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A person who wore expensive suit-boots while studying in London, after all, why did he start wearing all his clothes and wearing only one loincloth? This is the story of Mahatma Gandhi’s historical decision, which gave a new direction to the freedom struggle of India.
That day was 22 September 1921. Addressing a gathering of weavers in Madurai, Gandhiji took the decision which became history. He saw that crores of people in the country are so poor that they cannot buy expensive Khadi by boycotting foreign clothes. He said that such people should be satisfied with a loincloth of up to knees. But Gandhiji was not only one of those who gave advice, he used to implement what he said.
On the same platform, he announced that from today he would also wear only one loincloth and use a sheet to cover the body if needed. This decision was not taken suddenly, the pain of years of thinking and the pain of India’s poverty was hidden.
Travel of self-esteem with clothes
Gandhiji’s relationship with clothes was always related to his self-esteem. When he was a successful lawyer in South Africa, he wore a suit-boot, but also wore a turban as a symbol of his honor to be Indian. When he was asked to remove the turban in Durban’s court, he flatly refused. This was the first time he raised the voice of his self -respect through clothes.
On returning to India, he adopted dhoti-kurta and Kathiawadi turban. Gradually, as they joined the common people, their dress became even more simple. He began wearing ‘Gandhi hat’, which became so popular that the British government got scared and prohibited its employees from wearing it.
Decision of a loincloth
Gandhiji believed that in a country where crores of people do not have full clothes to cover their body, they also have no right to wear more clothes. When people say to him that Khadi is expensive, he realized that just giving a speech would not work. They have to become an example themselves.
With this thinking, on 22 September 1921, he abandoned his clothes forever. Initially this resolution was only for one month, but later he adopted it for a lifetime.
When ‘half naked fakir’ bowed the world
In 1931, when Gandhiji went to London for the Round Table Conference, he was in the same loincloth and sheet even in the harsh cold. British leader Winston Churchill made him fun ‘Adhananga Fakir’ Said. But it did not affect Gandhiji.
The most memorable moment came when he reached Buckingham Palace to meet King George Pancham of Britain. A journalist asked surprised, “You came to meet the king in so low clothes?”
Gandhiji replied smiling, “Don’t worry, your king wore equal clothes as us.”
This answer was not just a joke, it was a message to the whole world that real strength is not in clothes, but in self -confidence and simplicity. His langoti was not just a cloth, he was his association with crores of poor, was a symbol of Swadeshi and a silent but most powerful weapon against the British rule.
