Gandhi’s fast on separate electorates was an act of coercive blackmail.

Evidence

It was barefaced blackmail, nothing less manipulative than the threat of committing public suicide. The British government said it would revoke the provision only if the Untouchables agreed. The country spun like a top. Public statements were issued, petitions signed, prayers offered, meetings held, appeals made. It was a preposterous situation: privileged-caste Hindus, who segregated themselves from Untouchables in every possible way, who deemed them unworthy of human association, who shunned their very touch, who wanted separate food, water, schools, roads, temples and wells, now said that India would be balkanised if Untouchables had a separate electorate. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 386

Categorization

Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims

• XREF: Connects to debates on fasting as political violence in Indian political thought.

Related

• Gandhi’s hunger strike forced Untouchables to give up separate electorates. (similarity 0.87)
• Gandhi accepted separate electorates for Muslims but not for Untouchables. (similarity 0.85)
• Gandhi’s fast unto death forcibly reversed the Communal Award’s separate electorates for Untouchables (similarity 0.84)
• Gandhi consistently insulted Untouchables and denied them political self-organization (similarity 0.84)
• Gandhi’s fast coerced Ambedkar into signing the Poona Pact. (similarity 0.83)
• Gandhi and Patel blocked Untouchables from using law against caste violence. (similarity 0.82)
• Ambedkar saw Gandhi’s fast as coercive extortion of constitutional safeguards (similarity 0.81)
• The Poona Pact stripped Untouchables of separate electorates and the double vote (similarity 0.81)
• Gandhi championed separate electorates for Muslims and Sikhs but refused them for Untouchables. (similarity 0.81)
• Ambedkar argued separate electorates were needed to produce genuine Untouchable representatives. (similarity 0.80)
• Gandhi denied Untouchables separate electorates to protect them from village retaliation (similarity 0.79)
• Scattered settlement of Untouchables made democratic representation impossible without separate electorates. (similarity 0.79)
• The BSP is the only mainstream party opposing the Poona Pact and Gandhi (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Gandhi’s fast coerced Ambedkar into signing the Poona Pact. #corroborates (0.90) — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 390
• Gandhi’s fast unto death coerced the reversal of Untouchable political gains #corroborates (0.80)