Gandhi’s Harijan Campaign and Thoughts on Caste

At a Glance

• Organisations All India Anti-Untouchability League (September 1932); Harijan Sevak Sangh
• Newspaper Weekly Harijan, from January 1933
• Tour November 1933 to July 1934, about 20,000 km
• Theme Eradicate untouchability; not mix it with abolition of caste
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, Modern History: Civil Disobedience Movement and Round Table Conferences

Where Does It Fit?

This is the thirteenth topic of the category on the Civil Disobedience Movement and Round Table Conferences. The previous topic covered the Poona Pact. This topic covers Gandhi’s campaign against untouchability. The next and last topic compares Gandhi and Ambedkar. Previous topic: Separate electorates for the depressed classes Seats…">Poona Pact and Its Impact on Dalits.

How Did the Campaign Begin?

Determined to undo the divisive intentions of the government’s divide and rule policy, Gandhi gave up all his other preoccupations and launched a whirlwind campaign against untouchability, first from jail and, after his release in August 1933, from outside. While in jail he set up the All India Anti-Untouchability League in September 1932 and began the weekly Harijan in January 1933. After his release he moved to the Satyagraha Ashram at Wardha, since he had vowed in 1930 not to return to Sabarmati Ashram unless swaraj was won. The background is in Communal Award, 1932 and Poona Pact and Its Impact on Dalits.

What Did the Harijan Tour Involve?

Starting from Wardha, Gandhi toured the country from November 1933 to July 1934, covering 20,000 km, collecting money for the newly set up Harijan Sevak Sangh and urging the removal of untouchability in every form. He asked political workers to go to the villages and work for the social, economic, political and cultural uplift of Harijans. He undertook fasts, in May and August 1933 by the usual dating, to convince his followers of the seriousness of his effort, and these created consternation in nationalist ranks and an emotional crisis for many.

Throughout the campaign he was attacked by orthodox and reactionary elements, who disrupted his meetings, held black flag demonstrations and accused him of attacking Hinduism. They also offered support to the government against the Congress and civil disobedience. The government obliged them by defeating the Temple Entry Bill in August 1934. Orthodox Hindu opinion in Bengal was against accepting permanent minority status for caste Hindus under the Poona Pact.

What Themes Did Gandhi Stress?

• A damning indictment of Hindu society for the oppression of Harijans.
• Total eradication of untouchability, symbolised by his plea to open temples to untouchables.
• Penance by caste Hindus for the misery inflicted on Harijans; for this reason he was not hostile to critics such as Ambedkar. He said that Hinduism dies if untouchability lives, and that untouchability must die if Hinduism is to live.
• Humanism and reason: he said the Shastras do not sanction untouchability, and if they did they should be ignored as against human dignity.

How Did Gandhi Separate Untouchability From Caste?

Gandhi did not want to mix the removal of untouchability with inter-caste marriage and inter-dining, because such restrictions existed among caste Hindus and among Harijans themselves, and the campaign was directed against disabilities specific to Harijans. He also distinguished between abolishing untouchability and abolishing the caste system. On this he differed from Ambedkar, who advocated the annihilation of caste to remove untouchability.

Gandhi felt that whatever the limits of the varnashram system, it was not sinful as untouchability was. Untouchability, he felt, was a product of distinctions of high and low and not of the caste system itself, and if purged of this distinction the system could work with each caste complementing the other and none being higher or lower. He hoped that believers and critics of the caste system would unite against untouchability.

He believed removing untouchability would help communal and other questions, since it meant opposing the notion of highness and lowness. He opposed using compulsion on the orthodox Hindus, whom he called sanatanis; they were to be won by persuasion, by appeals to reason and the heart. His fasts aimed at inspiring friends and followers to redouble their work. The campaign also included a programme of internal reform by Harijans in education, cleanliness, hygiene, giving up beef and carrion and liquor, and removing untouchability among themselves.

What Was the Impact?

Gandhi repeatedly described the campaign as not a political movement but one meant primarily to purify Hinduism and Hindu society. Gradually it carried the message of nationalism to Harijans, who were also the agricultural labourers in most parts of the country, and led to their increasing participation in the national and peasant movements.

As an analytical point, Gandhi framed untouchability as a moral wrong of caste Hindus to be remedied by penance and persuasion, while the other main view, set out in Gandhi and Ambedkar: Ideological Differences and Similarities, saw it as a social and legal problem requiring legal remedy and, at the extreme, the end of the caste system. The two views shaped the debates of the 1930s and later.

Why Is This Topic Important?

• Harijan campaign Dates, organisations and the tour are Prelims facts
• Caste views Gandhi’s view of varnashram versus Ambedkar’s is a Mains debate
• Temple entry Links with later reform efforts

What Came Next?

The next and last topic compares Gandhi and Ambedkar on their ideas. Next topic: Gandhi and Ambedkar: Ideological Differences and Similarities.

Key People and Terms

• Harijan The name Gandhi gave to the untouchables
• Harijan Sevak Sangh The body set up to collect funds and work for Harijans
• All India Anti-Untouchability League Set up by Gandhi in September 1932
• Sanatanis Orthodox Hindus whom Gandhi wished to persuade
• Varnashram The traditional division into varnas and stages of life
• Temple Entry Bill A bill defeated in August 1934

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions ask about the campaign and Gandhi’s caste views. These points add depth.

• Method Persuasion and penance
• Opposition Orthodox groups and the defeat of the bill
• Limits Distinction from abolition of caste