Question

Explain the measures taken by Gandhiji to eliminate the problem of untouchability.

Answer 1

The efforts by Mahatma Gandhi to integrate untouchables in the national movements are as follows:

• He called the 'untouchables’ as Harijan or the children of God, 
• He organized satyagraha to secure them entry into temples, and access to public wells, tanks, roads, and schools. 
• He himself cleaned toilets to dignify the work of the bhangi (the sweepers), and persuaded upper castes to change their heart and give up ‘the sin of untouchability’.
• At the  Karachi session of the Congress, in March 1931, Gandhiji drafted the Resolution on Fundamental Rights. Few sections of it were a legal attack on the institution of untouchability. Section 4 declared that all “citizens are equal before the law, irrespective of caste, creed or sex”.