Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi's Hind Swaraj (1909) is more radical than his popular image: it argues that India should reject not just British rulers but modern civilisation itself, railways, lawyers and machine industry included, in favour of self-governing villages and hand-spinning. His method of satyagraha, mass non-violent non-cooperation, was the practical side. Nehru wanted industrial modernity and Ambedkar saw village India as a home of caste; reading them against Hind Swaraj shows three different futures.