The British government in pre-independent India suppressed the daily ‘The Bombay Chronicle’, which had a nationalist perspective and deported its pro-movement British editor B. G. Horniman.⁣
⁣
Umar Sobani and Shankarlal Banker, two young supporters of Home Rule League, managing the agency’s managerial affairs, asked Gandhi to take over the responsibility of The Bombay Chronicle. But, when the paper had to shut down its operations due to government pressure, the duo suggested Gandhi take over their English weekly Young India to carry on the spirit of the freedom struggle. ⁣
⁣
Gandhi too was “anxious to expound the inner meaning of Satyagraha to the public” and This was playing out during the peak of the anti-Rowlatt Act movement in 1919, so he was also desperate to help the cause of the “Punjab situation”.⁣
⁣
Gandhi wrote various quotations in this journal that inspired many. He used Young India to spread his unique ideology and thoughts regarding the use of nonviolence in organising movements and to urge readers to consider, organise, and plan for India’s eventual independence from Britain.⁣
⁣
In the meantime, Indulal Yajnik, a passionate young leader and associate of Sobani and Banker offered editorship of his Gujarati monthly ‘Navjivan ane Satya’ to Gandhi. He accepted it readily and dropped Satya (truth) from the name.⁣
⁣
Young India under Gandhi was a bi-weekly publican, but the additional responsibility of supervising the weekly Navjivan forced Gandhi to turn Young India into a weekly newspaper. Gandhi ran both the magazines from Ahmedabad, at times publishing an extra midweek edition or additional pages to its routine 8-page issue. ⁣
⁣
Both Young India and Navjivan had to be closed down due to Gandhi’s arrest and the crackdown on the Satyagraha movement in 1931. ⁣
⁣
Young India continued to come out in cyclostyled version of 3 pages and even regained its regular form before finally closing down in 1932. Navjivan had its last regular issue on 10 January 1932 followed by a couple of two-page issues before its final closure.⁣