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The Gentle Satyagrahi

The Gentle Satyagrahi

On his return to India from South Africa, Gandhi made Ahmedabad his home and set up his Satyagraha Ashram there. In the beginning there were many people helping him monetarily but they stopped doing so when he took in a family of 'untouchables' from Bombay and earned their displeasure. The ashram was in dire straits and just when it looked as if he would have to close it down, help came unexpectedly. One evening a stranger drove up to the ashram, handed over a bundle of currency notes, enough to meet the ashram's expenses for a year and drove away, refusing to reveal his identity. This unsolicited help left Gandhiji speechless.
A year later when mill-workers of Ahmedabad were agitating for a pay hike, some mill-hands approached Gandhi and asked him to lead them. A social worker, Anasuyabhen urged Gandhi to help them and he decided to take up their cause.
One day he led a delegation of mill-workers to a meeting with mill-owners. To his surprise the leading mill-owner turned out to be the same man who had come to the rescue of his ashram, some months earlier. He was Sheth Ambalal Sarabhai. The social worker, Anasuyabehn turned out to be the tycoon's sister, providing another curious twist to the tale.
Gandhi was respected both by the mill-owners and the workers but neither side was prepared to yield an inch. When the mill-owners refused to refer the question of a pay hike to a tribunal, Gandhi advised the workers to go on strike but gave them a list of do's and don'ts. They were never to resort to violence; they were to stay firm no matter how long the strike lasted; they were to earn their bread elsewhere but through honest means during the period of the strike.
The workers took a pledge to stand firm in their demands but as the strike dragged on, their resolve began to weaken and some of them got ready to resume work. Then Gandhi took a strong stand. He declared that unless the workers continued the strike till a settlement was reached, he would not take any food.
The fast was meant to persuade the mill-workers to stand firm. But it made an impact on the mill-owners too. On the third day of the fast they agreed to arbitration and ultimately the workers got the 35 per cent hike in wages they were agitating for.
No sooner had the mill-workers' strike ended than Gandhi turned his attention to the plight of ryots in Kheda district in Gujarat.


Unseasonal rains in the Kheda district in 1917-1918 had destroyed most of the crops there. The famine code stipulated that if the crop yield fell to a certain minimum level the cultivators need not pay tax. In Kheda however, the revenue officials insisted on collecting revenue.
When petitions to the government fell on deaf ears, Gandhiji advised the ryots to resort to satyagraha. The ryots took a pledge not to pay revenue but to submit to whatever penalty the government imposed on them as a consequence.
Volunteers fanned out to villages in the district to explain the principles of satyagraha to the peasants. The volunteers explained that while the ryots did not have to fear the government officials, they should be civil to them. To Gandhiji, civility did not mean mere outward gentleness of speech cultivated for the occasion but an absence of ill-will towards the adversary. He explained that if the peasants were rude to the officials, the satyagraha would be spoilt. It would be like 'a drop of arsenic in milk'.
It was hard for the satyagrahis to come up to Gandhiji's expectations and going by the reports of the revenue officials the code of conduct laid down by Gandhi was not always observed by the satyagrahis. The villagers for example stopped giving food or water or shelter to the officials when they came on their rounds. Livestock would be let loose so that the animals belonging to tax defaulters could not be identified and therefore could not be impounded. Local people who assisted in the collection of revenue were ostracised.
The revenue officials complained bitterly about the rude methods adopted by the farmers but they knew that things could become even worse. Law and order could break down altogether. The peasants, however did not have the resources to sustain a long agitation and to avoid causing them hardship, Gandhi began to look for some graceful way out of the situation. In the event it was the revenue officials who made the first move. They offered to suspend revenue collection if the well-to-do farmers agreed to pay the revenue.
The satyagraha had borne fruit but Gandhiji did not consider it a complete victory. He said a satyagraha could be considered worthwhile only if it left the satyagrahis stronger and more spirited. Apparently that had not happened in the case of the Kheda satyagrahis who had been left exhausted by the stand-off with the government.
Still Gandhiji was satisfied with the outcome of the Kheda satyagraha as it marked the beginning of an awakening among the peasants of Gujarat.

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