Mohanlal Pandya: The Onion Thief of the Kheda Satyagraha

One spring day in 1918, a small group walked into a Gujarat field and cut onions. The field belonged to a farmer, but the government had attached it over unpaid revenue.

The man leading them was Mohanlal Pandya. Gandhi laughed and gave him a nickname for it: Dungli Chor, the Onion Thief.

1Who was Mohanlal Pandya?

Mohanlal Kameshwar Pandya was born on 21 June 1872 in Kathlal, in Gujarat’s Kheda district. His father was a cultivator and banker. He studied agriculture at the University of Bombay.

He then worked as an agricultural official for Gondal State and later Baroda State. Later he became one of Gandhi’s earliest followers in Gujarat. He worked with leaders such as Narhari Parikh and Ravishankar Maharaj.

• Born 21 June 1872 at Kathlal, Kheda.
• Studied agriculture and worked for Gondal and Baroda states.
• Among Gandhi’s earliest followers in Gujarat.
• Died 14 May 1935.

2What was his life before Gandhi?

Pandya’s early story is surprising. In Baroda he met the Ghosh brothers, Aurobindo and Barindra. Their ideas moved him toward revolutionary nationalism.

He published books written by Narsinhbhai Patel. The books carried harmless titles. Inside, they explained simple bomb-making.

In 1909 a bomb was thrown at Viceroy Lord Minto in Ahmedabad. The Mintos escaped unhurt. Pandya and his associates were the main suspects. Nobody was ever convicted of the crime.

Police later found the books. The Baroda government came under pressure and dismissed Pandya in 1911. For about four years he lived quietly in Saurashtra and wrote under other names. Later he took the path of non-violence.

• Met Aurobindo and Barindra Ghosh in Baroda.
• Published disguised bomb-making books.
• 1909: bomb thrown at Lord Minto; Pandya a suspect, never convicted.
• Dismissed from Baroda service in 1911.

3How did he help start Kheda?

In 1918 Kheda’s farmers faced crop failure, plague and cholera. The government still wanted full revenue. Villagers asked for a suspension.

The movement began with local workers, and Pandya and Narhari Parikh were among the first. Only later did the Gujarat Sabha and Congress back it. So Gandhi did not start Kheda from nothing. Local leaders had already prepared the ground.

Gandhi then took charge, with Vallabhbhai Patel as his key aide. Farmers pledged not to pay. Officials seized property and cattle. The farmers did not strike back.

• Farmers hit by crop failure, plague and cholera.
• Started by Pandya and Narhari Parikh.
• Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel led the wider campaign.
• Method: a no-tax pledge, kept non-violently.

4What happened in the onion field?

Officials had attached a field over unpaid revenue. Pandya decided to defy the order. He led a small group of seven or eight into the field. They harvested the onions.

The date usually given is 18 May 1918. The act was meant as a clear, open protest. The police arrested him and he was jailed briefly.

The idea was simple. Taking your own farmer’s crop from a field the state had seized is a protest, not theft. Gandhi liked the spirit, and he gave Pandya the playful name Dungli Chor.

The campaign ended in June 1918 with a settlement. It was partial. Collection was suspended for poorer farmers, and historians call it an incomplete win.

• About 18 May 1918: onions harvested from an attached field.
• Seven or eight companions; Pandya was arrested.
• Gandhi named him Dungli Chor, the Onion Thief.
• Settlement of June 1918, a partial victory.

5How is he remembered?

After Kheda, Pandya kept working in rural Gujarat. He fought alcoholism, illiteracy and untouchability. He also promoted women’s freedom and Gandhian values.

Many accounts say he worked with Vallabhbhai Patel on later campaigns, including Bardoli in 1928. Sources are thin on his exact role there, so treat it with care.

Today he is best known for that one nickname. That is a pity. His life shows how a former revolutionary suspect turned to non-violence and helped start a peasant campaign.

• Worked against alcoholism, illiteracy and untouchability.
• Linked with Patel in later Gujarat campaigns; exact roles are thinly sourced.
• Remembered mainly as the Onion Thief.
• Read about Ravishankar Maharaj.

6What are the exam traps?

Keep the places, people and years apart.

• The onion harvest was in Kheda, 1918, not Bardoli, 1928.
• It was Pandya, not Gandhi, who led the harvest.
• The 1909 link was suspicion, not a conviction.
• Kheda was started locally by Pandya and Narhari Parikh.
• Do not mix it up with Champaran, Gandhi’s 1917 campaign.
• See the Kheda Satyagraha and Sardar Patel.