The Bombay Chronicle, article on a foreign-cloth bonfire (July 30, 1921)
The Bombay Chronicle reports a public bonfire of foreign cloth during Gandhi's Non-Cooperation campaign, part of a wave of bonfires that turned owning foreign-made cloth into a visible test of loyalty to the swaraj movement rather than a private consumer choice.
The Bombay Chronicle, linked here with the Indian National Congress and its Non-Cooperation movement, carried this page on 30 July 1921. It announces a "BONFIRE OF FOREIGN CLOTHES" at the Maidan near Elphinstone Mills on Sunday, 31 July, with the ceremony to be performed by Mahatma Gandhiji, and asks attendees to wear khadi and to bring any foreign clothes they have not given away. Identity fusion is tagged because owning foreign cloth becomes a visible test of loyalty to the swaraj movement rather than a private consumer choice, and glittering generalities because the call for swadeshi dress stands as a virtue appeal. The related archive discussion also records documented coercion of non-compliant merchants alongside voluntary participation.
Propaganda techniques used in this newspaper page
- Date
- July 30, 1921
- Period
- Interwar
- Made by
- The Bombay Chronicle; Indian National Congress (Non-Cooperation movement)
Full record
Region, Country, Medium, Issuer type, Regime, Leader, Audience, Purpose, Themes, Event, Source, Rights
- Region
- South Asia
- Country
- British India
- Medium
- Newspaper pages
- Issuer type
- Party
- Regime
- British Raj
- Leader
- Rufus Isaacs
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Economy and finance, Empire and colonialism
- Event
- Non Cooperation Movement
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons, retrieved September 27, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (PD-India; PD-US expired)
The Bombay Chronicle, 30 July 1921, p. 13
Text on the object
Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked
THE BOMBAY CHRONICLE. SATURDAY. JULY 30. 1921. 13 BOYCOTT OF FOREIGN CLOTHES BONFIRE OF FOREIGN CLOTHES Shall take place at the Maidan near Elphinstone Mills Opp. Elphinstone Road Station on Sunday, 31st July, 1921. THE CEREMONY WILL BE PERFORMED BY MAHATMA GANDHIJI All are requested to attend in Swadeshi Clothes of Khadi. Those who have not given away their Foreign Clothes are requested to bring them to the Meeting. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT IS MADE FOR LADIES AND CHILDREN IN MEMORY OF LOKMANYA TILAK PUBLIC MEETING AT CHAUPATI, 1ST AUGUST 1921. AT 6-30 P. M. [illegible — surrounding newspaper columns, including a separate 'London Letter' article below this notice, are reproduced too small in this scan to transcribe]
Transcription covers the masthead line and the boxed Non-Cooperation movement notice that is the subject of this entry's caption. The rest of the page is ordinary newsprint body type at a size this scan cannot resolve, so it was not transcribed rather than guessed.
