Winston Churchill described Mahatma Gandhi as a ‘seditious Middle Temple Lawyer’ now ‘posing as a half naked fakir’. What provoked such a comment and what does it tell you about the symbolic strength of Mahatma Gandhi’s dress?
Winston Churchill described Mahatma Gandhi as a ‘seditious Middle Temple Lawyer’ now ‘posing as a half naked fakir’. What provoked such a comment and what does it tell you about the symbolic strength of Mahatma Gandhi’s dress?
Winston Churchill described Mahatma Gandhi as a “seditious Middle Temple Lawyer” now “posing as a fakir” because of the latter’s decision to dress like a poor man to show his solidarity with the socially and economically deprived. In 1931, at the Round Table Conference in England, Gandhi wore a short dhoti and chaddar, eliciting the aforementioned comment from Churchill. The symbolic strength of Gandhi’s dress lay in its simplicity—he used it to show his support for the poor, to encourage boycott of British goods, and to erase religious differences and class distinctions.
Winston Churchill described Mahatma Gandhi as a “seditious Middle Temple Lawyer” now “posing as a fakir” because of the latter’s decision to dress like a poor man to show his solidarity with the socially and economically deprived. In 1931, at the Round Table Conference in England, Gandhi wore a short dhoti and chaddar, eliciting the aforementioned comment from Churchill. The symbolic strength of Gandhi’s dress lay in its simplicity—he used it to show his support for the poor, to encourage boycott of British goods, and to erase religious differences and class distinctions.
