Question

Question 7 Why did Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of clothing the nation in khadi appeal only to some sections of Indians?

Class 9 - Social science - Clothing: A Social History Page 178

Answer 1

Mahatma Gandhi's dream of clothing the nation in  Khadi appeal only to some sections of Indians because of the following reasons:

1.Many people did not adopt Khadi cloth because Khadi was considered expensive. The British machines clothes which were much cheaper as compared to Khadi. Poverty rate in India was very high so most of the poor started adopting foreign clothes.

2.Some Nationalist leaders gave up their expensive Western style suits an adopted the Indian dhoti and kurta. Motilal Nehru gave up his expensive Western style suits but these were not made up of coarse material as suggested by Gandhiji.

3. Many Dalits began to wear 3 piece suits, shoes and socks on public occasion as a statement of self respect because at that time the caste system in India was very rigid and they wear western dress to uplift their status.

4.Women political leaders like Sarojini Naidu and Kamla Nehru wore coloured sarees with designs printed on them but these were not made up of coarse fabric.

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Hope this will help you...

Answer 2

Gandhi's dream of clothing the nation in Khadi appealed only to some sections of Indians because firstly Khadi clothes were very expensive as compared to the machine made British goods. The people were very poor and did't had the purchasing power to buy Khadi clothes.

Secondly the lower castes adopted the western dress to liberate themselves from caste-ridden dress code. They thought that the western dress and life style could uplift their social status.

Thirdly some people like the women in the South were not comfortable with khadi clothes.