LOM!ÓxºÍndas K Gandhi was one of the most influential of the fathers of modern India. He showed considerable concern for the cause of the outcastes, particularly during the 1930's and 40's, and appears to have been unaffected by the superstitious fear of spiritual contamination from contact with them. Gandhi was also, in practice, committed to sharing the domestic tasks normally reserved for the Shudras and subalterns, like sweeping, and emptying the chamber pot. The most potent symbol of GandhiÕs reforms was his insistence on wearing Khadi, or home woven cloth. Furthermore, as a sign of his solidarity with the weavers of Inpreted as Ôthe Lord's childrenÕ, or 'the Children of God'. Gandhi's strategy for liberating the Harijans lay in an attempt to gain the sympathy of the high-caste Hindus for their plight and convincing the same that their co operation in ridding India of untouchability was the only way that India could secure purna Swaraj - complete self rule. When he assumed leadership of the Congress Party he declared:
ÒSwaraj is as unattainable without the removal of untouchabilile Gandhi claimed to have the support of the Harijans, he looked to high-caste members of society to be the instigators of social reform. However, since alcohol abuse was and still is a problem among the Indian poor, Gandhi believed that the Harijans could play their part in the cause being fought on their behalf by reforming their behaviour. In India today, among the poor of any caste, alcoholism among adults, and solvent abuse among children is still prevalent. While such escapism can be viewed as a symptom of the grinding poverty in which people live, Gandhi's suggestion implies that poverty is a symptom of sinful living. This must have sounded outrageous to those who les in their defence in his journal, Harijan, and tirelessly toured rural India to raise funds and awareness. In order to encourage the high caste Hindus to have direction in the campaign he established the Harijan Sarak Sangh, or Servants of Harijan Society in 1932. Membership was not extended to subalterns, and involved a 'programme of economic relief, education and legislation to make untouchability illegal'. GandhiÕs criticism of the attitude of caste society to the subaltern was often pointed and showed both his sincere compassion for the plight of the subalterns and his fearlessness in the face of criticism. At one meeting he said,
ÔWe maketo be aware that the British were only able to oppress and rob India, a country vast in comparison, because Indians were willing to oppress and rob each other. Of course Gandhi cared for the Harijans, but he had a greater picture in mind, the all important Swaraj. Gandhi saw that a divided India could not properly rule itself, even if given the opportunity. As a result, Hindu-Muslim unity, and caste-outcaste unity, were vital to the nationalist cause.
As a devout Hindu, Gandhi had an unerring faith in the divine origins of the caste system. Yet, in tension with this, he utterly opposed untouchability. This means that Gandhi did not approve of either the word 'outcy). Gandhi believed that the outcaste communities could somehow be more fully incorporated into the caste system, and into the religious and social life of Hinduism, by giving them access to temples and to the rites of Hindu religion. Gandhi also believed that the caste system could be egalitarian, that the different castes could be seen as existing on one level of social status, but maintaining separate functions. He wanted Indians to stop identifying tasks with levels of superiority and inferiority, but he expected the subalterns to continue to fulfil traditional (and degrading) roles in society. Gandhi believed that the caste system was never meant to be hierarchical but was best represented by a horizontal take those at the top and put them in the centre of society, and take those from the bottom and place them at the extremity. Gandhi never intended his vision of an egalitarian caste system to be pacifying rhetoric, but all appearances suggest that is exactly what it turned out to be.
While GandhiÕs measures of reform did have an impact on the lives of the subalterns, his approach is open to serious criticism. There is no doubt that GandhiÕs attitude towards the subalterns was paternalistic and, in referring to them as ÔHarijansÕ, could even be considered to be condescending and pacifying. Gandhi promoted the belief that Hina, of Warrior caste, debates with the god Krishna about the ethics of war and how calamitous it would be for the very fabric of civilised society if widows of war resorted to marrying outside their caste. Gandhi was a great patron of Hindu philosophy, and particularly enjoyed reading the Baghvad Gita. It is not strange, then, that he was keen to hold on to the caste system; but to expect to maintain such rigid structural social identity without stigma or prejudice is naive. While Ge thought that the majority of high-caste politicians would see the needs of the outcastes as a priority over and above the interests of their own communities. There is no evidence that Gandhi believed that the liberation of the untouchables could come from the resources of their own communities, that they would be able to fight their own cause. With all his genuine sense of the injustice wrought against the Harijans, and his outspoken belief in the need for equality, in a context where egalitarianism has no moral currency Gandhi was unable to break out of the caste mind-set himself, and treat the subalterns as his equals.