In AD 1927, Ahmedabad was suffering due to heavy rains, but in Bardoli taluka of Kathiawar region, the crops were very good that year. The government increased the land revenue on Bardoli by 30 percent. This was utter injustice. There was no such law. That's why the public approached Sardar Patel. Sardar wrote a letter to the Governor of Bombay to withdraw this unjust order, but the government did not respond to him. The people wanted something to happen soon but the government was ready to implement its decision.
They started asking Sardar to start the movement immediately. On this, a meeting of Bardoli Tehsil Council was held on 8 February 1928. It was presided over by Sardar Patel. Leaders from Ahmedabad and Anand also came to participate in this meeting. Mahadev Desai and Anand Swami were prominent among them. In this council, Sardar Patel asked the farmers that if they agitate against the government, the government would take away their lands, cattle and households. Will put them in jails.
Will set fire to their villages and throw sticks at women and children. Are they ready to bear so much trouble? The farmers told them that if Sardar Patel leads them, they are ready to bear these hardships.
It was decided in the council that a massive movement should be launched to oppose the government injustice, but before that a letter should be written to the Governor of Bombay urging to cancel this order. Patel wrote a letter to the Bombay Governor requesting him to withdraw the tax, but the Governor wrote a short letter to Patel informing him that his letter had been sent to the Land Tax Department for legal examination.
When the government did not give any positive reply, a satyagraha was organized in Bardoli. On 12 February 1928, a huge meeting was organized in Bardoli in which the farmers started the movement with the proclamation of Vande Mataram. On this, the government officials printed statements in the newspapers that Sardar Patel is an outsider, what is his relation with Bardoli?
Sardar Patel gave a furious reaction in the newspapers and said that this is my country, wherever I go, I will be called from this country. Outsiders are Britishers who have come to this country and have sat in unjust rights, so the British should go out of here, not me.
On 15 February 1928, the government ordered 60 moneylenders of Bardoli region to deposit the increased land tax immediately. Two of them deposited the increased tax. The farmers of Bardoli announced a social boycott of those moneylenders. On this Sardar explained to the people that they should fight only with the government, it is not right to fight amongst themselves.