RAS question
Gandhi's first use of 'fast unto death' as a political weapon in India was during which event?
Correct answer: (A) Ahmedabad Mill Strike (1918).
Gandhi first used a fast unto death as a political weapon in India during the Ahmedabad Mill Strike of 1918.
Explanation
The Ahmedabad Mill Strike was the event in which Gandhi first used a fast unto death in India as a political instrument. eGyanKosh, Unit 1: Context and Emergence of Gandhian Philosophy describes the strike as a February-March 1918 textile mill dispute in Ahmedabad, triggered by the withdrawal of the plague bonus and sharpened by wartime price rise. Gandhi intervened on the workers' side, moderated their demand from a 50 per cent wage increase to 35 per cent, and began the first of his seventeen fasts unto death on 15 March 1918 when worker morale was weakening and the mill-owners would not relent. The fast helped force an agreement, with arbitration giving workers a 27.5 per cent wage hike.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Champaran Satyagraha was an earlier Gandhian campaign, but Gandhi's first fast unto death was specifically tied to the Ahmedabad textile mill strike.
- (C) Rowlatt Satyagraha belongs to 1919, whereas Gandhi's first fast unto death occurred at Ahmedabad on 15 March 1918.
- (D) The Non-Cooperation Movement began later than the 1918 Ahmedabad strike, so it cannot be Gandhi's first Indian use of fast unto death as a political weapon.
Concept
This tests the early Gandhian phase of the national movement, especially how Gandhi adapted satyagraha to local struggles involving workers and peasants. RAS often returns to these first experiments because they explain Gandhi's later mass politics.