Kalyanji Viththalbhai Mehta was born on 7 November 1890 in the Vanz village of Surat district. He studied at the Premchand Raichand College in Ahmedabad for three years. Kalyanji attended the Surat Congress as a spectator. He became the Rector of the Patidar Vidyarthi Ashram at Surat in 1907. After the arrest of Annie Besant, he left the government service and founded the branches of the Home Rule League in Surat.
He remained the secretary of Congress Samiti of Surat district from 1920 to 1930. In 1921, he donated all his property to the Tilak Swaraj Fund. He prepared the farmers for the no-tax movement in Bardoli in 1922. He founded the ‘Navyug’ weekly and became its editor. He was imprisoned for two years for writing a seditious write-up in it. He was a pioneer in starting the Rashtriya schools in Bardoli in 1925. He started Raniparaj Kanya Vidyalaya in Mandvi taluka and Ashram schools in Surat District. During the Bardoli satyagraha in 1928, he was the president of the Bardoli Taluka Congress Samiti and the secretary of Sardar Patel. He suggested extending the March for breaking the salt law to Dandi instead of Kankapur of Borsad taluka. He was imprisoned for one year for participating in it. He founded the Kasturba Ashram at Maroli in 1931. During the civil disobedience movement, he was sent to jail for two years. He was again arrested during the ‘Quit India’ movement and imprisoned. He served as the speaker of the Mumbai assembly till 1957 and that of the Gujarat assembly from 1960 to 1962. He was conferred with ‘Padmabhushan’ by the Government of India in 1967. He died on 11th July 1973 at Surat.
Source: Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust (https://gandhiashramsabarmati.org/), Ahmedabad
Desai, Ishwarlal (1973). ‘AzadinaGhadavaiya’. Surat. SwantantryaItihiasSamiti.