Gandhi returned to India in January 1915. The Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, became an example of community living, as Gandhi fought for the indigo cultivators of Champaran and the workers of Ahmedabad mills. The direction of the Indian freedom movement changed a great deal with Gandhi emerging as a massleader. The Gandhian era truly began in Indian politics in April 1919, when he called for a general strike against the draconian Rowlatt Act (British colonial legislation in India extending “emergency measures” to control public unrest).