When his turn came to speak in Banaras Hindu University,
- Gandhiji charged the Indian elite with a lack of concern for the labouring poor. He said, that he was worried about the contrast between the “richly bedecked noblemen” present and “millions of the poor” Indians who were absent.
- Gandhiji further said that, “if we take away or allow others to take away from the peasants almost the whole of the results of their labour. Our salvation can only come through the farmer. Neither the lawyers, nor the doctors, nor the rich landlords are going to secure.
- Appeal among the poor, and peasants in particular, was enhanced by his ascetic lifestyle, and by his shrewd use of symbols such as the dhoti and the charkha.
- Mahatma Gandhi was by caste a merchant, and by profession a lawyer; but his simple life style and love of working with his hands allowed him to empathise more fully with the labouring poor.
- Mahatma Gandhi was to spend much of 1917 in Champaran, seeking to obtain for the peasants security of tenure as well as the freedom to cultivate the crops of their choice.
- The following year, 1918, Gandhiji was involved in two campaigns in his home state ofGujarat. First, he intervened in a labour dispute in Ahmedabad, demanding better working conditions for the textile mill workers. Then he joined peasants in Kheda in asking the state for the remission of taxes following the failure of their harvest.
These initiatives in Champaran, Ahmedabad and Kheda marked Gandhiji out as a nationalist with a deep sympathy for the poor.
