In the autumn of 1931, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi—revered worldwide as the Mahatma, or “great soul”—arrived in Britain for what would be his final and most resonant visit. Officially attending the Second Round Table Conference in London to discuss India’s constitutional future, Gandhi turned his three-month tour into a deeper moral mission: to build solidarity with Britain’s working classes, students, and peace advocates.

Representing the Indian National Congress at St James’s Palace, Gandhi stood virtually alone among more than a hundred delegates, including princes, landowners, and industrialists. He lamented the absence of India's peasants—the people who bore the brunt of colonial rule. “Independence,” he reminded his audiences, “must be earned by sacrifice and self-suffering.”

In both Nottingham and Birmingham, Gandhi’s emphasis on empathy over confrontation was palpable. On October 17, he arrived in Nottingham at the invitation of his nephew, J.V. Joshi, a student at University College. Clad in a simple shawl and sandals, Gandhi toured the Trent Building and addressed the university community in the Great Hall, speaking not only about India’s demand for independence but about the moral weight of non-violence.

Soon after, Gandhi visited Birmingham, where he made a quiet but powerful stop at Woodbrooke, a Quaker college in Selly Oak. In keeping with his deep respect for the Quaker commitment to peace and justice, Gandhi engaged in thoughtful dialogue with staff and students. He also met with Indian workers living in the West Midlands, addressing local audiences on the principles of self-reliance, non-violence, and spiritual resilience. His visit to Birmingham underscored his belief that lasting change could only come from within communities, not from decrees handed down by governments.

Earlier that year, Gandhi had launched the Civil Disobedience Movement with the historic Salt March—241 miles on foot to protest the British monopoly on salt. The movement called for boycotts, tax refusals, and mass non-compliance. It galvanized millions in India and sparked fear in the British colonial establishment.

Disheartened by the lack of progress at the Round Table Conference, Gandhi returned to India—only to be arrested on January 4, 1932, under the Defense of India Act. His crime: leading a renewed wave of non-violent civil disobedience after repressive ordinances were imposed by the colonial government.

The arrest proved to be a turning point. Historian Bipan Chandra called it a moment that “revitalized the waning momentum” of the freedom movement. Across India, acts of defiance escalated. Women like Kasturba Gandhi and Sarojini Naidu led protests in his absence. His imprisonment became a symbol of moral courage.

Globally, figures like Bertrand Russell and George Orwell criticized British repression. Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela later credited Gandhi’s methods—and his sacrifices—as foundational to their own struggles. “The spirit of defiance Gandhi embodied in India,” Mandela wrote, “was equally relevant in South Africa’s fight against apartheid.”

From Beeston to Selly Oak, from salt marches to jail cells, Gandhi’s message was clear: justice could be won not through domination, but through truth—and the courage to suffer for it.