 Nehru welcomed and encouraged the rapprochement between the two Indian communities.Several nationalist leaders banded together in 1916 under the leadership of Annie Besant to voice a demand for self-governance, and to obtain the status of a Dominion within the British Empire as enjoyed by Australia, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, and Newfoundland at the time.Nehru joined the movement and rose to become secretary of Besant's Home Rule League.