Many religious and social reformers tried to end this evil practice without much effect. But during the national movement, Mahatma Gandhi made the eradication of un-touchability one of his goals. He had once said that the way ‘Untouchability’ was spreading in the Hindu Society, it was against both the man and the God. It was like a poison eating into the very vitals of Hindu religion. In his opinion, it did not even have the sanction of the Hindu scriptures.
Living up to this, Mahatma Gandhi declared that the untouchables were ‘Harijans’ meaning ‘the people of God’. He tried to even integrate them into the Indian National Congress and the freedom movement. He went and stayed with them in their colonies, shared meals and performed all the tasks of cleaning along with them. In his ashram, all his followers tried to follow his thinking. Public dinners were organized in which people expressed their feelings against the practice of untouchability by eating with people of different communities. Thus, many people rejected this practice and the rigidity of caste rules was given up for the betterment of all.