The historic fast

Gandhiji fasted in Yerwada Jail to prevent the British from creating a separate electorate for different communities. 

Gandhiji walked around the narrow prison room of Yerwada jail in Pune. He was arrested post-midnight, on May 5, 1931, immediately after he broke the Salt law, near Dandi. At the jail, he kept himself busy with his compact ‘prison charkha’ with which he would produce his own yarn. The rest of the time, he was writing ‘cursory examinations on the principal Ashram observance'. This would later be published as ’From Yeravda Mandir’. While the little wheels of the charkha rotated, he contemplated the different ways the British would weaken the national movement. 

He was also anxious about the success of the civil disobedience movement in his absence. However, the Dandi yatra had caught the imagination of the people, even in the remotest corners of the country. The salt law was being broken in many areas. Gandhiji knew there would be a leadership vacuum in every mass movement. To prevent that he had created the Congress Working Committee (CWC). He was overwhelmed to know 2500 satyagrahis led by Sarojini Naidu, Imam Sahib, and Manilal did not resist an attack by 400 odd policemen with steel-shod lathis and it was women who took away the wounded away from the nasty blows they received.

In the Wadala suburb of Bombay, 40,000 Congressmen picketed a saltwork factory and took away salt. At Bhindebazar police station, the cops fired at the satyagrahis killing 111. The civil disobedience movement was raging across the country, despite his absence, in the most non-violent manner.

Yet, Gandhiji was nervous. He knew the British relied on divide and rule policy. They were largely successful in breaking Hindu -Muslim unity. He was sad that the Muslim organisations largely kept away from civil disobedience.

'They would try to divide us even further,' Gandhiji thought. He stared at the rugged prison walls in dismay.
By that time most members of the CWC were in jail. His premonition came true. In just over a month since his arrest, The Simon Commission report came out which suggested constitutional reforms.

Viceroy Irwin sent Congress President Motilal and his son Nehru to Yerwada jail to discuss the recommendation of Simon Commission, calling for a federal constitution. “No,” Gandhi said. “A complete transfer of power with a responsible government is what I demand.”

Motilal gave a respectful nod to Mahatma in agreement and left.
Meanwhile, in London, Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, who had been successful in dividing Muslims and Hindus, had the nefarious plan to divide the Hindu community further by providing separate electorates for the ‘depressed section’ (today's scheduled caste), who were victims of untouchability. 

58 political leaders from British India and sixteen delegates from the princely states participated in the three-month-long conference. Congress refused to participate. When Gandhi came to know about the conference, he said, “Without the Congress, it is like performing Hamlet without the prince of Denmark.”

On January 19, 1931, on the concluding day of the roundtable Prime Minister Ramsay promised a separate electorate for Muslims. Back in India, the governor general lifted the ban on the Congress, so that the party could respond. On January 26, Gandhiji, along with thousands of Congress workers, was released from prison.

Soon after, the historic Gandhi-Irwin pact was signed in Delhi dissolving the civil disobedience movement based on mutual agreement. It was the first time that the British considered the Congress on par with them. Gandhi’s truce didn't go down well with many youths in the Congress including Subhash Chandra Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru.

In support of his decision for the truce, he wrote in his publication Young India dated March 12, 1931, “Complete independence is the ultimate goal of Congress.”

The Congress regrouped in Karachi on March 31. The Working Committee unanimously selectedGandhi as the only representative of the Congress to attend the second Round Table Conference at London. But before the conference, Britain proposed a separate electorate for forward-caste, scheduled caste, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians, Europeans and Depressed Classes with an idea that each of them will eventually become a country in itself. Gandhiji saw through the nefarious plan.

When the conference began, Madan Mohan Malviya was sitting next to Gandhiji. He could see the contempt revealed in Gandhiji’s mannerisms. When the photographer asked everyone to pose for a photograph, Gandhiji was the only one to look away. The second roundtable failed.

Just a few days after Gandhiji arrived back in India, he was arrested. At the time, Britain replaced Viceroy Irwin with Lord Willingdon. Under him, they gagged the press. More than 131 newspapers stopped publication. The Congress was banned again. And, eventually, in August 1932, Britain formulated a separate electorate law for untouchables called the Communal Award.

Gandhiji wanted to wipe out untouchability from Hinduism. In fact, he was heavily criticised by his fellow Congressmen for diverting too much time for the ‘Harijans’, a name he coined for the untouchables which meant ‘God’s own’, than the national movement. Gandhiji lived with Harijans,, dined with them and even invited many people for a community dinner to break the taboo against them.

Yet, Gandhiji objected to separate electorates because he thought that it would fragment the Hindu religion.  In a letter to the British Prime Minister, he compared it to “injection of a poison that is calculated to destroy Hinduism and do no good whatever.”

Gandhi wanted to bring reforms and end injustice against Harijans but was particular that the caste system remained.
On September 20 Gandhi began his fast unto death, and the next day millions of Indians fasted with him for 24 hours. Dr Ambedkar was forced to change his views on separate electorate. Three days later, on September 24, the Poona Pact was signed by Pt Madan Mohan Malviya and Dr B R Ambedkar and some Dalit leaders at Yerwada Central Jail in Pune, to break Mahatma Gandhi's fast unto death. By this time, many Hindu temples were opened to untouchables for the first time. The Harijans were provided with reservations. Some critics argue that the Act led to the partition of India.

Yet, the Poona Pact was Gandhiji’s testing ground to check the success of fasting as a tool. The pact changed the destiny of millions of Harijans - whom we now call as Dalits. Just six days after, he started the Harijan Sevak Sangh (Servants of the Untouchables Society) and its weekly journal Harijan. Post his release from jail till his death, Gandhiji dedicated a large part of his time for the emancipation of the downtrodden.

(Published in The Making of Mahatma' Supplement, The New Indian Express, south India, October 02, 2019 

Link: http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/1841233/The-Making-Of-Mahatma/02102018#page/10/1