Maniben Patel (3 April 1903 — 26 March 1990) was an Indian independence movement activist and a Member of the Indian parliament. She was the daughter of freedom fighter and post-Independence Indian leader

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (; ; 31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950), commonly known as Sardar, was an Indian lawyer, influential political leader, barrister and statesman who served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of I ...

. Educated in Bombay, Patel adopted the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi in 1918, and started working regularly at his ashram in

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: 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 (per t ...

Early life

Patel was born on 3 April 1903 at Karamasad,

Bombay Presidency The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainl ...

, 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

and attended the university of Rashtriya Vidhyapith started by Mahatma Gandhi. 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 Bardoli is a town and a municipality in Surat Metropolitan Region in the state of Gujarat, India. Geography Bardoli is located at . It has an average elevation of 22 metres (72 feet). Weather Bardoli is having average rainfall of 148 ...

in 1928 and they endured similar harassment to those of

Borsad Borsad is a town and a municipality in Anand district in the state of Gujarat, India. It is located around 17 km from Anand. It is surrounded by the fertile Charotar region which largely produces tobacco, bananas, cotton, barley and oth ...

. Mahatma Gandhi directed Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to take leadership of the

Satyagrah Satyagraha ( sa, सत्याग्रह; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone ...

. Initially women were reluctant to join the movement. Patel, along with

Mithuben Petit Mithuben Hormusji Petit (11 April 1892 – 16 July 1973) was one of the pioneer Indian independence female activists who participated in Mahatma Gandhi's Dandi March. Biography Born on 11 April 1892 into an affluent Parsi Zoroastrian famil ...

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

Mahatma Gandhi and Manibehn Patel before his departure to Europe, 1931

She participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement as well as the

Salt Satyagraha The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India led by Mahatma Gandhi. The twenty-four day march lasted from 12 March to 6 April 1930 as a di ...

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 The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in ...

, 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 Anand may refer to: People * Anand (name), a surname and given name (including a list of people with the name) * Anand (actor), Indian actor * Anand (Maoist), Indian communist * Anand (writer) (born 1936), Indian Malayalam writer Places * Anand ...

Lok Sabha seat in General Elections, as Congress candidate defeated Amin Dadubhai Mulji * 1962 : Lost to Narendrasinh Ranjithsinh Mahida of Swatantra Party 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 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 led by Nehru in the first Lok Sabha (1952–57) from South Kaira constituency, and in the second Lok Sabha (1957–62) from

. 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 The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

, but it was likely because she decided to stay with NCO (Congress-O) when the party split in 1969. Her brother

Dahyabhai Patel Dahyabhai Patel (10 November 1905 — 11 August 1973) was the son of Indian leader Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and a member of the Parliament of India. Personal life Educated at Bombay, Patel graduated from the Gujarat Vidyapith and began workin ...

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 Sabarkantha district is one of the 33 districts of Gujarat state of India and is located in the northeastern part of the state. The administrative headquarters of the district are located in Himatnagar. Geography Sabarkantha District is bounded ...

, defeating Shantubhai Patel of Congress by a narrow margin. She was elected to Lok Sabha from Mehsana on the Janata party ticket in 1977. She was connected with several educational institutions including the Gujarat Vidyapith, Vallabh Vidyanagar,

Swaraj Ashram and

Navajivan Trust ''Navajivan Trust'' is a publishing house based in Ahmedabad, India. It was founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1929
and has published m ...

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 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 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