In 1932, Gandhi began new civil-disobedience
campaigns against the British. Arrested twice, the Mahatma fasted for long
periods several times; these fasts were effective measures against the British,
because revolution might well have broken out in India if he had died. In
September 1932, while in jail, Gandhi undertook a “fast unto death” to improve
the status of the Hindu Untouchables. The British, by permitting the
Untouchables to be considered as a separate part of the Indian electorate,
were, according to Gandhi, countenancing an injustice. Although he was himself
a member of the Vaisya (merchant) caste, Gandhi was the great leader of the
movement in India dedicated to eradicating the unjust social and economic
aspects of the caste system.
In 1934 Gandhi formally resigned from
politics, being replaced as leader of the Congress Party by Jawaharlal Nehru.
Gandhi traveled through India, teaching ahimsa and demanding eradication
of “untouchability.” The esteem in which he was held was the measure of his
political power. So great was this power that the limited home rule granted by
the British in 1935 could not be implemented until Gandhi approved it. A few
years later, in 1939, he again returned to active political life because of the
pending federation of Indian principalities with the rest of India. His first
act was a fast, designed to force the ruler of the state of Rājkot to modify
his autocratic rule. Public unrest caused by the fast was so great that the
colonial government intervened; the demands were granted. The Mahatma again
became the most important political figure in India.
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