MAHATMA - Volume 3 (1930-1934) - Mahatma Gandhi

MAHATMA - Volume 3 (1930-1934)
"The charm will lie in the agitation being initiated and controlled exclusively by
the women. They may take and should get as much assistance as they need
from men, but the men should be in strict subordination to them.
"In this agitation thousands of women, literate and illiterate, can take part.
Highly educated women have in this appeal of mine an opportunity of actively
identifying themselves with the masses and helping them both morally and
materially.
"They will find when they study the subject of the foreign cloth boycott that it
is impossible save through khadi. Millowners will themselves admit that mills
cannot manufacture in the near future enough cloth for Indian requirements.
Given a proper atmosphere, khadi can be manufactured in our villages, in our
countless homes. Let it be the privilege of the women of India to produce this
atmosphere by devoting every available minute to the spinning of yarn. The
question of the production of khadi is surely a question of spinning enough
yarn. During the past ten days of the march, under pressure of circumstances, I
have discovered the potency of takli which I had not realized before. Takli is
truly a wonder worker. In mere playfulness my companions have without
interrupting any other activity spun enough yarn to weave four square yards per
day of khadi of twelve counts. Khadi as a war measure is not to be beaten. The
moral results of the two reforms are obviously great. The political result will be
no less great. Prohibition of the intoxicating drinks and drugs means the loss of
twenty-five crores of revenue. Boycott of foreign cloth means the saving by
India's millions of at least sixty crores. Both these achievements would
momentarily be superior to the repeal of the salt tax. It is impossible to
evaluate the moral results of the two reforms.
"But there is no excitement and no adventure in the liquor and foreign cloth
picketing, some sisters may retort. Well, if they will put their whole heart into
this agitation, they will find more than enough excitement and adventure.
Before they have done with the agitation, they might even find themselves in
prison. It is not improbable that they may be insulted and even injured bodily.
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