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as the mill-owners and arbitrators all agreed that it was a fair and reasonable demand.
Kheda Satyagraha: In 1918, a famine struck the Kheda district causing havoc with the agrarian economy there. The villagers requested authorities to suspend revenue collection but to no avail. After talking with the villagers, Gandhi advised them to resort to Satyagraha.
In Gujarat, Gandhi was the spiritual head of the struggle. He insisted to keep it a purely Khedian struggle. Gandhi set up his headquarters at Nadiad Anathashram, Nadiad. He organized a detailed study and survey of the villages, accounting for the atrocities and terrible episodes of sufferings on the farmers. Gandhi initiated a signature campaign where peasants pledged non-payment of revenue even under the threat of confiscation of land. Gandhi worked hard to win public support for the agitation across the country. His chief lieutenant, Vallabhbhai Patel and a close coterie of devoted Gandhians toured the countryside, organized the villagers, to provide them political leadership. People of all castes/communities and religious affiliations rallied around them. The peasants of Kheda signed a petition calling for the termination of that year's annual tax in the wake of the famine. The satyagraha continued till finally the government suspended the tax for the current year and next year and all that was confiscated was returned."
These three movements helped Gandhi to gain traction, learn of strengths and weaknesses of Indian masses, and earn trust among them by studying their problems while living among them.
While Kheda movement was in progress, there were disturbances in Europe. Gandhi was invited to Delhi to attend a conference by Government to seek recruitment of Indians for
Pg.78 Gandhi & Jainism
