Understanding the Text
What was the attitude of the average Indian in smaller localities towards advocates of 'home rule'?
In smaller localities, the average Indian was afraid to show sympathy for advocates of home rule. This is illustrated by Gandhi's stay in Muzzafarpur: he lodged in the home of Professor Malkani, a teacher in a government school, and Gandhi himself noted that it was 'an extraordinary thing in those days for a government professor to harbour a man like me.'
The word 'harbour' is significant — giving shelter to a nationalist agitator was seen as a risky act. Government employees especially feared association with those who challenged British authority, as it could cost them their positions. Ordinary people in smaller towns, lacking the anonymity of large cities and dependent on British goodwill for their livelihoods, kept their distance from the freedom movement even when they privately sympathised with it.
Answer: The average Indian in smaller localities was afraid to show sympathy for advocates of home rule; even sheltering such a person was considered extraordinary and risky, as Gandhi observed when Professor Malkani, a government school teacher, hosted him in Muzzafarpur.