The Duty of Merchants

If the merchants want Swaraj, in the shortest possible time, they will have to make sacrifices. They will have to sacrifice themselves, their children, their parents, everything. They have prospered in trade, but do they know that it is a sin to deal in foreign cloth? They must neither buy, nor sell, nor wear foreign cloth. Let them send their stocks of foreign cloth to South Africa, or better burn them. Let them give up their Mulmul pugarees. They ought to be proud to wear Khaddar pugarees. The mill owners are profiteering and people in Orissa, in Champaran – everywhere – are dying of starvation. There is only one remedy and that is the Charkha. If all the women and girls spun yarn, they would be able to feed themselves. But the merchants must henceforth only sell Khaddar. The Marwaris have been dealing in foreign cloth; it is irreligion, they have given up their religion.

The merchants must be pure, patriotic, and devoted to Swaraj. They must use only Swadeshi things in their households and sell only Swadeshi cloth in their shops. That will save 60 crores and feed the hungry and win Swaraj.

- Young India: Feb. 16, 1921.