Gandhi opposes suppression

Gandhi gathered all this information and it put him in deep pain and sadness. He sat in silence in the courtyard of Yeravda Prison. He wrote long letters to the Prime Minister in London, expressing his concern and anxiety on the latest developments in India

There were several rounds of communication between Gandhi and the government did not produce any positive result. He was more concerned about the new pattern of representation in the provincial assemblies proposed for the depressed classes of the society. 

According to the government, the depressed classes belong to a different community and not part of the Hindus and therefore they be given separate constituencies. And for Gandhi, this segregation amounted to practicing untouchability even in governmental representation. The depressed classes or so called backward classes had been sidelined from the society and done untold cruelties. Any amount of atonement to this by the caste Hindus would be in excess. 

But the creation of separate constituencies for them would not be a solution to their problems, but it would aggravate the situation. If the government were to create such a set up I would not be able to support it, and I would oppose it – he wrote to the Prime Minister.  I would give even my life for correcting this foolishness. Therefore I am beginning a fast unto death or unto a withdrawal of the government decision, I would take only water and no food – he explained in his letter in which he criticized the government’s policy of cruel suppression of the people’s movement, the great Indian freedom movement.