Mahatma Gandhi initiated a fast unto death in September 1932 primarily to protest against the Communal Award announced by the British Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald. This award proposed separate electorates for depressed classes (Dalits), which Gandhi believed would fragment Hindu society and hinder the progress of the Harijans. He saw it as a political manoeuvre to divide Indians rather than a genuine attempt to uplift the depressed classes.