8. He selfishly betrayed the “Untouchables.”
Gandhi threatened to fast until death in response to a British proposal to award the “depressed classes” (the Dalits, or “untouchables”) a separate electorate in the Indian parliament, resulting in frantic negotiations to save his life that created the Poona Pact, which compromised and substituted a guaranteed number of seats in the parliament for the separate electorate. Following Gandhi’s death, the culture of separation took hold again and violence swept the country. India remains hindered by untouchability, and the Dalit community is splintered into several religions and still separate from the rest of Hindu society.
