News: The Delhi Legislative Assembly is hosting a two-day All India Speakers’ Conference to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Vithalbhai Patel becoming the President of the Central Legislative Assembly under British rule.
About Vithalbhai Patel
- He was born on September 27, 1873.
- He was the third of the five sons of Jhaverbhai and mother Ladba of Karamsad.
- He studied law in England, and came back to Bombay to practise.
- Political Career:
- He was elected to the Bombay Legislative Council in 1912 and to the Imperial Legislative Council in 1918.
- In 1924, he was elected member of the Central Legislative Assembly from Bombay city.
- President: He was the first Indian to become the President of the Central Legislative Assembly, Parliament’s equivalent under British rule, on August 22, 1925.
- He stayed the president of the Central Legislative Assembly for two tenures.
- Resignation: He resigned as the President of the Assembly in 1930 to be fully involved in politics by joining the Congress Working Committee.
- His role as President of Central Legislative Assembly
- Parliament’s security: It was due to his efforts that the Parliament’s security (i.e. ward and watch system) was handed over to the Speaker.
- This system continued till 2024, when the CISF stepped into that role.
- Independent Parliament Secretariat: He was able to set up an independent Parliament Secretariat, with the officials in it reporting to none but the president.
- This was to ensure that the staff advising and helping the president were serving no other boss, and hence would be fully independent.
- Separate Legislative Assembly Department
- It was during his second term, a separate Legislative Assembly Department was created in the portfolio of the Governor-General but under the de facto control of the President.
- Parliament’s security: It was due to his efforts that the Parliament’s security (i.e. ward and watch system) was handed over to the Speaker.
- Contribution in Freedom Struggle
- He was among those senior Congress leaders who opposed Mahatma Gandhi’s decision to suspend the Non-Cooperation Movement against the British after the Chauri Chaura incident.
- He, along with other senior congress members like Subhas Chandra Bose, Motilal Nehru, Chittaranjan Das, founded the Swaraj Party in 1923.
- However, they worked closely with the Congress for the cause of India’s freedom.
- Death: Vithalbhai died in Geneva on October 22, 1933, of ill-health.
