Maniben Patel

Maniben Patel (3 April 1903, Karamsad-1990) was an Indian independence movement activist and a Member of the Indian parliament. She was the daughter of Indian leader and a freedom fighter, Sardar Patel. Educated in Bombay, Manibehn adopted the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi in 1918, and started working regularly at his ashram in Ahmedabad.

She participated in the Non-Cooperation movement and the Salt Satyagraha, and was arrested for long periods. In the 1930s she became her father's personal aide, also caring for his personal needs. But she again participated in the Quit India movement and was imprisoned from 1942 to 1945 in Yerwada Central Jail. Manibehn Patel served her father closely until his death in 1950. After moving to Bombay, she worked for the rest of her life with numerous charitable organizations and for the Sardar Patel Memorial Trust, and wrote her memoirs on the freedom struggle and her father's life.

Maniben was an active member of the Lok Sabha (elected from the Mahesana (Lok Sabha constituency)) and of the Rajya Sabha and Vice-President of the Gujarat Provincial Congress Committee. She was connected with several educational institutions including the Gujarat Vidyapith, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Bardoli Swaraj Ashram and Navjivan Trust, before dying in 1990.

In 2011 the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial trust undertook a project to publish her Gujarati diary, in collaboration with Navjivan Publications.

Works

• Inside story of Sardar Patel: the diary of Maniben Patel, 1936-50, by Manibahen Patel. Ed. Prabha Chopra. Vision Books, 2001. ISBN 81-7094-424-4.