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Eternal India
encyclopedia
FREEDOM MOVEMENT
Simplicity to the core... of the masses....
with the masses
1922 : Gandhi suspended the Civil Disobe-
dience movement, when a violent mob burnt
alive 22 policemen at
Chauri Chaura
in Uttar
Pradesh. Gandhi was arrested on 10th
March and was sentenced to 6 years’ im-
prisonment but was released after two
years on health grounds.
In March 1930 Gandhi undertook break-
ing of the Salt law at Dandi* and was ar-
rested. This provoked Churchill to say that
Gandhism, will have to be crushed.
After a series of eight meetings, with
Viceroy Irwin, the Irwin Pact was signed on
March 5, 1931. The government agreed to
release all non-violent prisoners and to
recognise the boycott of foreign cloth as a
legitimate right. Gandhi agreed to suspend
his Civil Disobedience and to attend the
Second Round Table Conference
in London.
In August, he sailed to London where he
turned down invitations from the well-to-
do and instead took a small room in the
slums.
In London, he visited the Lancashire
textile mills that had been particularly hard
hit by the Indian boycott of English cloth.
He was able to give its angry workers a
vivid picture of the poverty in India. His sin-
cerity, simplicity and gaiety won over the
workers to his side. The talks failed and
Gandhi returned to India where he was re-
arrested.
1935 : He built his model village a few
miles from Wardha and called it Sevagram.
For the rest of his life this was his home.
He lived in a three-by-eight hut made up of
mud and bamboo. It had no electricity.
* Refer Pg I 34 -- Dandi March
“See no evil,” “Speak no evil” and
“Hear no evil.”
His possessions con-
sisted of a dollar pocket watch, two food
bowls, a water pitcher, fountain pens, a pair
of spectacles and a stick.
“I have nothing new to teach the world.
Truth and non-violence are as old as the
hills. ’’
“Complete renunciation of one's pos-
sessions is a thing which very few even
among ordinary folk are capable of. All that
can legitimately be expected of the wealthy
class is that they should hold their riches
and talents in trust and use them for the
service of society. To insist on more would
be to kill the goose that laid the golden
eggs.
”
“Prayer is the first and the last lesson in
learning the noble and brave art of sacrific-
ing self in the various walks of life... Prayer
is not an old woman's idle amusement.
Properly understood and applied, it is the
most potent instrument of action.”
His heart yearned for the
"suppressed-half
of humanity
.........
We forget that the girls of
today are the mothers of tomorrow."
Woman to Gandhiji was the emblem of
Ahimsa
— non-violence —
“weak in
striking...strong in suffering”,
she had
come to occupy a pivotal position in his plan
of Satyagraha. He wanted to convert her
self-sacrifice and suffering into
shakti .
1942 : Following the failure of the Cripps
Mission, the AICC passed the Quit India
resolution in favour of starting a mass
struggle.
1947
: India attains Independence. Mass
migration of Sikhs and Muslims begins
from Pakistan to India and Muslims from
India to Pakistan. Communal massacres
erupt. Gandhi did not take part in nation's
celebrations. Instead he undertakes a visit
to riot hit Calcutta where he goes on fast
unto death. He breaks the fast 73 hours
later only when Hindu, Muslim and Chris-
tian representatives pledge to keep the
peace.
1948
: Gandhi goes on his last fast, his
20th and his seventh major fast, on January
13. He said he would break the fast only
when,
“I am satisfied that there is a reun-
ion of hearts among all the communities. ”
The fast was also intended to compel the
Indian Goverment to pay Pakistan its share
of Rs. 65 crores in the treasury before In-
dependence. He broke the fast on the 6th
day after the Indian Government had
agreed to pay the amount due to Pakistan
and the leaders of all communities pledged
to maintain communal peace.
Personal possessions
This is all that he left behind ....................
He had a paper weight inscribed, “God
is
Love
’ and the following eternal motto,