Everything about Vithalbhai Patel totally explained
Vithalbhai Patel (
1871 -
22 October 1933) was an
Indian legislator and political leader, and co-founder of the
Swaraj Party.
Early life
Born in
Nadiad, in the Indian state of
Gujarat, Vithalbhai Jhaverbhai Patel was the third of five Patel brothers, four years elder to
Vallabhbhai Patel, raised in the village of
Karamsad. Vithalbhai educated himself in Nadiad and in
Bombay, and worked as a pleader (a junior lawyer) in the courts of
Godhra and
Borsad. At a very young age, he was married to a girl from another village, Diwaliba.
His younger brother
Vallabhbhai Patel had similarly studied by himself and worked as a pleader. Studying in
England was a dream to both men, although they didn't know this. Vallabhbhai had saved enough money and ordered his passport and travel tickets, when the postman delivered them to Vithalbhai, on account that it was addressed to a
Mr. V.J. Patel, Pleader. Vithalbhai insisted on traveling on those documents actually meant for Vallabhbhai, pointing out that it would be socially criticized that an older brother followed the lead of the younger. Respecting his brother despite the obvious cruelty of fate on his own hard work, Vallabhbhai allowed him to proceed to England, and even paid for his stay.
Vithalbhai entered the
Middle Temple Inn in
London, and completed the 36-month course in 30, emerging at the top of his class. Returning to Gujarat in 1913, Vithalbhai became an important barrister in the courts of Bombay and
Ahmedabad. However, his wife died in 1915, and he remained a widower.
Political career
Patel entered politics before his more renowned brother, winning a seat on the Bombay Legislative Council, a body with no real functions. Although failing to achieve anything concrete in terms of the fight for national independence, self-government or public welfare, Patel grew popular and respected by his oratorical and witty mastery and belittling of the Raj's officials, winning many a battle of wit, which bore little overall significance. He rose to the presidency of the
Imperial Legislative Council, a collage of pro-British elected and appointed Indians and Englishmen designated to rubber-stamp the Viceroy's decisions.
Although never truly accepting the philosophy and leadership of
Mohandas Gandhi, Patel joined the Congress and the struggle for freedom. He had no regional base of support, yet he was an influential leader who expanded the struggle through fiery speeches and articles published. When Gandhi aborted the struggle in 1922 following the
Chauri Chaura Incident, Patel left the Congress to form the
Swaraj Party with
Chittaranjan Das and
Motilal Nehru, which would seek to foil the Raj by sabotaging the government after gaining entry in the councils. The party only succeeded in dividing the Congress and finally itself, but Patel and others were important voices who rebelled against the leadership of Gandhi when the nation anguished over the abortion of the
Non-Cooperation Movement
Last years
Vithalbhai Patel rejoined the Congress in
1930 upon the declaration of
Purna Swaraj (
Complete Independence), yet later gave it up after the end of the
Salt Satyagraha. He became a fierce critic of Gandhi and a strong ally of
Subhas Chandra Bose. Bose and Patel travelled across Europe, gathering funds and political support - among others, they met
Éamon de Valera, President of
Ireland. However, Patel fell seriously ill, and died in
Geneva,
Switzerland.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Vithalbhai Patel'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://vithalbhai_patel.totallyexplained.com">Vithalbhai Patel Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
