Mohandas K. Gandhi: The Indian Leader at Home and Abroad

In April, 1934, Gandhi instructed his followers to abandon civil disobedience and campaign for the forthcoming elections for the Legislative Assembly. Meanwhile the British had been preparing a new Constitution for India, which Gandhi had announced he would give a trial. On April 26 of that year he was attacked and narrowly escaped a beating by a mob of Indians who resented his attitude on the question of the Untouchables.

When the new Constitution was promulgated the following August, Gandhi was bitterly disappointed in it. Although he had been succeeded as leader of the Congress party by Jawaharlal Nehru, he remained active behind the scenes, helping to direct the opposition to the new form of government. He drafted certain conditions regarding the carrying out of the provisions of the India act, and his tactics hamstrung the workings of the new act until July, 1937, when a compromise was reached.

In the spring of 1939, five years after his ostensible retirement from politics, Gandhi openly returned to activity because the Congress party had elected a president whom he did not want, Subhas Chandra Bose. He began the sixth of his famous fasts to force certain reforms from the Thakore Saheb, autocratic ruler of the tiny principality of Rajkot, in northwestern India.

Apprehension swept India. Eight of the eleven autonomous Indian Governments established in the Provinces resigned and hamstrung the Government of India Act, which had been in operation only two years. Markets closed in Bombay. Trade was at a standstill. The mounting public unrest forced the British Viceroy, the Marquess of Linlithgow, to cut short a tour of northern India and returned to the capital at New Delhi to protect the interests of the Crown. He informed Mr. Gandhi that the ruler of Rajkot would be forced to grant the reforms.

Gandhi broke his four-day fast with a glass of orange juice, and his millions of followers rejoiced.

The Congress party promptly committed its new president, Mr. Bose, to the guidance of Gandhi and Mr. Bose resigned. Gandhi's follower, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, was elected to succeed him.