Road To Freedom

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• For God and Country
• The Empire Builders
• Tribal Uprisings
• Sepoys on the Move
• British Authority Collapses
• The Empire Strikes Back
• Roll of Honour
• The Trial of the Last Emperor
• English Education
• The Blue Mutiny
• Perishing in Peace
• ‘Rani Ka Hookum’
• Barbarous Britannia
• Return to Swadeshi
• The Delhi Durbar
• Hunger Deaths
• The One-Man Army
• Mamool Raj
• The British Raj in Black and White
• Europeans Take To The Street!
• Pressing On !
• The Battle For A Free Press
• The Battle Lines are Drawn
• Women : Crossing the Threshold
• An Old Man's Dream
• Father of Indian Unrest
• The Monk Who Shook The Nation
• The Battle is Taken to the Legislature!
• Partition of Bengal
• The Great Divide
• The New Spirit of India
• Swadeshi Enterprise
• From Swadeshi to Swaraj
• Gandhi in South Africa
• Heroes and Martyrs
• Revolutionaries Outside India
• Carrot and Stick
• Gandhi in Champaran
• The Gentle Satyagrahi
• Massacre at Jallianwala Bagh
• Jallianwala — The Aftermath
• A People Reject Their Rulers
• The Himalayan Blunder
• Gandhiji Withdraws from Political Activities
• Bardoli
• Saga of Indian Revolutionaries
• A Pinch of Salt!
• Gandhi and Ambedkar
• Leave India to God… or to Anarchy
• Quit India
• The Last War of Independence
• Apostle of Peace
• India Wins Freedom
• The Light Has Gone Out
• Under One Flag

Gandhiji Withdraws from Political Activities

Gandhiji Withdraws from Political Activities

Though he was unconditionally released from prison in 1924 following severe illness, Gandhiji refused to take part in active politics. Between 1922 and 1930, for eight long years he did a penance of a different kind – he gave his time and energy to the propagation of khadi; to bring about Hindu-Muslim unity and for the upliftment of the depressed classes whom he described as Harijans, Children of God. Some of his colleagues including Motilal Nehru and C. R. Das opted to return to municipal, provincial and legislative councils. Under the Act of 1919 which was implemented in 1921, the number of elected members was raised and Indians could hold office as ministers in charge of minor departments. C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru contended that by entering the legislatures they could air public grievances and also carry on with non-cooperation by obstructing the government within the legislature. Gandhiji did not oppose his friends who formed the Swaraj party, fought elections and entered legislatures. He only asked them to support his campaign for clothing every Indian in khadi. He toured the length and breadth of the country promoting khadi. At meetings he would say, "I have come here to do business, to collect money for the spinning wheel and khadi and to sell khadi." Between 1924 and 1927, to use an expression current then, Gandhiji 'spun khadi, drank khadi, ate khadi.' Some of his friends accused Gandhi of taking the khadi issue too far. Defending Gandhiji's obsession for khadi his close associate Chakravarti Rajagopalachari addressing a meeting in Ahmedabad said : "In India there are thousands and tens of thousands of villages where men do not get more than 2 1 rupees a month. There is no use shedding tears for them if we won't wear a few yards of khadi which they have manufactured and want us to buy so that they may find a meal. If our hearts were not made of stone we would all be wearing khadi. Khadi means employment for the poor and freedom for India…"

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Hindu-Muslim unity was another obsession with Gandhi. The Khilafat movement lost its relevance when in Turkey, Kamal Pasha forced the Sultan into exile and set out to europeanize the country. Following these developments the brief honeymoon between Hindus and Muslims so evident during the non-cooperation movement came to an end. Hindu-Muslim clashes became more frequent. Small things like a Hindu procession passing in front of a mosque at prayer time or a Muslim slaughtering a cow could set off a communal riot. Gandhi decided to pray and fast to bring the two communities closer. Announcing his intention on Sept. 18, 1924, Gandhiji said in a statement: "Nothing evidently which I say or write can bring two communities together and I am therefore imposing on myself a 21 day fast from today... It is both a penance and a prayer..."
Gandhiji fasted at the home of Mohamed Ali. The two physicians in constant attendance were Muslims. 'Charlie' Andrews who served as nurse was a Christian missionary. On the twelfth day of the fast Gandhiji wrote in Young India, "Hitherto it has been a struggle and a yearning for a change of heart among Englishmen who compose the government of India. That change has still to come. But the struggle must for the moment be transferred to a change of heart among the Hindus and the Mussulmans. Before they dare think of freedom they must be brave enough to love one another, to tolerate one another's religion, even prejudices and superstitions, and to trust one another. This requires faith in oneself. And faith in oneself is faith in God. If we have that faith we shall cease to fear one another."
On October 6, on the completion of the 21-day fast Dr. Ansari offered him a glass of orange juice which the Mahatma drank.
Gandhiji resumed his tours to propagate khadi. He refused to be drawn into politics. He ignored the Simon Commission which arrived in India in February 1928 and did not even mention it in any of his speeches.
The Simon Commission was to tour India, talk to various leaders and suggest changes in the Indian political system. No one in the country wanted to talk to the commission which was supposed to determine the future of the country but had no Indian as a member. Wherever it went the commission was greeted with black flags. Many Indian leaders including Lala Lajpat Rai, Jawaharlal Nehru and Gobind Ballab Pant received lathi blows while holding demonstrations against the commission. Unfortunately Lajpat Rai succumbed to the injuries he received during a lathi charge and this resulted in a violent backlash in the form of revolutionary activities.