Maniben Patel

File:Maniben Patel.jpg

Maniben Patel (24 April 1904 — 26 March 1990) was an Indian independence movement activist and a Member of the Indian parliament.{{cite book | author=Joginder Kumar Chopra | title=Women in the Indian parliament: a critical study of their role | year=1993 | publisher=Mittal Publications | isbn=978-81-7099-513-5 | page=174}} She was the daughter of freedom fighter and post-Independence Indian leader Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Educated in Bombay, Patel adopted the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi in 1918, and started working regularly at his ashram in Ahmedabad.

Early life

Patel was born on 24 April 1904 at Karamsad, Bombay Presidency, British India. She was brought up by her uncle Vitthalbhai Patel. She completed her early education at Queen Mary High School in Bombay. In 1920 she moved to Ahmedabad and attended the university of Rashtriya Vidhyapith started by Mahatma Gandhi. After graduating in 1925, Patel went on to assist her father.{{cite book | url=http://www.exoticindiaart.com/book/details/women-pioneers-in-india-s-renaissance-IDD677/ | title=Women Pioneers In India's Renaissance | publisher=National Book Trust, India | editor1=Sushila Nayar | editor2=Kamla Mankekar | year=2003 | pages=469 | isbn=81-237-3766 1}}

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 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 Kasturba Gandhi.

Non-cooperation movement

File:Mahatma Gandhi and Manibehn Patel before his departure to Europe, 1931.jpg and Maniben Patel before his departure to Europe, 1931.]]

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 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{{cite web |title=Statistical Report General Election Archive, 1957 (Vol I, II) |url=https://old.eci.gov.in/files/file/4112-general-election-1957-vol-i-ii/ |publisher=Election Commission of India |accessdate=9 November 2020}}
1962 : Lost to Narendrasinh Ranjithsinh Mahida of Swatantra Party from Anand Lok Sabha Seat, as Congress' candidate{{cite web |title=Statistical Report General Election Archive, 1962 (Vol I, II) |url=https://old.eci.gov.in/files/file/4113-general-election-1962-vol-i-ii/ |publisher=Election Commission of India |accessdate=9 November 2020}}
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 {{Cite web|url=https://theprint.in/opinion/the-political-dynasty-nobody-is-talking-about-sardar-patels/142422/|title = The political dynasty nobody is talking about: Sardar Patel's| website=ThePrint |date = 31 October 2018}}
1977 : Won Mehsana Lok Sabha seat in General Elections defeating Natvarlal Amratlal Patel, as Janata Party candidate{{cite web |title=Statistical Report General Election Archive, 1973 (Vol I, II) |url=https://old.eci.gov.in/files/file/4116-general-election-1977-vol-i-ii/ |publisher=Election Commission of India |accessdate=9 November 2020}}

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 led by Nehru in the first Lok Sabha (1952–57) from South Kaira constituency,{{cite web|url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1951/VOL_1_51_LS.PDF |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2014-06-02 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140404203355/http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1951/VOL_1_51_LS.PDF |archivedate=4 April 2014 }} and in the second Lok Sabha (1957–62) from Anand.{{Cite web |url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1957/Vol_I_57_LS.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=3 August 2015 |archive-date=8 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008104728/http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1957/Vol_I_57_LS.pdf |url-status=dead }} She was also Secretary (1953–56) and Vice President (1957–64) of Gujarat state Congress. She was elected to the Rajya Sabha 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 Swatantra Party. In the early 1970s Dahyabhai was a Rajya Sabha MP with Swatantra Party; both Swatantra Party and NCO (Prime Minister Morarji Desai'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 Lok Sabha from Mehsana on the Janata party ticket in 1977.{{Cite web | title=Lok Sabha Website Members Biodata | url=http://164.100.47.132/LssNew/biodata_1_12/920.htm | accessdate=2015-08-02 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311221834/http://164.100.47.132/LssNew/biodata_1_12/920.htm | archive-date=11 March 2016 | url-status=dead }}

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.{{cite news

| url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Knowing-Sardar-Patel-through-his-daughters-diary/articleshow/8767495.cms

| archive-url=https://archive.today/20120708114856/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-06-08/ahmedabad/29633667_1_diary-sardar-vallabhbhai-patel-vallabh-vidyanagar

| url-status=live

| archive-date=8 July 2012

| title=Knowing Sardar Patel through his daughter's diary

| work=The Times of India

| date=8 June 2011

| access-date=2013-06-02

| author=Vashi, Ashish

| location=Ahmedabad}}{{cite news

| title=Patel's Legacy

| url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2001/20010930/spectrum/main1.htm

| newspaper=The Tribune

| author=Datta, V. N.

| date=30 September 2001

| accessdate=2013-06-02}}

Works

Inside Story of Sardar Patel: The Diary of Maniben Patel, 1936-50, by Manibahen Patel. Ed. Prabha Chopra. Vision Books, 2001. {{ISBN|81-7094-424-4}}.

References

External links

[http://www.abhilekh-patal.in/jspui/handle/123456789/2742760 Condolence letter from Horace Alexander to Maniben on her father's death (1950). National Archives of India]

Category:1903 births

Category:1990 deaths

Category:India MPs 1952–1957

Category:India MPs 1957–1962

Category:India MPs 1971–1977

Category:India MPs 1977–1979

Category:20th-century Indian biographers

Category:20th-century Indian women politicians

Category:20th-century Indian women writers

Category:Bharatiya Lok Dal politicians

Category:English-language writers from India

Category:Founders of Indian schools and colleges