[Gandhiji : The father of the Nation]

"The labour dispute in the textile industry of Ahmedabad was amicably settled when Gandhiji undertook a fast."

The labour dispute in the textile industry of Ahmedabad was amicably settled when Gandhiji undertook a fast.The object of the fast was to rally the workers, though the mill owners too were affected. Some of them respected and even loved Gandhiji.The result was a definite pressure on the millowners.

The fundamental issue on which the breach had occurred had been the refusal of the employers to accept the principle of arbitration. When they yielded on this issue, the arbitrators award went in the workers’ favour and they won the 35% bonus.

Gandhiji was then drawn into a conflict between the peasants of Kheda district in Bombay presidency and the local administration on the remission of land revenue due to drought. The agitation passed into Gandhiji’s hands when petitions, interviews and press statements failed to bring relief to the peasantry.Gandhiji and Vallabhbhai Patel toured the villages of Kheda to train the people in the hard school of Satyagraha.Gandhiji felt justified in calling off the no tax campaign only when the government issued instructions that land revenue should be recovered only from those who had the capacity to pay and that no pressure should be exercised on genuinely poor peasants.