Noted Gandhian and politician Gosaibhai Patel dies at 96

SURAT: Gosaibhai Patel, a 96-year-old freedom fighter and former MLA from Navsari’s Matwad village passed away due to his long illness today morning.
Gosaibhai was a staunch Gandhian throughout his life and that he watched Gandhiji and other satyagrahis from a distance during the Dandi March in 1930 as an 11-year-old teenager.
While growing up, though attracted in Gandhian non-violence principle, Gosai Bhai involved in a few violent attacks against British rule.He his friends successfully attacked a police station and released the captives.
Once, he and his friends tried to blow up a railway bridge. But thanks to ‘lack of technological know-how’ the explosion made a sound but no bridge was fallen. Later
Gosai Bhai became a strong follower of Gandhism.
He has written many booklets on Gandhism and was active in social work till the age of 90, despite his failing health. Patel went on to become a politician. He was elected MLA three times and also served as the chief whip of the BJP in the Assembly for a while.
He was also at the helm of Dandi’s development. Patel and another Gandhian, Ranjitbhai Desai, worked towards preserving sites associated with Mahatma Gandhi in the area, such as The Gate of Mahatma Gandhi, or Gandhi Smriti¸ from where Gandhi was arrested by the British at midnight, May 4, 1930.
The funeral of Gosaibhai will be taken out in Matwad village at 12 noon.