Nehru: The Invention of India

by Shashi Tharoor

Mahatma lived a simple life of near-absolute poverty in an ashram and travelled across the land in third-class railway compartments, campaigning against untouchability, poor sanitation and child marriage, and preaching an eclectic set of virtues, from sexual abstinence to the weaving of khadi and the beneficial effects of frequent enemas. That he was an eccentric seemed beyond doubt; that he had touched a chord amongst the masses was equally apparent; that he was a potent political force soon became clear. His crusade against the system of indentured labour that had transported Indians to British colonies across the world so moved the public, poor and rich alike, that the Viceroy of India put an end to it in 1917 (it was formally abolished in 1920). Gandhi next turned his attention to the appalling conditions of indigo farmers in the north Indian district of Champaran, where he agitated for better terms for the peasant cultivators who had long been oppressed by English planters and British laws. More important, he captured the imagination of the nation by publicly breaking English law in the name of a higher law (‘the voice of conscience’) and challenging the British to imprison him. The British, not desirous of making a martyr of the Mahatma, dropped all charges—and made him a national hero instead.