Mahatma Gandhi by Jennifer H. Pikul Continued......

[Sharon A. Kattke]

Gandhi set forth to boycott courts and councils. It was a boycott to stop British rule. Gandhi wrote to the Viceroy returning his medals and decorations. Gandhi had served only one term as President of the Congress. People said that he was a super President.

He started having the Indians make Khadi, a hand spun cloth. It became the "livery of freedom." He did a boycott of foreign cloth. Gandhi each day spun cloth for half an hour. He also fasted every Monday.

In 1930, there was another campaign of civil disobedience. The Indians refused to pay the taxes on salt. Instead, they followed Gandhi. The Indians evaporated the sea water to make their own salt. They went on foot 200 miles to make their own salt legally. Gandhi was again seized, and then taken to jail. He halted the campaign against the British in the year 1931. Gandhi went multiple times into British custody, because of his actions and protesting against the British.

Gandhi ended the protests. He wanted the non-violent action to effect change. The Satyagraha Movement grew in South Africa. Satyagraha means "grasping or holding to truth." During 1908 - 1909 picketing, burning of registration certificates, and illegal crossing into transfood caused the Indian women to join and to come forth and to be arrested.

Gandhi was given hard labor jobs, was subjected to physical restraints and African prisoners. He enjoyed Satyagraha, and wrote to a friend in India, saying, "in fighting the battle, we are presenting the Indian Motherhood with a disciplined army of the future."