In 1921, he resigned the chief justiceship to become Viceroy and Governor-General of India. Reading preferred a conciliatory policy: he was determined to implement the provisions of the Government of India Act 1919 and opposed racial discrimination. He personally received Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and visited Amritsar as a gesture of reconciliation. However, he ended up using force on several occasions: in 1921 he ordered the suppression of the Malabar rebellion, and in 1922 he put down Sikh unrest in the Punjab. The same year, he had Gandhi arrested for sedition. Reading cultivated good relations with the Indian princes, but forced two maharajas to abdicate.