Know Your City: In Ahmedabad, this house is a rare memorial to Sardar Patel’s daughter Maniben Patel

The Patel family lived at the house, now known as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Smarak Bhavan, from 1913, when Sardar Patel, the country’s first deputy prime minister and home minister, began to practice in the Ahmedabad courts as a barrister. April 3 marks the 121st birth anniversary of Maniben Patel, and this house is a rare memorial to her.

The white walls of Maniben’s house, which is now managed by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial Trust, are filled with family photographs, an informative timeline of Sardar’s life on the ground floor, and the room on the first floor where Maniben would write in her diary.

“Sardar’s daughter Maniben has done us a great favour by writing her diary regularly from 1936 to 1950. Rarely has a strong father found such a hardworking daughter and yes, rarely has a hardworking daughter found such a great father. In many books, we get an introduction to ‘who’ Sardar was. But Manibehan’s diary is to give us a glimpse of ‘what’ Sardar was,” writes Gunvant Shah in his book Sardar etle Sardar (Sardar was Sardar).

‘Checkpoint’

Sukhdev Dave, 85, who served the late Maniben as her personal assistant in the last 10 years of her life, told The Indian Express that she was “the finest example of work and life balance”. “She used to be a checkpoint of their home for whoever wanted to meet her father for political purposes. After 7 pm, she would not allow anybody to enter their home to meet Sardar,” said Dave.

Born in Karamsad, Maniben studied in a convent school. After her father came in contact with Mahatma Gandhi as a barrister, Maniben enrolled in the Gujarat Vidyapith. “She was transferred from Ahmedabad Girls Science School into Gujarat Vidyapith by her father. I found out during my research on Sardar Patel,” Dr Rizwan Kadri, the Ahmedabad-based historian and author of Sardar Patel: Ek Sinhpurush, told The Indian Express.

Sukhdev Dave, 85, who served the late Maniben as her personal assistant in the last 10 years of her life, told The Indian Express that she was “the finest example of work and life balance”. (Express)

Mentored by Gandhi and Kakasaheb Kalelakar, who used to teach at Gujarat Vidyapith, she graduated in 1925. It is said Maniben announced her desire to be her father’s secretary at the Congress Bhavan, a job she took charge of, in 1928. She is said to have imbibed much of her father’s genes — integrity, speaking her mind, and an iron-like personality.

She was arrested in Ahmedabad on November 8, 1932, for 15 months for participating in Salt Satyagraha, her father’s letters show. On March 16, 1934, when Sardar was in Central Prison at Nasik, he only communicated to Maniben through a letter about the mental condition of Govardhanlal, a freedom fighter who was admitted to Sarabhai Hospital, Ahmedabad, after being jailed.

‘Grassroots leader’

In 1940, Maniben participated in the Satyagraha for freedom of speech and anti-war in Ahmedabad along with her father. Dr Shirin Mehta, a 90-year-old historian, interviewed Maniben Patel at Navjivan Press, Ahmedabad in 1983, while she was pursuing her PhD on her role in the Bardoli, Kheda, and Borsad Satyagrahas.

Dr Mehta said Maniben would then go on to edit Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s letters, which were published by Navjivan Press, Ahmedabad, in five volumes. “She was made the editor of Navjivan Press because Morarji Desai wanted her to earn money for publicising her father’s letters. After Sardar’s death, late Maniben had close ties with Moraraji Desai,” Dr Mehta added.

In 1951, she became a trustee of Navjivan Trust, Kasturba Gandhi Smarak Trust, and Mahadev Desai Smarak Trust. In 1953, she also became Sardar Patel Smarak’s trustee.

In his autobiography, Indulal Yagnik, who led the Mahagujarat Movement for the creation of a state of Gujarat for Gujarati-speaking people in the then Bombay State, describes Maniben “as a grassroots leader of the Mahagujarat Movement”.

“She was actively involved in advocating for the formation of Gujarat as a separate state. Her leadership and efforts contributed to the eventual realisation of demand when Gujarat was formed on May 1, 1960, after the bifurcation of Bombay State. During the MahaGujarat movement and Navnirman Andolan, meetings were conducted daily by Maniben at Congress Bhavan at 4 pm. In 1970, she was a significant figure in the Navnirman Andolan. The movement primarily took place in Ahmedabad where Maniben addressed issues of unemployment and inflation to the government,” Dr Shirin Mehta told The Indian Express.

“In Bombay State, poor people had to travel to Surat to meet the mayor. Maniben was against it. When the Gujarat and Maharashtra partition was about to happen on May 1, 1960, at that time, Maniben’s stance was very clear that poor people from remote areas would not go to the Surat mayor for their issues from now onwards. She said ‘What is happening is happening for the betterment of the Gujarati people’,” her former personal assistant Dave told The Indian Express.

Maniben Patel served as the Lok Sabha member for 4 terms (1952-56, 1958-62, 1973-75, 1977). In 1964, she was elected as a Rajya Sabha member.

She died on March 26, 1990, at the house opposite Congress Bhavan, Ahmedabad.

(Aachal Vayeda is an intern with The Indian Express)