Mahatma Gandhi was a key figure in the history of India in the twentieth century. He was born in 1869 and passed away in 19481. Gandhi was a lawyer by profession, and he was considered a great spiritual and political leader in India. Gandhi founded the Satyagraha movement, which was instrumental in the path to independence. Gandhi is popularly referred to as the ‘Founder of the Nation’2. His Hindu background taught him certain values like tolerance, peaceful coexistence, fasting, and vegetarianism. His philosophy was that truth could only be attained through non-violent means and a search for God through celibacy. He aimed to demonstrate to both the oppressed and the oppressor that they were united by their humanity and their common bonding. He participated actively in the struggle for independence against the British, and his actions contributed greatly to India’s independence.
After his law studies in London, he first worked in Bombay before travelling to South Africa to work in 19073. This was during the terrible period of apartheid in South Africa, and he was appalled by this philosophy and thus began his career as a social activist. As a result, he participated in passive protests against the government of Transvaal which mistreated the minority Indian population. In 1915, he left South Africa and returned to India where he was introduced to Indian issues by Gopal Gokhale, causing him to join the Congress Movement4. Gandhi did not believe in violent resistance but encouraged passive resistance instead. He felt that violent resistance did not elicit a positive response from the British but passive resistance forced them into actions which brought more support to the Indian National Congress Movement5.
This led to the Non-Cooperative Movement, which carried out many acts of passive resistance. An example of this passive resistance was that he encouraged the Indians not to purchase goods manufactured by British but only to purchase Indian goods. Other forms included avoiding British: educational institutions; government jobs; and law courts. This served to resuscitate the local Indian economies and undermined British economy. He also engineered the Dandi March in 1930, which was a walk to the sea in a bid to protest the taxation on salt. He aimed to produce salt himself because the British monopolized the salt production industry6. His action was a challenge to this monopoly on salt production. The Dandi March soon changed into a movement of outright civil disobedience. To resolve the chaos caused by this movement, the British signed the Gandhi Irwin Pact in 1931, where they agreed to liberate all political movement in exchange for a cessation of civil disobedience7. In 1931, Gandhi attended a conference in Britain dressed in traditional Indian dress. The dress code at this meeting was formal, everyone was dressed in suits, but his choice of dress signified defiance and cultural pride to the British.
In 1939, World War Two broke out, causing British power to weaken. In 1942, Gandhi formed the Quit India Movement, which aggressively pursued the exit of the British8. This movement was characterized by widespread acts of violence and sabotage in the country to force the British out. Gandhi, however, did not authorize this violence but nonetheless, he was blamed for it. In the same year, as a result of this the ‘Quit India Movement,’ he was arrested for two years. During the period of his arrest, his wife Kasturba, and his secretary passed away. As the year 1943 drew to a close, the Quit India Movement ended when the British suggested that they would liberate the Indians.
After India acquired its independence, Gandhi redirected his efforts towards the reconciliation of Muslims and Hindus. It was for this cause that he began a fast called fast-unto-death, where he demanded an end to communal violence, and payment of Rs. 55 crores to Pakistan in accordance with the Partition Council Agreement9. When political leaders decided to carry out his demands, he sipped orange juice to break the fast. Unfortunately, Gandhi was assassinated in 1948 in the hands of Nathuram Godse, a Hindu Radical10. Nathuram blamed Gandhi for India’s weakening as a result of the partition payment to Pakistan. Nathuran was against the idea that Muslims and Hindus were equal as propagated by Gandhi.
The life of Mahatma Gandhi was inspiring and phenomenal. He was a visionary, and he envisioned a world where peaceful coexistence ruled. As a result, he worked tirelessly to work for the liberation of Indians. His methods demonstrated the philosophy which he lived by. He did not believe in active violence, but in acts which displayed the displeasure and resolve of the Indians towards their liberation. He was involved in the formation of several movements which played a major role in liberation. Examples include the: Non-Cooperation Movement, Dandi March, and the Quit India Movement. The contribution of Mahatma Gandhi was essential in the liberation of India, hence his popular referral as the ‘Father of the Nation’.
Bibliography
Radhakrishnan, Sarvepelli. Mahatma Gandhi. Mumbai: Jaico Publishing House, 1998.
University of California, Los Angeles. “History and Politics: Gandhi,” 06th December 2012. http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Gandhi/gandhi2.html
