The Epic Fast (1/4)
September 20, 2024
At noon on September 20, 1932, Gandhi began a fast to the death.
It was his third for a public cause, and the first where the 61-year-old seriously contemplated his own demise. On the previous day, he sent more than four dozen potentially final letters and telegrams to friends and associates, telling them not to worry, his life was in God’s hands. To a cousin, he wrote “If I leave this world before you, please do not grieve, but rejoice that you had a younger brother whom God had granted the strength to complete such a yajna (sacrifice).”
The cause was a British decision to award, in a fashion, double votes for Dalits—Hindus without caste, also known as “untouchables.” Dalits had been awarded a separate electorate, which would be able to nominate and elect their own candidates to the legislature, where 71 seats would be reserved for them. In addition, Dalits would also be able to vote for Hindu candidates, boosting their electoral power.
This statutory separation of Hindus was unacceptable to Gandhi. The British Empire would have to bend, or allow Gandhi to perish.
Although Gandhi said he spoke for all of India, B.R. Ambedkar had a better claim to the 50 million Dalits. During the Round Table Conference, Ambedkar had advocated passionately for his people, and the political reforms that would improve the quality of their lives. Ambedkar was highly educated, having attended college in Mumbai, London, and New York, “where he had earned a Ph.D. as an expert on Indian finance.”1
He knew firsthand the trials that Dalits dealt with on a daily basis: as a boy in school, he was prohibited from sitting in a chair or drinking from a cup, lest he pollute them. Discrimination was widespread. Dalits were generally barred from entering Hindu temples, drinking from public wells, and even walking on public roads!
Ambedkar had carried out his own campaigns to address discrimination in the past, the most famous of which was the Mahad Satyagraha five years earlier. Carrying a picture of Gandhi, he had led thousands of Dalits to drink from the water tank in Mahad. Orthodox Hindus were outraged and purified it with cow dung.
When it came to the issue of separate electorates, Ambedkar had little choice but to negotiate. As I’ve written before, a fast to the death carries an element of coercion. Should the Mahatma’s life be extinguished, Ambedkar knew Dalits across the subcontinent would pay a heavy price. This did not prevent him from driving a hard bargain. When he arrived at Yerwada Prison to see Gandhi, he warned him, “I want my compensation.”
Gandhi was willing. More in part two.
Can you think of an issue where you would not negotiate under any circumstances?
Gandhi & Churchill: The Epic Rivalry that Destroyed an Empire and Defined our Age ( Herman, 2008) p. 386