Contributions of Jyotirba Phule and Mahatma Gandhi to the Dalit Movement

Jyotirba Phule was born in Pune in a Mali caste. His family supplied flowers to the Peshwa’s
household and therefore they came to be known as “Phule”. As a child he was intelligent. He
studied at the Scottish Mission School in Pune from where he completed his English course.

He was of the opinion that as children of God every person has equal status, irrespective of
caste and creed. He had the feeling rather a strong feeling that our society could not progress
and prosper without the proper spread of education, especially among women; and secondly,
the have-nots’ socioeconomic status should be alleviated.

He opened a school for untouchable girls at a young age at Bhide. Local upper-caste people
objected to it, and he was asked to close the school, and quit the locality. He left the place,
but soon he restarted the work after raising funds from prominent Europeans and Indians.

Soon he opened three schools for Scheduled Castes which were:

(1) A girls’ school at Budhwar Peth (1851)

(2) A school at Rasta Peth (1851)

(3) A school at Vital Peth (1852)

He opened the first native library for low-caste students. In 1854, Jyotirba joined the Scottish
Mission School as a teacher and was greatly influenced by prominent educationists and
missionaries such as Muray Mitchell, Prof Wilson, and Prof Jones.

In 1855, Jyotirba started a night school at his house and in this work; he was greatly helped
by his wife. In 1857, government allotted him a plot to set up a school. In 1860, Jyotirba
founded the orphanage for widows, which greatly helped the destitute women. Jyotirba
founded the Satya Shodhak Samaj with the objective of securing human rights and social
justice for the Dalits and the untouchables.

He was against Sati and child marriages. He was in favor of Western education and
demanded free and compulsory primary education—up to the age of 12.

He advocated technical education for the lower classes. He also wanted education to be
imparted to the children in rural areas. He also worked for better living conditions for the
workers in the mills in Bombay as well as for the farmers, a majority of whom were
untouchables. He always led a selfless life devoted to the upliftment of Dalits among the
Hindu society. Thus it is clear that Phule was really a reformer, who lived and died for the
welfare of the Dalits whose upliftment in every respect was dear to his heart.

Mahatma Gandhi:
Gandhi experienced social discrimination for the first time when he was in South Africa
where he engaged himself against the discriminatory attitude of the South African
Government against Indians. The problems were akin to that of untouchability as migrants
were treated as inferior to the local population which enjoyed numerous basic rights legally
not available to Indians. It was then that Gandhi realized the extent of the impact of social
discrimination on the underprivileged sections of the society including untouchables.

He thought it was necessary to reconstruct the life of the nation. This was only possible
through alleviating the social status of untouchables. He always considered untouchability as
a cruel and inhuman institution. It violated human dignity.

He criticized those who would claim superiority over fellowmen. He thought there was no
such thing as inherited superiority. He was happy and felt satisfied to call himself a
scavenger, a spinner, a weaver, and a laborer. He was troubled to see the appalling plight of
untouchables in different regions of the country. Its eradication greatly agitated his mind and
he devised ways and means from time to time, through his speeches and writings.

Gandhi called Harijans as men of God and felt that all the religions of the world consider God
pre-eminently as the Friend of the Friendless, Help of the Helpless, and Protector of the
Weak. He questioned that in India who could be mare friendless, helpless, or weaker than the
40 million or more Hindus of India who were classified as “untouchables.” Therefore, if there
were people who could be fitly described as men of God, they were surely these helpless,
friendless, and despised people.

He said that if India became free with untouchability intact, the untouchables would become
worse under that Swaraj than they were before the freedom for the simple reason that the
weakness and failings would then be buttressed up by the accession of power.

Mahatma Gandhi used newspapers including Harijan and Young India to propagate his anti-
untouchability views. In his writings he stressed the problem of untouchability and its
removal from its roots. He felt that Hinduism, in reality, did not permit untouchability.

Gandhiji never stopped fighting against untouchability. He considered it a blot on Hinduism.

He said that a religion that established the worship of the cow could not in all probability
countenance or warrants a cruel and inhuman boycott of human beings. Hindus would never
deserve freedom, nor get it if they allowed their noble religion to be disgraced by the
retention of the taint of untouchability.

He found Harijan Sevak Sangh in 1932. G.D. Birla was its president and Thakkar Bapa its
Secretary. He always preached among the Harijans, the importance of cleanliness, abstention
from carrion-eating and intoxicating drinks and drugs, requirement of taking education
themselves and giving it to their children, also abstention from eating the leavings from caste
Hindus’ plates.

Gandhi, therefore, was concerned with the issues of Dalits no less than any other leader. His
heart went out to them and he worked very hard and sincerely for their upliftment. The fact
that he had many other tasks on hand did not stop him from taking up their cause and he
devoted considerable time and energy to bring an end to untouchability.