How Sardar Patel rose from the fields of Gujarat

The region had suffered a drought in 1915, then very little rain in 1916 and a deluge in 1917.

- Maulik Pathak

When the sun finally came out in October, the farmers rushed to harvest their crops. But weeks later, the torrent returned, marooning the region and rotting crops. Then, a wave of plague ravaged the countryside, killing roughly 18,000 people over two years, wrote historian Rajmohan Gandhi.

But the British were not willing to suspend their newly announced higher taxes, triggering an impasse. In January 1918, Mahatma Gandhi returnéd to Gujarat fresh from his success in Champaran and roused the peasants ina satyagraha. As his lieutenant, he chose a young lawyer recently returned from London who also hailed from the region, Vallabhbhai Patel. By the end of the movement, now known as Kheda Satyagraha, the peasants had pushed the government to back down.

Ishwar Parmar, a resident of Bamroli village in Kheda district, grew up hearing stories about Patel and Gandhi, about how the two leaders galvanised the movementand inspired peasants. "My great-grandfather, Jawaharbhai Parmar, who was a farmer, had welcomed Gandhi and Patel to our village. There were no roads or electricity then, but people walked together with mashals (torches) at night. Our entire village would gather for the Satyagraha,” he said.