What were the steps taken by Gandhi to eradicate untouchability
Answers
Non-Governmental Efforts:
The effort made by Indian National Congress for the eradication of untouchability was very effective. The attempts made by Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Rama Krishna Paramahansa, Raja Ram Mohan Ray and Swami Dayananda Saraswati in this direction are well known. As a result of their untiring effort the untouchables slowly got rid of their social and religious disabilities.
The doors of the universities, temples, public places, roads, etc. were opened to them. Mahatma Gandhi took up the cause of the untouchables. He called them Harijans, the men of God. He was moved by the plights of the untouchables and started a nationwide, movement to remove their disabilities. He believed that a change of heart on the part of the Hindu was essential to enable the social and cultural assimilation of the Harijans, through removal of their disabilities. Gandhiji has long back observed, “I believe in the justice and necessity of removing untouchability without its removal, swaraj would be a meaningless term.”
Gandhiji preached that all human beings are the sons of God. All of them have equal rights for social life along with other caste groups. He addressed several public meetings and reposed the doctrine of Harijan welfare. Gandhiji led several processions of Harijans to enter into the temples. He made them participate in worships, prayers, keertans and puranas. Gandhiji believed that educational opportunities would reduce social inequalities between caste Hindus and untouchables to a great extent.
Therefore he advocated equal educational facilities and intermingling of untouchable students with the Hindus. He himself lived with the Harijans and shared their sorrows and sufferings. In his journal ‘Harijan’, he wrote extensively about the conditions of Harijan welfare and removal of untouchability. Gandhiji also propagated in favour of various legal provisions against several kinds of injustice meted out to the untouchables. Gandhiji’s attempt to uplift the untouchables resulted in the eradication of many social superstitions in the traditional caste system and religion.
Besides Indian National Congress many other political parties took part in the emancipation of the Harijans. The chief among them are Depressed Class Union, the Social Service League, Depressed Class League, Andhra Deen Seva Sangh, Depressed Class Conference and Scheduled Castes Federation. But the Harijan Sevak Sangh had made the maximum efforts in this direction.
After 1931, Congress set up a council to consider the problem of untouchability. It was due to the ceaseless endeavor of this Council that ‘Harijan Sevak Sangh’ came into being. The Sangh was a non-governmental organisation which did a pioneering work for the eradication of untouchability. It propagated for the eradication of this evil and has tried to educate the people so as to bring them at par with the upper section of the society.
The Sangh also provided the Harijan students with financial assistance and scholarships. It opened many training institution for imparting knowledge in cottage industries so as to bring economic development of the Harijans. The Sangh set up schools and dispensaries, dug wells and opened technical institutes for the benefit of the untouchables. It has also set up institution for girl students like Kasturba Balika Ashram in Delhi and Harijan Balika Vidyalaya at Sabarmati. The Sangh has branches all over the country and it is maintaining 120 boarding houses. The Sangh has attempted for entry of untouchables into the temples. In Tamil Nadu alone, it opened the doors of at least one hundred temples to the Harijans.
Thus Sangh achieved notable success in opening public places and temples to the untouchables. Many untouchable students got scholarship for study due to efforts of the Sangh. Technological schools have also been opened for imparting training in cottage industries and this too has come about mainly through the effort of the Sangh. Swamy Dayananda Saraswati through his Arya Samaj preached the notion of equality, liberty and fraternity among the Hindu castes.
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