Gandhi’s last fast for fraternity is a reminder of why the political must be personal

At the dawn of Independence, as violence raged in several parts of the subcontinent, the ailing Mohandas Gandhi travelled to riot-torn areas to conduct peace meetings and emphasise interfaith harmony. Though Gandhi managed to quell the violence in those places, he was uneasy. He felt that violence had abated only temporarily but the minds harbouring hate had not changed.

So, on January 13, 1948, Gandhi decided to go on a fast. This was to be his last fast.

In his magisterial book Gandhi: The Years that Changed the World: 1914-1948, the historian Ramachandra Guha noted that Gandhi had said that he would end his fast only when he was “satisfied that there is a reunion of hearts of all communities brought about without any outside pressure, but from an awakened sense of duty”.

Gandhi’s actions were a moral appeal for fraternity, a principle that was also a central preoccupation of BR Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution. In his last speech at the Constituent Assembly on November 25, 1949, Ambedkar said “Without fraternity, equality and liberty will be no deeper than coats of paint” and referred to fraternity as the principle “which gives unity and solidarity to social life.”

Fraternity or kinship was thus seen as a foundational...

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