On 31 July 1921, Gandhi attended a rally in the compound of the Elphinstone Mill, which was owned by the Khilafat leader Umar Sobhani. Sobhani gave his full support to this meeting at which foreign cloth was burnt. About ten to twelve thousand were present, and the affair was entirely peaceful and orderly.38 The mood began to shift from September 1921 onwards. When Shaukat Ali was arrested that month there were spontaneous strikes in certain mills, starting on 17 September, with 19,000 workers out by 19 September. They returned to work after seven ringleaders were arrested. There was a further bonfire of foreign cloth at Elphinstone Mill, on 9 October 1921, that Gandhi attended. The same venue saw another such ceremony staged by Gandhi on 17 November 1921, the day on which the Prince of Wales landed in Bombay to start his tour of India.David HardimanNoncooperation in India: Nonviolent Strategy and Protest, 1920-22Context/Westland Books, 2023Now, there was a much larger turn-out than on the previous two occasions, with an estimated 25,000 workers being there as a pile of foreign cloth was lit. Gandhi addressed the meeting, stressing the need for nonviolence even in the face of great provocation. At the same time, the Prince of Wales was proceeding through streets lined with crowds of cheering loyalists – many of whom were Europeans, Anglo-Indians, Parsis and Jews – on the way to Chowpatty Beach. When the meeting at Elphinstone Mill ended, the workers made their way to Charni Road and Marine Lines stations where they met crowds of loyalists returning from welcoming the Prince, many of whom were in trams. The workers rushed the trams, beating up their occupants. Many trams were set on fire. Anyone wearing hats that were seen to be ‘loyalist’ – whether solar topees, felt hats, or the Parsi phenta – was singled out for attack. Their headgear was snatched, piled up in the street and burnt. Europeans and Anglo-Indians were singled out because they were associated with the mill supervisors who often treated the workers in a racist and violent manner. They were now on the receiving end of the kicks and blows. The Parsis were attacked because they were known for their loyalism to the British,39 as they owned and operated several mills, and as many of the liquor shops in the city were run by members of this community and they had refused to close them despite nationalist picketing. The relatively small Jewish community of the city was associated with the capitalist elite. When news of what was going on spread, workers came out from other mills and joined the fray. Some were heard to cry ‘Mahatma Gandhi ki jai’ as they assaulted the loyalists. Even Parsi women were not spared – several were assaulted and had their saris torn from them. Two Anglo-Indians, two Parsis, and one American were killed in the turmoil. During the disturbance, four liquor shops were burnt down and a further 135 looted or damaged by the crowds. Intense fighting continued into the early hours of 18 November, with six policemen being killed. Congress volunteers who tried to stop the violence were themselves beaten; some so badly that they died. Although martial law was declared, workers continued in the next few days to roam the streets attacking those whose headwear and clothing marked them as loyalists. Some Parsis and Anglo-Indians retaliated by forming their own bands, which toured the streets snatching Gandhi caps and attacking people considered to be pro-Congress, while the police looked on and even helped them. At the same time, nationalist leaders and volunteers joined with groups of public figures who went around the city exhorting people to stop the violence, and by this means order was eventually restored.Also read: The Constitution and the Wrath of (We) the PeopleGandhi was left distraught by all this, especially as he had put so much stress on the need for complete nonviolence in his speech that day to the workers. He had rushed immediately to the scene on hearing of the rioting, where he was told ‘the most painful and humiliating story of molestation of Parsi sisters’. One elderly Parsi pleaded with him to save them. He was surrounded by crowds chanting ‘Mahatma Gandhi ki jai!’, a sound that – he said – merely grated on his ears. He appealed for them to go home. When a report came to him of violence in another part of the city, he went there and called for calm, persuading the crowd to disperse. He estimated that about 20,000 people were involved, and not all were mill hands. He felt that they knew what they were doing, being ‘bent upon mischief and destruction’. He wrote late that night: ‘We have a foretaste of swaraj. I have been put to shame.’Next day, 18 November, he reported that Hindu and Muslim volunteers who had tried to intervene with workers in Parel had been turned on. He had personally seen them on their return with their heads broken and bleeding. Some had ‘lacerating wounds’. He accused the mill workers of leaving their factories in ‘criminal disobedience of the wishes of their masters’. ‘We claim to have established a peaceful atmosphere, i.e., to have attained by our non-violence sufficient control over the people to keep their violence under check. We have failed when we ought to have succeeded.’ He felt personally culpable, as he had encouraged a spirit of defiance that he had been unable to control.Early next morning, Gandhi announced that he was to go on a fast until peace had been restored between the different communities. He stated: ‘The swaraj that I have witnessed during the last two days has stunk in my nostrils’. The fast continued during the 20th and 21st as he issued appeals for peace. The riots had subsided by 22 November, and he broke his fast that morning. A meeting of the Congress Working Committee was held in the city on 22 and 23 November at which the violence was deplored. The committee felt, nonetheless, that it had exposed a ‘weak spot’ that revealed a need for efforts to obtain better control over ‘all turbulent elements in society’. Congress outposts were to be established ‘in every street, in every lane’ in which volunteers would be based who would maintain peace. Only those who had taken a pledge of nonviolence were to serve in such a capacity. Gandhi left Bombay on 26 November.Extracted with permission from Noncooperation in India by David Hardiman, first published by Context, an imprint of Westland Books.