Gopaldas Ambaidas Desai

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Gopaldas Ambaidas Desai (1887–1951) also called

Gandhian political and social activist. He is remembered as the first prince in India who gave up his principality to become a freedom fighter against the British Raj.[1]

Early life

Gopaldas was born at

Mohandas Gandhi and the Indian National Congress and often gave them financial support. He was a progressive ruler and provided free education to his subjects. Impressed by the ideas of Madam Montessori, he started first Montessori school in Vaso in 1915 with the help of his mentor, Motibhai Amin. It was the first Montessori School in Gujarat, and perhaps in entire India.[4]

Indian Independence movement

By 1921, Gopaldas had become active in the

British Resident General's warnings against his involvement in the national movement and extending financial support to Gandhi. Gopaldas and his wife Bhakti Lakshmi, better known as Bhaktiba became active freedom fighters from 1922. After his removal, the British proposed Gopaldas' eldest son Suryakant as the new ruler. He however rejected the offer arguing that he held the same political views as his father. The British later approached Gopaldas' other three sons as they approached the age of majority. They all rejected the offer, following the footsteps of their father.[6]

Following the confiscation of his estates, Gopaldas relocated to

Civil Disobedience Movement, the entire Desai family was imprisoned including Gopaldas, his wife Bhaktiba, the two elder sons Mahendra and Suryakant, and their wives and even their newborn son, a mere six-month-old, Barindra. Thus, Barindra must have been the youngest freedom fighter. Bhaktiba was obliged to take the infant to Sabarmati jail in 1930 because he was too young to be left with anyone.[7] The Desais were also active participants in the Quit India Movement. Bhaktiba became a renowned social worker and Gandhian political activist in her own right[8] while Yog Sunder went on to become a renowned dancer and choreographer and the founder of the Indian Revival Group.[1]

Social activism

Gopaldas and Bhaktiba worked for the Gandhian causes of eradication of untouchability and for women's education. They were the pioneers in advancing female literacy in Gujarat and Saurashtra, especially the residential schools for girls. They founded Vitthal Kanya Vidyalaya in Nadiad in 1935 and later Vallabh Kanya Vidyalaya at Rajkot in 1946, both of them residential schools for girls.[9] Soon after independence, it was Darbar Gopaldas who was given the honour in 1947 to lay the foundation stone of Kirti Mandir, the memorial for Mahatma Gandhi in his birthplace Porbandar.[10]

He was elected to the Constituent Assembly of India as a member from Baroda.[11] Gopaldas was reinstated as a ruler of his principality after India's independence. He is remembered as the first prince among about 550 princely states to voluntarily and unconditionally merge his principality with the Indian Union.[12]

Rajmohan Gandhi has authored, The Prince of Gujarat (2014), a biography of Desai.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b "Wanderings in wonderland". The Hindu. 25 August 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  2. ^ "Yog Sunder: A true Prince of Dance".
  3. ISBN 9789004113435
    .
  4. ^ "Vaso Heritage Village".
  5. ^
    ISBN 9780074631607
    .
  6. ISBN 9789004113435
    .
  7. ^ Sunder, Yog. "Thus Youngest Freedom Fighter in India's Struggle for Independence" (PDF).
  8. ISBN 9788170997146
    .
  9. ^ "When Gandhians pioneered female literacy in S'rashtra". The Times of India. 21 January 2010. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013.
  10. ^ "Gandhi Bapu Kirti mandir".
  11. ^ "Constituent Assembly Debate on 28 April, 1947".
  12. ^ McLeod John, Sovereignty, Power, Control: Politics in the State of Western India, 1916-1947
  13. ^ "Remembering a prince". The Hindu. 3 December 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
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