IN THE autumn of 1932, Rabindranath Tagore boarded a train at Santiniketan for a long journey to Poona.Two months earlier, British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald had announced the Communal Award, which provided for separate electorates for various religious minorities and the Depressed Classes. Among its prominent supporters was BR Ambedkar, while Mahatma Gandhi, who was lodged at Yerawada Central Jail at the time, strongly opposed separate electorates for the Depressed Classes.“The British had originally decided to separate Hindus and Muslims into West Bengal and East Bengal. Ambedkar saw this as an opportunity to have a separate electorate for the depressed classes because upper-caste Hindus had never accepted them as Hindus. That’s the position Ambedkar took and Gandhi completely disagreed with that,” says Vijay Padaki, a theatre educator and playwright whose play The Prophet and The Poet examines the relationship between Gandhi and Tagore.Gandhi had declared that he would resist the proposal with his life. On September 20, he began a fast unto death. While Gandhi considered the Depressed Classes to be part of the Hindu community, Ambedkar argued for separate political representation for them.“Gandhi was so determined and his health was deteriorating so fast that most people thought he was going to die,” says Padaki.Several prominent leaders, including Madan Malaviya, C Rajagopalachari and Rajendra Prasad, were involved in efforts to find a solution.The negotiations eventually resulted in the Poona Pact. The provision for separate electorates for the Depressed Classes was dropped, while the number of seats reserved for them in provincial legislatures and the Central Legislature was increased. Gandhi accepted the agreement and ended his fast.Story continues below this adTagore was among those who supported Gandhi’s position. When he was informed that Gandhi wanted him by his side, the poet decided to travel to Poona.In those days, the journey from Santiniketan involved travelling to Calcutta, taking another train to Bombay and then travelling to Kalyan, from where Tagore was driven to Poona. “It took four days,” says Padaki.When Tagore reached the gates of Yerawada Central Jail, however, he was not initially allowed inside. The prison was under tight security amid the politically charged atmosphere surrounding Gandhi’s fast.Tagore reportedly joked, “I thought that, in India today, the gates of prison were open for all Indians.”Story continues below this adEventually, a letter from the prison superintendent arrived and Tagore was allowed to enter.“When Gandhiji was breaking his fast, he requested Tagore to sing,” says Padaki.Tagore chose Jibon Jakhon Shukaye Jay from Gitanjali, a song expressing a plea for mercy when the heart is dry and weary. The moment is also recalled in The Prophet and The Poet, with Tagore making a typically light-hearted remark: “I had forgotten the tune, so I sang it in an improvised tune.”Gandhi later joked about the incident: “Gurudev, you set a precedent when you sang that song. Whenever I break a fast, now that song is always sung.”Story continues below this adAmbedkar later expressed reservations about the Poona Pact. Tagore, too, subsequently came to question its implications for Bengal. The agreement, however, became an important milestone in the history of political representation for the Depressed Classes, with reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes continuing in independent India.