“If the whole of Vithalbhai’s life had been a series of misunderstood or half-understood motives and intentions, the last document he has left for India has proved equally contentious. In fact, no document signed by a dying man on his death-bed, has probably, so far exercised the imagination and feelings of a whole people and aroused their curiosity as much as the Will of Vithalbhai,” writes his closest lieutenant and biographer G. I. Patel in “Vithalbhai Patel: Life and Times”. Vithalbhai was arrested in January 1932 in India but soon was released on health grounds. Patel left India in March 1932 and could never return alive. He toured U.S.A. till January 1933 delivering lectures focusing on India’s “freedom without delay”.
Vithalbhai was invited to Austria by De Valera where he was joined by Subhas Chandra Bose. From Austria, Vithalbhai and Subhas issued a joint statement in May 1933 criticizing Gandhiji and his “failed” leadership. In September, Vithalbhai fell seriously ill. His younger brother, Vallabhbhai, was in Nasik jail. The letters from each other could not reach either of them leading to misunderstanding about his younger brother in the mind of Vithalbhai that he “neglected” him. “Subhas Bose cared painstakingly for Vithalbhai”, as did some other acquaintances, Indian and European, but he expired at 1 p.m. on 22 October 1933 in a clinic near Geneva.
On 28 October 1933, the sealed coffin was taken by car to Marseilles for embarkation on S. S. Narkunda and at the same time a cable was sent to Sarojini Naidu and Jamnadas Mehta intimating them the scheduled arrival of the vessel in Bombay on 9 November 1933.The original plan was to disembark the coffin at Appolo Bunder, thereafter to arrange for the “lying in state” for a few hours at suitable place and finally to take in a procession the body enclosed in the coffin, but with the face uncovered for being cremated on the Chowpatty foreshore. There was at the same time a move to persuade Government to release Sardar Patel, then in Nasik Jail as a sequel to the Civil Disobedience Movement, so that he should be able to take part in the funeral of his brother. As it turned out, however, not one of these ideas could be carried out. The grateful public was anxious to respect Vithalbhai’s memory by fulfilling his last wish, which was that he should be sent to eternal rest by the side of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak on the Chowpatty foreshore. The Government refused permission, lest it might set up “an undesirable precedent”. The cremation had to be carried out at Sonapur, but the funeral march was joined by men and women, young and old, Hindus, Mahommadans, Parsis, Christians and Sikhs. Vallabhbhai refused apply for parole but some of Vithalbhai’s friends applied for it. The Government put certain conditions.
Vallabhbhai said: “I cannot purchase my liberty at the sacrifice of my honour and self-respect.” Since Vithalbhai had no children of his own and Vallabhbhai did not accept a conditional parole, the Sardar’s son, Dahyabhai, performed the last rites for Vithalbhai. Maniben was out of jail and could join the procession and Sarojini Naidu made a moving funeral oration. “On one occasion, Subhas casually informed me that, just before his death, on 22 October 1933, Vithalbhai had made his Will at the Clinique-la-Lineguere, Gland, where he was undergoing medical treatment and that Dr. P. T. Patel and myself were appointed executors of the Will, but he did not care to show me, nor did he give me the original Will, when I left for Bombay three days after….After having made all the necessary arrangements and having settled all accounts on behalf of Vithalbhai, I returned to Bombay with his mortal remains by the S.S. Narkunda on 9 November 1933. I received a copy of the Will by post, sometime after my return,” records Gordhanbhai I. Patel in the biography published in November 1950.
The biographer, Patel, adds: “In the meantime, I was asked by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who was, at that time, in the Nasik Jail, to see him with a copy of the Will I had received. One of the strong points of Vallabhbhai , as an able and successful lawyer, was his ability for conducting a searching cross-examination of witnesses who had to face him in the Court.…. He enquired why it was that Vithalbhai’s signature was not attested by a medical man, although he was lying seriously ill in the clinic and was treated by doctors when the Will was made…..He further wanted me to ascertain why all the three men who attested Vithalbhai’s signature were men who hailed from Bengal and why two of them were merely students, in spite of the fact that eminent persons like Bhulabhai Desai, Walchand Hirachand, Ambalal Sarabhai and others who were particularly friendly with Vithalbhai, were present at the time in Switzerland round about Geneva.”
G.I. Patel wrote several letters to Subhas, requesting him to throw light on the questions raised by the Sardar. Only on 21 September 1934, he could present the original Will to the High Court, asking for Probate. Due to the death of Dr. P.T. Patel, G. I. Patel remained the only executor of the Will. The relations between Subhas and Vallabhbhai deteriorated. A factor in the worsening was Vithalbhai’s will, which left more than three-fourths of his estate to Subhas, to be spent by him “for the political uplift of India and preferably for publicity work on behalf of India’s cause in other countries.” The attorneys of Subhas asked the executor to send the money to Subhas. G.I. Patel replied that it could not be done until the agreement of the interpretation of the Will.
Meanwhile, Subhas was elected the President of the Congress in 1938 and the Sardar proposed the money should go to a special committee of Congress. He had obtained consent from the legal heirs of Vithalbhai. Subhas agreed but they could not agree on the names of the committee. In January 1939, Gordhanbhai moved the High Court of Bombay. Justice B. J. Wadia declared the Will invalid and held that Vithalbhai’s money belonged to his legal heirs. Two days later, Vallabhbhai announced that the money would go to a Vithalbhai Memorial Trust. Subhas appealed against the judgement and his brother Sarat Chandra Bose defended his interests, but in September 1939, Chief Justice Sir John Beaumont and Justice H.J. Kania confirmed Justice Wadia’s ruling. A year later, on behalf of Vithalbhai’s heirs, Vallabhbhai handed over one lakh and twenty thousand rupees to the trust! India is grateful to the Patels.
Next Column: Sardar Patel : An Opponent of Reservations
(The writer is a Socio-political Historian. E-mail: [email protected] )
