṭhalbhai succeeded to modify Gandhi’s stand & a statement signed by Gandhi, Malaviya, Motilal, Sapru, Ansari, Jawaharlal & Mrs Besant conceded Govt.’s sincerity in wanting to satisfy Indian aspirations. Viṭhalbhai arranged a meeting between these leaders & Irwin on 23 December 1929 but a terrorist bomb damaged Irwin’s bogie in the train bringing him to Delhi. When Irwin couldn’t promise the immediately operative Dominion Status that Gandhi demanded, the talks broke down. Dispirited, Patel told Durga Das, “You can lead a horse to water but cannot make him drink. I wash my hands of all this.” In 1930, compelled by Gandhi’s hare-brained ‘civil disobedience’, Patel resigned; he & Motilal were swallowed up in his Gandhi’s disruptive mobs & imprisoned. When they were released in 1931, their health was broken – Motilal died the same year & Viṭhalbhai went into a sanatorium in Vienna. When Durga Das met him there he recalled with a touch of asperity how, though he had brought Gandhi & Irwin together, he had not been asked to accompany Gandhi to the Round Table Conference where he would have dealt with the wily diplomatic manoeuvrings of the Brit far better than Gandhi. Gandhi had insulted him further by getting his younger brother rather than him to preside over INC’s Karachi session in 1931. Sabhās Bose, released from Bhowali Sanatorium too ended up in Vienna for further medical treatment & met Patel – the two had worked together after Gandhi’s Salt Satyagraha. While Bose’s health improved & he travelled extensively throughout Europe gathering funds & political support, while Viṭhalbhai started declining further. Since Patel trusted Bose implicitly, he bequeathed to two lakhs of rupees to him to spend for the national work he planned, knowing he had neither private means to earn, nor would he receive a single penny from Congress. He passed away on October 22, 1933 in Geneva; & Sardar Patel, ever the obedient soldier of Gandhi who hated Bose, filed a suit in a Brit law court in India & got the bequest of his deceased brother nullified. Viṭhalbhai body was brought back to India & cremated in Bombay on November 10. [Based on Bhattacharya; Durga Das, From Curzon to Nehru & After, 1969; Ravindra Kumar’s V. J. Patel: A Great Freedom Fighter & Parliamentarian]