Started work connected with labour

Years later Jawaharlal described what the coming of Gandhi meant to the Indian people.

He said, “We seemed to ne helpless in the grip of some all- powerful monster; out limbs were paralyzed our minds deadened….. What could we do? How could we pull India out of this quagmire of poverty and defeatism which sucked her in?

And then Gandhi came. He was like a powerful current of fresh airs that made us started ourselves and take deep breaths, like a beam of light that pierced the darkness and removed the scales from but most of all working of people’s minds.” 

Several conferences demanding Home Rule were held in India during the latter half of 1916. They marked a new wave of political life under the leadership of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Annie Besant and Jinnah.

The annual meeting of the Congress was held in December that year in Lucknow. The Congress was divided. There were the moderates and there were the extremists, but at Lucknow the Congress met without tension between the two wings.

The President. Ambika Charan Mazumdar, spoke in terms of Swaraj, which previous leaders had demanded. A resolution was passed appealing to His Majesty’s Government and demanding that a definite step should be taken towards Indian self-government by granting the reforms contained in the scheme prepared by the All-India Congress Committee and adopted by the All-India Muslim League.

In Lucknow the Congress and the Muslim League came to an agreement. This was afterwards known as the Lucknow pact. For the sake of the unity of India the Congress conceded many points demanded by the Muslims.

For two years Gandhi had travelled extensively and had talked at different places. He now wanted to start some work connected with labour. His interest first centered in the problem of indentured labour, the system under which poor, ignorant labourers were enticed away from India to work in the British colonies. He had fought this system in South Africa and he wanted to see it abolished.

The Viceroy. Lord Hardinge. Announced that His Majesty’s Government had agreed to abolish the system in due course.

Gandhi, however, wanted a definite date before which the system would go.

So now Gandhi started a massive agitation on this issue. He went to Bombay and consulted all the Indian leaders there. They fixed May 31, 1917 as the last date for the abolition of indentured labour. He then went round the country to get support for this view.

Meetings were held in all important places. Everywhere there was a great response. Even Gandhi said that he had not expected so much public support.

As a result of the agitation, the government announced that the system of indentured labour would be stopped before July 31, 1917