Should Indians burn foreign cloth and spin their own, to win swaraj?
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi) and Rabindranath Tagore
September 1921. Non-cooperation is at its height, and bonfires of foreign cloth burn across India.
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Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi)
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi)The lawyer who led non-violent resistance to British rule1869–1948Leading the non-cooperation movement, visiting Tagore at his family home.
Their position, as they argued it
Yes: non-cooperation, the spinning wheel and the burning of foreign cloth will free India from economic slavery and teach it self-reliance.
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath TagoreFirst non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature1861–1941Just back from a year abroad, and troubled by the movement's demand for obedience.
Their position, as they argued it
No: burning cloth the poor could wear, and obeying a call without thought, is no path to freedom; India needs free minds and fellowship with the world.
Where this is documented
Tagore, 'The Call of Truth' (1921); Gandhi, 'The Great Sentinel', Young India (13 October 1921)
In the app, each figure argues from their own writing and the historical record, and every turn shows whether it quotes them or reasons in their spirit. The figures are AI recreations, not the people themselves.