Vakils launches book on Gandhi’s trusted friend Pranjivan Mehta

Ramchandra Guha, in his book titled Gandhi Before India (2013), states that, “Pranjivan Mehta was to Mohandas Gandhi what Friedrich Engels was to Karl Marx: at once a disciple and a patron, who saw, very early, that the friend of his youth had the makings of the heroic, world-transforming figure he was to later become.”

 

The launch was on 7 March at Nehru Centre, Mumbai by Sudheendra Kulkarni. 

 

Arun Mehta of Vakils is a descendant of Pranjivan Mehta (He is the grandson of Umashankar Joshi, the brother of PJ Mehta) . Also, he is part of the Sarvodaya International Trust – Maharashtra Chapter and looking to promote Gandhian ideals of truth, non-violence and communal harmony. Above all, he is a master printer, a role he underplays these days, with the focus on gen-next, his son, Bimal Mehta.

 

Arun Mehta who has researched for the book, stated, “History books have little to say about this associate of Gandhiji who had a profound impact on Bapu’s life and his Satyagraha movement. Mehta was one of the earliest to suggest to Gandhi that he plan and launch a nationwide campaign against the British Salt Laws. This was a decade before Bapu undertook the Dandi March, in 1930.”

 

Interestingly enough, Mehta was also the grandfather of another noted printer, the late I M Doctor of Rite Print Pak.

 

Mona Doctor, who is I M Doctor's daughter stated, "There's so much we don't know about PJ Mehta." She stated it included: PJ Mehta gave Gandhiji an access to a blank signed cheque book for the freedom movement. "P J Mehta wrote a cheque of Rs 18 lakhs on one, in those days!"

 

Mona Doctor added that, offering Mani Bhavan in Mumbai to Gandhiji is an unknown fact.

Doctor said, "PJ Mehta was a doctor, barrister, jeweller and mentor. He achieved much in his 54 years."

 

She concluded, "Congratulations to Arun Mehta and the Vakils team for unearthing an important piece of Indian history by launching this book on Pranjivan Mehta."