Historical Figures

58. The whites did not know that the chieftains were made of iron, not of flesh and blood!

After the Round Table Conference, Gandhi met Hoare, Minister of India Affairs in London and requested him to solve India's problem. Hoare bluntly replied to Gandhiji that nothing will be given to you and now we will not even allow the Congress to survive.

Thus, on 28 December 1931, Gandhiji once again returned empty handed from the doors of the British. The new Viceroy Lord Willingdon declared the Congress an illegal institution. On 4 January 1932, the government imprisoned Sardar Patel and Gandhiji in Yerwada jail without giving any reason. Sardar Patel spent 16 months with Gandhiji in Yerwada Jail. Gandhiji did not consume tea and rice.

That is why during this time Sardar Patel neither drank tea nor ate rice. He took full care of Gandhiji at all times and used to do his small works. Gandhiji used to get up at four o'clock in the morning, Patel would also get up at four o'clock. If Gandhiji had got up earlier, Patel would have got up at the same time. If Gandhiji had said that you should sleep a little more, Patel's answer would have been that how can it be that you wake up and I sleep? After his release from prison, Gandhiji wrote in his diary that Sardar served me so much in jail that I remembered my mother.

Sardar Patel's mother passed away shortly after going to jail. The government proposed to release Sardar on certain conditions, but Patel demanded an unconditional release. The government refused to release Patel unconditionally. Patel mourned the death of his mother in jail itself.

The next year in 1933, Sardar got the news that his forefather Vithalbhai had died abroad. His body was brought to Bombay for the last rites. Everyone wanted that Vallabhbhai should attend his funeral, but the government again proposed to release him on certain conditions and Vallabhbhai refused to accept the government's conditions this time too. The government probably didn't understand until now that this man was made of iron, not bone and flesh.

Vallabhbhai's health deteriorated in jail. The pain in his nose got worse. Due to this it became difficult to breathe. A team of doctors examined Sardar's health and advised him to undergo an operation immediately. Ultimately the Ghori government agreed to release them unconditionally. In AD 1934, the government released Patel. Patel reached Bombay from Yerwada. In this way, after suffering a long time, he got his nose operated.