After the Congress again accepted the proposal of non-cooperation movement in the Nagpur session, Gandhiji chose a place called Bardoli in Gujarat to start the non-cooperation movement and gave the responsibility of leading it to Vallabhbhai. Vallabhbhai accepted the orders of Gandhiji and accepted to lead the movement. Vallabhbhai carried out this movement extensively and effectively.
Soon the movement spread all around. In fact, in the conference held in Nadiad, Vallabhbhai had prepared the outline of the Bardoli movement, so this movement could be started very fast. A huge procession was taken out in Ahmedabad under the leadership of Vallabhbhai and a general meeting was organized. In this meeting those books which were banned by the government were sold. During the Bardoli movement, Vallabhbhai started the publication of a magazine called Satyagraha
And did not get any permission from the government to start it. Because Vallabhbhai knew that the government would never allow this magazine to be taken out. In order to make the Satyagraha and non-cooperation movement successful, people of repute like Rabindranath Tagore and the general public returned their official titles. Gandhiji returned the Kaiser-Hind gold medal and the war medal.
Leaders like Vallabhbhai Patel, his brother Vithalbhai, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, Motilal Nehru, Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Jawaharlal Nehru left the practice. Seth Jamnalal Bajaj gave one lakh rupees to the lawyers who had left the practice and joined the non-cooperation movement. Government schools and courts were boycotted.
Educational institutions like Kashi Vidyapeeth, Bihar Vidyapeeth, Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, National College Lahore, Jamia Millia Islamia Delhi were established on the call of the Congress. When the Duke of Connaught came to India to inaugurate the reforms of 1919, he was greeted with country-wide strikes. Holis of foreign clothes were lit from place to place and thousands of charkhas were spun in public.
Gandhiji's 53rd birthday was celebrated on 2 October 1921. Gandhiji was in Bombay at that time but Vallabhbhai organized a huge procession in Ahmedabad which culminated in a huge public meeting organized on the banks of river Khanpur. After this public meeting, Holi burning of foreign clothes was organized.
On the call of Vallabhbhai, the people of Ahmedabad brought a large number of foreign clothes with them. A 16-17 ft high pile was formed from these clothes. Sardar Patel addressed the people standing on this heap and then set the foreign clothes on fire. When the ashes of the clothes cooled down, it was auctioned, which collected Rs 626. This amount was deposited in the Swadeshi Fund.