# End of Kheda Satyagraha explained — The Story of My Experiments with Truth

> Chapter companion for The Story of My Experiments with Truth by Mahatma Gandhi.

## What happens

The Kheda Satyagraha campaign concludes unexpectedly when the Mamlatdar of Nadiad Taluk offers to suspend payments for poorer Patidars if the well-to-do pay up. Gandhi secures a written undertaking and confirms with the Collector that the suspension applies district-wide. Though the people celebrate it as a triumph, Gandhi is dissatisfied because the settlement lacks grace, the poor hardly benefit, and the satyagrahis do not emerge stronger. However, the campaign has lasting indirect results: it awakens Gujarat's peasants, gives educated workers contact with rural life, reveals Vallabhbhai Patel's leadership, and firmly roots satyagraha in Gujarat.

## Themes in this chapter

### Nonviolence and Satyagraha

The chapter reflects on the principles of satyagraha, emphasizing that a worthy end leaves satyagrahis stronger and more spirited, and that the campaign rooted satyagraha in Gujarat's soil.

### Social Justice and Anti-Colonialism

The Kheda Satyagraha is a struggle for economic justice for peasants against colonial revenue policies, leading to political education and awakening.

### Service and Community Leadership

The campaign compelled educated public workers to identify with peasants, increasing their capacity for sacrifice and community service, exemplified by Vallabhbhai Patel's emergence.

## Character check-ins

### Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Leads the Kheda Satyagraha and negotiates its end; expresses dissatisfaction with the settlement's lack of grace but acknowledges the campaign's lasting impact.

### Vallabhbhai Patel

Found himself during the Kheda campaign, demonstrating capacity for sacrifice and leadership, later evident in flood relief and Bardoli Satyagraha.

### Mrs. Besant

Her Home Rule agitation is noted as having touched the peasants prior to the Kheda campaign.

## Key lines

> The end of a satyagraha campaign can be described as worthy, only when it leaves the satyagrahis stronger and more spirited than they are in the beginning.

A satyagraha campaign is truly successful only if it leaves its participants more empowered and determined than when they started.

_Gandhi's criterion for evaluating the moral and practical success of nonviolent resistance._

> The Kheda Satyagraha marks the beginning of an awakening among the peasants of Gujarat, the beginning of their true political education.

The Kheda campaign initiated a political consciousness and education among Gujarat's peasantry.

_Gandhi highlights the long-term transformative effect of the campaign beyond its immediate outcome._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_story_of_my_experiments_with_truth_se/chapters/part-v-xxv-end-of-kheda-satyagraha
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_story_of_my_experiments_with_truth_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_story_of_my_experiments_with_truth_se/chapters