millions of people like Gopal. They lead exactly the same kind of life.
Gandhiji went from village to village and saw the peasants and he said, “The land belongs to Gopal. So does India belong to Gopal and people like him, for India is not living in her ten or twenty cities but in her 600, 000 villages, and yet these villages have been forgotten. We think of the privileged few and are neglecting the poor. We must think in terms of the teeming millions. I cannot be happy," he added, "without the humblest of us being happy."
Gandhiji asked the students, the women, the rich men and the workers to go out to the villages and help Gopal and millions of other peasants like him. India had been a very rich and prosperous country. She fed and clothed many other countries of the world. That was the time when India consisted of millions of little villages which more or less ruled themselves and were self-governing republics. “Let us revive the ancient republics,” said Gandhiji. “Let us make India's villages prosperous again and, when we have done that, we shall be truly free.”
In the past, India's gossamer-like muslins and brocades were famous. The world had never seen anything like them—their richness, texture and beauty of design. These had all been spun and woven in the homes of the villagers. The modern machines of today
