A Clash of ‘Mass Movements’? Christian Missions and the Gandhian Nationalist Movement in India

Abstract

In the modern history of India, the term ‘mass movement’ has been used to refer to two entirely different things. One is the Gandhian nationalist movement from the second to the middle, and the other the Dalit (Hindu outcaste groups) conversion to Christianity en masse. This article traces Gandhi’s interaction with Indian Christianity, especially the Indian Dalit Christian movement, with an intention to gain a better understanding of the relation between Indian nationalist movement and Indian Christianity. The chapter shows that Gandhi’s aversion to interreligious conversion and his strong distrust of the Dalit people’s ability to make spiritual choice led to his strong and undue criticisms against Dalit conversion to Christianity. As peaceful a man as the Mahatma (the Great Soul) was, his clash with the Dalit Christian mass movement seems to have adversely affected the majority of Indian Christians from finding a welcoming home in India.