Bhulabhai Desai

Background

Bhulabhai Desai was born on October 13, 1877, in Valsad, Gujarat, then part of British India. He began his education at home under the guidance of his maternal uncle before attending the Avabai School in Valsad and Bharda High School in Bombay, where he matriculated in 1895 with the highest marks in his class.

He married Ichchhaben while still a student, and they had one son, Dhirubhai. Ichchhaben died of cancer in 1923. Desai's early life connected the educational institutions of Gujarat and Bombay with the expanding professional opportunities available to Indians trained in English education, law, and public administration.

Education

Desai studied at Avabai School in Valsad and Bharda High School in Bombay, completing his matriculation in 1895. He then attended Elphinstone College in Bombay, where he studied English literature and history, stood first in history and political economy, won the Wordsworth Prize, and received a scholarship. Elphinstone College, founded in the nineteenth-century educational expansion of Bombay, was associated with the development of higher education and public-service leadership in western India.

Desai completed a Master of Arts degree in English at the University of Bombay. He subsequently taught English and history at Gujarat College in Ahmedabad while studying law, combining academic work with preparation for a legal career. The University of Bombay, established in 1857, was one of the principal institutions through which modern higher education developed in colonial western India.

Career

Desai began his professional career as a professor of English and history at Gujarat College in Ahmedabad, teaching there from about 1900 to 1905. Gujarat College, founded in the nineteenth century, was one of the important centers of higher education in the Bombay Presidency and later became associated with Gujarat's intellectual and public life.

After qualifying in law, Desai enrolled as an advocate of the Bombay High Court in 1905. He became one of the leading lawyers of Bombay and India, appearing in important public and constitutional matters. In 1926 he served as Advocate-General, and during the Bardoli Satyagraha of 1928 he represented peasants before the Broomfield Committee, bringing legal advocacy into direct contact with the nationalist movement.

Desai joined the Indian National Congress in 1930 and participated in the Civil Disobedience movement. He was imprisoned in 1932 and later took part in individual satyagraha during the Second World War, for which he was arrested in 1940 and held at Yeravda Central Jail. His public career combined courtroom practice with parliamentary and nationalist work during the final decades of British rule.

Elected from Gujarat to the Central Legislative Assembly in 1934, Desai became leader of the Congress Party there from 1934 to 1939 and remained a prominent member of the Assembly through the war years. He used parliamentary debate to oppose colonial constitutional arrangements and India's involuntary participation in the war. In 1944 and 1945 he held confidential discussions with Liaquat Ali Khan about an interim government containing equal Congress and Muslim League representation; the proposal failed to secure formal acceptance from either organization.

In 1945 Desai became chief defense counsel for Captain Shah Nawaz Khan, Captain Prem Kumar Sahgal, and Lieutenant Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon in the Indian National Army court-martial at the Red Fort in Delhi. His defense argued that members of a subject nation possessed a right to fight for liberation and connected the legal issues in the trial with the broader principles of anticolonial self-determination. Desai died in Bombay on May 6, 1946, after prolonged illness, only months after the trial that became his most widely remembered legal contribution.

Achievements

• Desai became one of the leading advocates of the Bombay High Court and represented important public and constitutional causes during the late colonial period.

• He represented peasants before the Broomfield Committee during the Bardoli Satyagraha of 1928, linking legal advocacy with the agrarian resistance led by the Indian National Congress.

• As chief defense counsel in the 1945 Indian National Army trial at the Red Fort, Desai presented a major anticolonial argument based on the right of a subject people to fight for national liberation.

• His 1944–1945 discussions with Liaquat Ali Khan produced the political proposal known as the Desai–Liaquat formula, which sought an interim central government based on parity between the Congress and the Muslim League.

Works

• book

  • I. N. A. Defence

    (A published record of Desai's defense of Captain Shah Naw...)

    1945

Politics

Desai was associated with the Indian Liberal Party before joining the Indian National Congress in 1930. His political work developed within the constitutional and anticolonial currents of late British India, combining legislative advocacy with participation in the independence movement.

He supported the use of representative institutions as platforms for challenging colonial rule and became leader of the Congress Party in the Central Legislative Assembly from 1934. During the Second World War, he opposed the use of Indian resources and soldiers without Indian consent, participated in individual satyagraha, and was imprisoned. In 1944–1945 he held discussions with Liaquat Ali Khan concerning an interim central government based on parity between Congress and the Muslim League, a proposal later known as the Desai–Liaquat formula.

Views

Desai's public arguments joined constitutional reasoning with the principle that a colonized people possessed a right to political freedom. His defense of the Indian National Army officers treated the question of legal guilt within the wider context of national self-determination and anticolonial resistance.

Personality

Desai was described by contemporaries and later observers as an exceptionally persuasive parliamentary speaker and courtroom advocate. His work in the Central Legislative Assembly and at the INA trial was marked by extensive preparation, forceful constitutional argument, and sustained public advocacy.

Quotes from others about the person

• Jawaharlal Nehru described Desai's speech at the Indian National Army trial as a memorable defense of the right of a subject people to seek freedom and resist foreign rule.

Interests

• Politicians

  Mahatma Gandhi; Vallabhbhai Patel; Jawaharlal Nehru

Connections

Desai was married to Ichchhaben, who died in 1923. They had one son, Dhirubhai Desai.

His political and legal work brought him into documented association with Mahatma Gandhi, Vallabhbhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru, Liaquat Ali Khan, and other leading figures of the Indian independence movement. He worked with a wider defense team during the Indian National Army trials, including Tej Bahadur Sapru, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Kailash Nath Katju.

Wife:

Ichchhaben Desai

She married Bhulabhai Desai while he was still a student and died of cancer in 1923.

Son:

Dhirubhai Desai

He was the son of Bhulabhai Desai and Ichchhaben Desai.

References

• Bhulabhai Desai A biographical entry documenting Desai's legal career, Congress work, membership in the Central Legislative Assembly, participation in individual satyagraha, and role as defense lawyer in the Indian National Army trial.
• Bhulabhai Desai A biography by Motilal Chimanlal Setalvad covering Desai's legal career, political activities, negotiations with Liaquat Ali Khan, and defense of the Indian National Army officers.
  1968
• The “Right to Wage War” against Empire: Anticolonialism and the Challenge to International Law in the Indian National Army Trial of 1945 A scholarly study analyzing Desai's defense arguments at the Red Fort trial and their relationship to anticolonial theories of national liberation and international law.