Describe the views of Mahatma Gandhi on untouchability and efforts made by him to get Harijans their rights.
(a) Mahatma Gandhi was against untouchability. He declared that swaraj would not come for a hundred years if untouchability was not eliminated. He called the ‘untouchables’ harijan or the children of God. (b) He organised Satyagraha to secure them entry into temples, and access to public wells, tanks, roads and schools. He himself cleaned toilets to dignify the work of the bhangi (sweepers). He persuaded upper caste to change their heart and give up ‘the sin of untouchability’.
