History · Ch 11 — Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement — Civil Disobedience and Beyond
A people’s leader
A people’s leader
A people’s leader
By 1922, Gandhiji had fundamentally changed the character of Indian nationalism. The movement was no longer confined to professionals and intellectuals. Now, hundreds of thousands of peasants, workers, and artisans had joined it. This was the fulfilment of the promise he had made in his BHU speech of February 1916.
Many of these ordinary people venerated Gandhiji, calling him “Mahatma”. They appreciated that he dressed like them, lived like them, and spoke their language. Unlike other leaders, he did not stand apart from common folk. He empathised with them and even identified with them.
This identification was strikingly visible in his dress. While other nationalist leaders dressed formally — in a Western suit or an Indian bandgala — Gandhiji went among the people in a simple dhoti or loincloth. He also spent part of each day working on the charkha (spinning wheel) and encouraged other nationalists to do the same.
The act of spinning allowed Gandhiji to break the boundaries of the traditional caste system — the boundary between mental labour and manual labour. The charkha became the most abiding image of Indian nationalism.
In 1921, during a tour of South India, Gandhiji shaved his head and began wearing a loincloth to identify with the poor. His new appearance also came to symbolise asceticism and abstinence — qualities he celebrated in opposition to the consumerist culture of the modern world.
Gandhiji was profoundly critical of the modern age in which machines enslaved humans and displaced labour. He saw the charkha as a symbol of a human society that would not glorify machines and technology. The spinning wheel could provide the poor with supplementary income and make them self-reliant.
He wrote in Young India (13 November 1924): “What I object to, is the craze for machinery as such. The craze is for what they call labour-saving machinery. Men go on ‘saving labour’, till thousands are without work and thrown on the open streets to die of starvation. I want to save time and labour, not for a fraction of mankind, but for all; I want the concentration of wealth, not in the hands of few, but in the hands of all.”
In another issue (17 March 1927), he clarified: “Khaddar does not seek to destroy all machinery but it does regulate its use and check its weedy growth. It uses machinery for the service of the poorest in their own cottages. The wheel is itself an exquisite piece of machinery.”
The image of Gandhi among peasants
The historian Shahid Amin has traced the image of Mahatma Gandhi among the peasants of eastern Uttar Pradesh, as conveyed by reports and rumours in the local press. When Gandhiji travelled through the region in February 1921, he was received by adoring crowds everywhere.
Local newspapers in the United Provinces recorded many rumours that circulated at that time. There were stories of miraculous events:
- Sikandar Sahu from a village in Basti said on 15 February that he would believe in the Mahatmaji when the karah (boiling pan) full of sugar cane juice in his karkhana split into two. Immediately the karah actually split into two from the middle.
- A cultivator in Azamgarh said that he would believe in the Mahatmaji’s authenticity if sesamum sprouted on his field planted with wheat. Next day all the wheat in that field became sesamum.
A Hindi newspaper in Gorakhpur reported the atmosphere during his speeches:
At Bhatni Gandhiji addressed the local public and then the train started for Gorakhpur. There were not less than 15,000 to 20,000 people at Nunkhar, Deoria, Gauri Bazar, Chauri Chaura and Kusmhi (stations) … Mahatmaji was very pleased to witness the scene at Kusmhi, as despite the fact that the station is in the middle of a jungle there were not less than 10,000 people here. Some, overcome with their love, were seen to be crying. At Deoria people wanted to give bhent (donations) to Gandhiji, but he asked them to give these at Gorakhpur. But at Chauri Chaura one Marwari gentleman managed to hand over something to him. Then there was no stopping. A sheet was spread and currency notes and coins started raining. It was a sight … Outside the Gorakhpur station the Mahatma was stood on a high carriage and people had a good darshan of him for a couple of minutes.
Wherever Gandhiji went, rumours spread of his miraculous powers. In some places it was said that he had been sent by the King to redress the grievances of the farmers, and that he had the power to overrule all local officials. In other places it was claimed that Gandhiji’s power was superior to that of the English monarch, and that with his arrival the colonial rulers would flee the district.
There were also stories reporting dire consequences for those who opposed him. Rumours spread of how villagers who criticised Gandhiji found their houses mysteriously falling apart or their crops failing. For example:
- A gentleman from Gorakhpur city questioned the need to ply the charkha. His house caught fire.
- In April 1921 some people were gambling in a village of Uttar Pradesh. Someone told them to stop. Only one from amongst the group refused to stop and abused Gandhiji. The next day his goat was bitten by four of his own dogs.
Known variously as “Gandhi baba”, “Gandhi Maharaj”, or simply as “Mahatma”, Gandhiji appeared to the Indian peasant as a saviour who would rescue them from high taxes and oppressive officials and restore dignity and autonomy to their lives.
Why peasants followed Gandhi
Gandhiji’s appeal among the poor, and peasants in particular, was enhanced by two things:
- His ascetic lifestyle
- His shrewd use of symbols such as the dhoti and the charkha
Mahatma Gandhi was by caste a merchant, and by profession a lawyer. But his simple lifestyle and love of working with his hands allowed him to empathise more fully with the labouring poor — and for them, in turn, to empathise with him. Where most other politicians talked down to them, Gandhiji appeared not just to look like them, but to understand them and relate to their lives.
Organisation behind the mass appeal
While Mahatma Gandhi’s mass appeal was undoubtedly genuine — and in the context of Indian politics, without precedent — his success in broadening the basis of nationalism was based on careful organisation.
- New branches of the Congress were set up in various parts of India.
- A series of “Praja Mandals” were established to promote the nationalist creed in the princely states.
- Gandhiji encouraged the communication of the nationalist message in the mother tongue, rather than in English, the language of the rulers.
- The provincial committees of the Congress were based on linguistic regions, rather than on the artificial boundaries of British India.
In these different ways, nationalism was taken to the farthest corners of the country and embraced by social groups previously untouched by it.
Support from businessmen and industrialists …
The photograph from July 1922 shows a large pile of foreign cloth — mostly mill-made textiles imported from Britain — being gathered for a bonfire. In the image, you can see bundles stacked high, with several men standing around or on top of the pile, actively collecting and arranging the cloth. The setting appears to be an open ground, likely in a town or city where a public meeting had just taken place. The cloth would have been collected from local merchants and households who voluntarily surrendered their imported garments as part of the boycott.
This single image captures the heart of the Non-cooperation Movement's strategy: making nationalism a household act. By burning foreign cloth, ordinary people — not just lawyers or intellectuals — could directly participate in the struggle. The bonfire was both a rejection of British economic exploitation and a public, visible commitment to swadeshi. The photograph shows that the movement had moved from conference halls into the streets and bazaars, exactly as the textbook describes. …
Figure 11.5 shows Mahatma Gandhi seated at a charkha — the simple, hand-operated spinning wheel. He is dressed in his characteristic loincloth, with his head shaved, exactly as he appeared after 1921. The charkha itself is a modest wooden frame with a spinning wheel and spindle; Gandhi’s hands are positioned to work the wheel, drawing out thread. There are no other people, no elaborate background, no labels or arrows — just Gandhi and the charkha, in a quiet, focused pose.
This image became the most abiding symbol of Indian nationalism for a reason. The charkha was not just a tool for spinning cloth; it was a deliberate political and moral statement. By spending part of each day at the wheel, Gandhi broke the traditional caste barrier between mental labour (the work of lawyers and leaders) and manual labour (the work of peasants and artisans). He was saying that no work was beneath him, and that every nationalist should learn to do the same.
The caption in the textbook tells us that in 1921, during a tour of South India, Gandhi shaved his head and began wearing a loincloth to identify with the poor. His new appearance — and the charkha — came to symbolise asceticism and abstinence, qualities he celebrated in opposition to the consumerist culture of the modern world. The spinning wheel also represented self-reliance: it could provide the poor with supplementary income and free them from dependence on British mill-made cloth.
The charkha was not a rejection of all machinery. Gandhi called it “an exquisite piece of machinery” — what he objected to was the craze for labour-saving machines that threw thousands out of work. The charkha was machinery used for the service of the poorest in their own cottages.
The image thus teaches us that Gandhi’s leadership was built on symbols that ordinary Indians could understand and embrace. Unlike other nationalist leaders who dressed formally in Western suits or Indian bandgalas, Gandhi went among the people in a simple dhoti. He did not stand apart from the common folk — he empathised with them and even identified with them. The charkha, like the loincloth, was a visual shorthand for that identification. …
Source 1 — The charkha and machinery. Mahatma Gandhi was profoundly critical of the modern age in which machines enslaved humans and displaced labour. He saw the charkha as a symbol of a human society that would not glorify machines and technology. The spinning wheel, moreover, could provide the poor with supplementary income and make them self-reliant. This is what he wrote in his journal Young India:
What I object to, is the craze for machinery as such. The craze is for what they call labour-saving machinery. Men go on “saving labour”, till thousands are without work and thrown on the open streets to die of starvation. I want to save time and labour, not for a fraction of mankind, but for all; I want the concentration of wealth, not in the hands of few, but in the hands of all.
— Young India, 13 November 1924
Khaddar does not seek to destroy all machinery but it does regulate its use and check its weedy growth. It uses machinery for the service of the poorest in their own cottages. The wheel is itself an exquisite piece of machinery.
— Young India, 17 March 1927 …
Source 2 — The miraculous and the unbelievable. Local newspapers in the United Provinces recorded many of the rumours that circulated at the time of Gandhiji’s tour in February 1921. There were rumours that every person who wanted to test the power of the Mahatma had been surprised:
- Sikandar Sahu from a village in Basti said on 15 February that he would believe in the Mahatmaji when the karah (boiling pan) full of sugar cane juice in his karkhana (where gur was produced) split into two. Immediately the karah actually split into two from the middle.
- A cultivator in Azamgarh said that he would believe in the Mahatmaji’s authenticity if sesamum sprouted on his field planted with wheat. Next day all the wheat in that field became sesamum.
This is how a Hindi newspaper in Gorakhpur reported the atmosphere during his speeches:
At Bhatni Gandhiji addressed the local public and then the train started for Gorakhpur. There were not less than 15,000 to 20,000 people at Nunkhar, Deoria, Gauri Bazar, Chauri Chaura and Kusmhi (stations) … Mahatmaji was very pleased to witness the scene at Kusmhi, as despite the fact that the station is in the middle of a jungle there were not less than 10,000 people here. Some, overcome with their love, were seen to be crying.
— From Shahid Amin, “Gandhi as Mahatma”, Subaltern Studies III, Oxford University Press, Delhi …