Vithalbhai Patel

Vithalbhai Patel (1873 – 22 October 1933) was an Indian legislator and political leader, co-founder of the Swaraj Party and elder brother of Sardar Patel.

Born in Nadiad, in the Indian state of Gujarat, Vithalbhai Jhaverbhai Patel was the third of five Patel brothers, four years elder to Vallabhbhai Patel, raised in the village of Karamsad. According to Gordhanbhai Patel, a mistake on Vitalbhai's birthdate has crept into many modern accounts. His birthdate is clearly stated as September 27, 1873 on his last passport but the confusion arose from obituary notices after his death listing it incorrectly as February 18, 1871. Based on that, he is only two years elder to his younger brother Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. He was son of Jhaverbhai and Ladbai Patel, who were both devout followers of the Swaminarayan sect of Vaisnava Hinduism, a sect which emphasizes the purity of personal life as essential to the life of devotion. The rare idealism the religion impressed on his parents likely had a significant impact on the minds of Vithalbhai and his renowned brother Vallabhai Patel. Vithalbhai educated himself in Nadiad and in Bombay, and worked as a pleader (a junior lawyer) in the courts of Godhra and Borsad. At a very young age, he was married to a girl from another village, Diwaliba.

His younger brother, Vallabhbhai Patel, had similarly studied by himself and worked as a pleader. Studying in England was a dream for both men. Vallabhbhai had saved enough money and ordered his passport and travel tickets, when the postman delivered them to Vithalbhai, it having been addressed to a Mr. V.J. Patel, Pleader. Vithalbhai insisted on traveling on those documents actually meant for Vallabhbhai, pointing out that it would be socially criticized that an older brother followed the lead of the younger. Respecting his brother despite the obvious cruelty of fate on his own hard work, Vallabhbhai allowed him to proceed to England, and even paid for his stay.

Vithalbhai entered the Middle Temple Inn in London, and completed the 36-month course in 30, emerging at the top of his class. Returning to Gujarat in 1913, Vithalbhai became an important barrister in the courts of Bombay and Ahmedabad. However, his wife died in 1915, and he remained a widower.

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