in 1917, sardar vallabhbhai was elected as the secretary of the gujarat sabha, the gujarat wing of the indian national congress. in 1918, he led a massive "no tax campaign" that urged the farmers not to pay taxes after the british insisted on tax after the floods in kaira. the peaceful movement forced the british authorities to return the land taken away from the farmers. his effort to bring together the farmers of his area brought him the title of 'sardar'. he actively supported the non-cooperation movement launched by gandhi. patel toured the nation with him, recruited 300,000 members and helped collect over rs.1.5 million.