Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/687

 APPEAL TO THE WOMEN OF INDIA.

[The following appeal addressed to the women of India appeared in Young India of August 11, 1921.] Dear Sisters,

The All-India Congress Committee has come to a momentous decision in fixing the 30th September next as the final date for completing the boycott of foreign cloth begun by the sacrificial fire lit on the 31st July in Bombay in memory of Lokamanya Tilak. I was accorded the privilege of setting fire to the huge pile containing costly saris and other dresses which yofe have hitherto considered ine and beautiful. I feel that it was right and wise on the part of the sisters who gave their costly clothing* Its destruction was the most economical use you could have made of it, even as destruction of 9 plague*infected articles is their most economical and best use. It was a necessary surgical operation designed to avert more serious complaints in the body politic.

The women of India have during the past twelve months worked wonders on behalf of the motherland* You have silently worked away as angels of mercy. You have parted with your cash and your fine jewellery. You have wandered from house to house to make collec- tions. Some of you have even assisted in picketing. Some of you who were used to fine dresses of variegated colours and had a number of changes during the day, have now adopted the white and spotless but heavy Khadi sadi reminding one of a -woman's innate purity* You have done all this for the sake of India, for the

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