Maniben Patel (24 April 1904 — 26 March 1990) was an

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

activist and a Member of the

Indian parliament The Parliament of India (ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The President o ...

. She was the daughter of

freedom fighter A freedom fighter is a person engaged in a struggle to achieve political freedom, particularly against an established government. The term is typically reserved for those who are actively involved in armed or otherwise violent rebellion. Termi ...

and post-Independence

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n leader

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (; ''Vallabhbhāī Jhāverbhāī Paṭel''; 31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950), commonly known as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, was an Indian independence activist and statesman who served as the first Deputy Prime ...

. Educated in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

, Patel adopted the teachings of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

in 1918, and started working regularly at his ashram in

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

Early life

Patel was born on 24 April 1904 at Karamsad, Bombay Presidency,

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. She was brought up by her uncle Vitthalbhai Patel. She completed her early education at Queen Mary High School in

. In 1920 she moved to

and attended the university of Rashtriya Vidhyapith started by

. After graduating in 1925, Patel went on to assist her father.

Borsad movement

In 1923-24 the British government levied heavy taxes on the common people and for recovery of the same they started confiscating their cattle, land and property. To protest against this oppression, Maniben motivated women to join a campaign led by Gandhi and Sardar Patel and support the No-Tax Movement.

Bardoli Satyagrah

Exorbitant taxation was levied by the British authorities on the peasants of Bardoli in 1928 and they endured similar harassment to those of Borsad. Mahatma Gandhi directed Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to take leadership of the Satyagrah. Initially women were reluctant to join the movement. Patel, along with Mithuben Petit and Bhaktiba Desai, motivated women who ultimately outnumbered men in the movement. As part of the protest they stayed in huts erected on land confiscated by the government.

Rajkot Satyagrah

During 1938, a Satyagrah was planned against the unjust rule of the Diwan of Rajkot State.

Kasturba Gandhi Kasturba Mohandas Gandhi (, born Kasturba Gokuldas Kapadia; 11 April 1869 – 22 February 1944) was an Indian political activist who was involved in the Indian independence movement during British Raj, British India. She was married to Mohandas ...

was keen to join the Satyagrah despite her poor health and Patel accompanied her. The government passed an order to separate the women. She went on a hunger strike against the order and authorities allowed her to reunite with

Non-cooperation movement

She participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement as well as the Salt Satyagraha and was imprisoned for long periods of time. In the 1930s she became her father's aide, also caring for his personal needs. However, because Maniben Patel was committed to the liberation of India, and thus the Quit India movement, she was again imprisoned from 1942 to 1945 in Yerwada Central Jail. Maniben Patel served her father closely until his death in 1950. After moving to Mumbai, she worked for the rest of her life with numerous charitable organizations and for the Sardar Patel Memorial Trust. She went on to author an account of the freedom struggle as a book on her father's life in the years following Indian Independence.

Principles

Patel always ensured that her and her father's clothes were weaved from

khadi Khadi (, ), derived from khaddar, is a hand-spun and woven natural fibre cloth promoted by Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhi as Swadeshi movement, ''swadeshi (of homeland)'' for the freedom struggle of India and the term is used throughout the Indian sub ...

threads which were spun by her. She always insisted on travelling in third class.

Electoral career

* 1952 : Won South Kaira (a.k.a. Kheda) Lok Sabha seat in General Elections, as Congress candidate * 1957 : Won Anand Lok Sabha seat in General Elections, as Congress candidate defeated Amin Dadubhai Mulji * 1962 : Lost to Narendrasinh Ranjithsinh Mahida of

Swatantra Party The Swatantra Party was an Indian classical liberal political party that existed from 1959 to 1974. It was founded by C. Rajagopalachari in reaction to what he felt was the Jawaharlal Nehru-dominated Indian National Congress's increasingly so ...

from Anand Lok Sabha Seat, as Congress' candidate * 1964 to 1970 : Congress Member of Rajya Sabha * 1973 : Entered Lok Sabha winning the by-poll from Sabarkantha as Congress(O) candidate, defeating Shantubhai Patel of Congress * 1977 : Won Mehsana Lok Sabha seat in General Elections defeating Natvarlal Amratlal Patel, as

Janata Party The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu. The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...

candidate

Vice president

Patel was once Vice President of the Gujarat Provincial Congress Committee. Later, she was elected as a member of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

led by Nehru in the first

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

(1952–57) from South Kaira constituency, and in the second Lok Sabha (1957–62) from Anand. She was also Secretary (1953–56) and Vice President (1957–64) of Gujarat state Congress. She was elected to the

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

in 1964 and continued till 1970. Information is lacking on the exact year when she left Congress Party, but it was likely because she decided to stay with NCO (Congress-O) when the party split in 1969. Her brother Dahyabhai Patel was a member of Mumbai Maha-nagar Palika for 18 years and was mayor of Mumbai in 1954. In 1957 he joined Maha Gujarat Janata Parishad and later he joined

. In the early 1970s Dahyabhai was a Rajya Sabha MP with Swatantra Party; both Swatantra Party and NCO (Prime Minister

Morarji Desai Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian politician and Indian independence activist, independence activist who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India between 1977 and 1979 leading th ...

's Congress group) were powerful in Gujarat during the years 1967–1971. Maniben Patel did not contest the 1971 Lok Sabha polls. She was elected to Lok Sabha in 1973 when she won by-poll from Sabarkantha, defeating Shantubhai Patel of Congress by a narrow margin. She was elected to

from Mehsana on the

Janata party The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu. The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...

ticket in 1977. She was connected with several educational institutions including the Gujarat Vidyapith, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Bardoli Swaraj Ashram and Navajivan Trust prior to her death in 1990. In 2011, the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial Trust undertook a project to publish her Gujarati diary, in collaboration with Navajivan Publications.

Works

* ''Inside Story of Sardar Patel: The Diary of Maniben Patel, 1936-50'', by Manibahen Patel. Ed. Prabha Chopra. Vision Books, 2001. .

References

External links

Condolence letter from Horace Alexander to Maniben on her father's death (1950). National Archives of India
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patel, Maniben 1903 births 1990 deaths India MPs 1952–1957 India MPs 1957–1962 India MPs 1971–1977 India MPs 1977–1979 20th-century Indian biographers 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian women writers Bharatiya Lok Dal politicians English-language writers from India Founders of Indian schools and colleges Indian women philanthropists Indian independence activists from Gujarat Indian National Congress politicians from Gujarat Indian philanthropists Indian women activists Indian women non-fiction writers Janata Party politicians Lok Sabha members from Gujarat People from Nadiad Prisoners and detainees of British India Quit India Movement Rajya Sabha members from Gujarat Vallabhbhai Patel Indian women biographers Women in Gujarat politics Women Indian independence activists Women writers from Gujarat Women members of the Lok Sabha Women members of the Rajya Sabha Indian National Congress (Organisation) politicians