Rajkot Satyagraha

The Rajkot Satyagraha (1938–1939) represents a watershed moment in the history of the Praja Mandal (People’s Associations) movements in princely India. It marked a significant shift where the Indian National Congress (INC) departed from its long-standing policy of non-intervention in the internal affairs of the princely states, directly pitting national leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel against local autocratic rulers and the British Political Department.

Historical Background and Genesis of the Movement

The Nature of Princely Rule in Rajkot

Rajkot was a small but strategically vital princely state in the Kathiawar peninsula of Gujarat. By the 1930s, the state was ruled by Thakore Saheb Dharmendrasinhji, a ruler notorious for financial extravagance and administrative apathy. Real administrative power was concentrated in the hands of his Dewan (Chief Minister), Virawala, who instituted state monopolies over essential commodities, heavy taxation, and widespread gambling licenses to fund the ruler’s lifestyle, severely distresssing the local peasantry and merchant classes.

Role of the Kathiawar Political Conference

The ground for resistance was prepared by the Kathiawar Political Conference (Kathiawar Rajkiya Parishad), which had been active since the 1920s under the influence of local leaders like Uchharangray Dhebar (who later became the Chief Minister of Saurashtra and INC President) and Amritlal Sheth. The economic distress caused by the Great Depression, coupled with arbitrary state monopolies, triggered widespread public resentment.

Outbreak and Phase I: Patel’s Intervention (1938)

The Launch of the Satyagraha

In August 1938, the citizens of Rajkot, organized under the Rajkot State People’s Conference (Praja Parishad), launched a systematic protest. Their primary demands included a reduction in land revenue, the cancellation of state monopolies, and the introduction of responsible representative government. The state responded with a brutal crackdown, banning public meetings and arresting local leaders.

Sardar Patel’s Negotiations and the Broken Pact

As the local administration intensified its suppression, the Praja Parishad invited Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to lead the movement. Patel organized a complete strike (hartal) and a boycott of state institutions. Recognizing the strength of the mass mobilization, Dewan Virawala negotiated a settlement. On December 26, 1938, an agreement was signed between Sardar Patel and the Thakore Saheb.

Key Provisions of the December 1938 Agreement

• Committee Formation: A committee of ten state subjects was to be appointed to draft constitutional reforms for a responsible government.
• Sardar Patel’s Prerogative: The Thakore Saheb agreed to appoint seven members to this committee based on the recommendations of Sardar Patel.
• Amnesty: All political prisoners were to be released, and fines collected during the agitation were to be refunded.

Phase II: British Subversion and Gandhi’s Fast (1939)

Intervention of the British Political Department

The British Resident for Western India States, E.C. Gibson, viewed the Patel-Thakore pact as a dangerous precedent that could destabilize British paramountcy across other princely states. Under British pressure and the machinations of Dewan Virawala, the Thakore Saheb breached the agreement by rejecting Patel’s list of nominees and appointing British-loyalist minority members to the reform committee.

Mahatma Gandhi’s Entry and Fast unto Death

The breach of faith prompted Mahatma Gandhi to intervene personally, as Rajkot was his childhood home where his father had served as Dewan. Gandhi arrived in Rajkot in February 1939. When negotiations failed to restore the original pact, Gandhi commenced a “fast unto death” on March 3, 1939, to protest against the state’s breach of trust and the underlying British complicity.

The Gwyer Award

Gandhi’s deteriorating health caused nationwide anxiety, forcing the Viceroy, Lord Linlithgow, to intervene. The Viceroy referred the legal dispute over the interpretation of the December agreement to Sir Maurice Gwyer, the Chief Justice of the Federal Court of India. On April 3, 1939, the Gwyer Award was announced, validating Sardar Patel’s position and confirming that the Thakore Saheb was bound by the original agreement to accept Patel’s nominees. Consequently, Gandhi broke his 5-day fast.

Crucial Facts and Analytical Matrix for UPSC Prelims

The administrative structural shifts and key timelines of the movement are summarized below:

Strategic Significance and Historical Trivia

Shift in Congress Policy towards Princely States

Historically, the INC maintained a policy of non-interference in princely states, reaffirmed at the Nagpur Session (1920). However, the Haripura Session (1938), presided over by Subhas Chandra Bose, allowed individual Congressmen to support Praja Mandal movements in their personal capacity. The Rajkot Satyagraha, alongside concurrent movements in Hyderabad, Mysore, and Travancore, marked the functional integration of the political struggles of British India and Princely India.

Gandhi’s Structural Realization: The “New Technique”

Despite winning the legal battle via the Gwyer Award, Gandhi faced severe communal and caste polarization within Rajkot, engineered by Dewan Virawala who instigated Bhils, Muslims, and Garasias against the Praja Parishad. Realizing that his fast had introduced an element of political coercion rather than true moral conversion, Gandhi took the unprecedented step of renouncing the Gwyer Award. He returned the political advantages won by the award to the Thakore Saheb, advocating for a change of heart rather than legal imposition.

Active Role of Women Leaders

The Rajkot Satyagraha witnessed significant mobilization of women leaders. Kasturba Gandhi and Maniben Patel (daughter of Sardar Patel) courted arrest by defying state bans on entering Rajkot, highlighting the deepening social base of the states’ people’s movements.