Who went on a six-day "fast to the death" to protest British actions in 1932?

Mohandas Gandhi went on a six-day “fast to the death” in 1932 to protest the British government’s Communal Award, which proposed separate electorates for India’s “Depressed Classes,” then commonly called “untouchables.”

Gandhi began the fast on September 20, 1932, while imprisoned at Yeravada Jail near Poona (now Pune). He opposed separate electorates because he believed they would permanently divide Hindu society, although he supported political safeguards and greater rights for oppressed communities.

The fast created intense pressure for negotiations between caste-Hindu leaders and representatives of the Depressed Classes, including B. R. Ambedkar. Their agreement, the Poona Pact, replaced separate electorates with reserved seats for Depressed-Class candidates elected through a joint electorate. Gandhi ended the fast on September 26 after the settlement gained approval.

A common mix-up is to describe this simply as a protest against British rule or British repression. More precisely, Gandhi was protesting a specific constitutional decision by British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald. The episode also differs from Gandhi’s later 21-day fasts against untouchability and his 1943 fast during detention.