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Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is said as Gandhi Ji or Mahatma (means Great Soul). He was born in the year of 1869 on 2nd October. His father Karamchand Gandhi and his mother Putlibai both of them belonged to Hindu religion. They were lived in Porbandar, a small coastal town of Bombay. He got married with Kasturbai Makhanji in an arranged child marriage in 1883; when he was only 13 years old and his wife, Kasturba was 14 years. In the year of 1885 their first son was born, but stay alive only a little days. After with in few years they became parent of four more sons, namely, Harilal, Manilal, Ramdas and Devdas.

He liked to live fairly in an independent residential populace and he dressed in with traditional Indian dhoti and shawl. He was vegetarian and accepted long fasts as a means of both self-purification and social protest. He was killed on 30 January 1948 by a terrorist Nathuram Godse.

Educational life: Gandhi Ji has done his primary schooling from his birth town Porbandar and high school from Rajkot, he always remained as an common student. After that, he completed the matriculation exam from Samaldas College at Bhavnagar, in the state of Gujarat. Gandhi's family wanted him to become a barrister. So, he went to London on 4 September 1888 to lessons law University College to train as a barrister. On 12 June 1891, he completed the course of barrister and he left London for India. He wanted to practice on law in Bombay but he failed and so, he began a part-time job as a high school teacher.

Civil rights movement in South Africa: Gandhi went to South Africa in 1893 but he shocked after witnessing racism, prejudice and inequality against Indian citizens in South Africa and he established the Natal Indian Congress in 1894 and formed an Indian community in South Africa. In 1906, 11 September, Gandhi adopted his first Satyagraha movement (commitment to the truth), or peaceful protest. After a long time protest near about seven year, Gandhi and his thousands of supporter were jailed, hit or shot by the South African government. But the common people protested over the cruel behavior on the nonviolent Indian. At last the government enforced the General Jan Christian Smuts to consult with Gandhi.

Independence Struggle

Gandhi was the only Indian leader against British who was succeeded to gather the massive people from every corner of the nation. He returned back to India in 1914 and started struggle against to the autocracy of British. His philosophy was established upon ahimsa (nonviolence). His philosophy and leadership helped India to gain independence. Gandhi always spoke the truth and advised others to do the same.

Champaran and Kheda Satyagraha: In Champaran, more than 10000 of landless peoples, maximum of them were poor farmers or laborers, were enforced to cultivate indigo and other cash crops (neel, jute etc) instead of the food crops (paddy, wheat etc). The cultivated cash crops which were forcefully made by the poor farmers were bought from them at a very little price. The British landlord or some Deshi Zaminder forcefully done this with large armies (British employee) and they made a dirty atmosphere in the farmer's villages. After few days the British landlord increased the rate of tax (crop tax) which gradually reached up to near 75% of the income of a farmer. So, the poor farmers were coincided with a destructive famine because there were no food crops to eat and they also have no many for purchasing foods. There were same problems with the farmers of Kheda in Gujrat, so they all of farmers began Satyagraha which was led by Gandhi. 

In 1918 Mahatma Gandhi began Champaran agitation (Champaran is a district of Bihar) and Kheda Satyagraha (Kheda is a district of Gujrat) and these continued for two years from 1918 to 1919. It was a movement against the Acts of the British governor Rowlatt. During this Satyagraha Gandhi Ji was arrested, but a lot of people protested and gathered outside the lockup, police stations and courts demanding his relief. After a long non-violence protest against crucial British landlord, they were succeeded to release Gandhi. British landlord or Zaminder were agreed to postpone revenue until the famine finished. This Satyagraha movement made Gandhi more popular for Indian and the people began to call him as Bapu (means father) or officially honored in India as "the Father of the Nation"

Jallianwala Bagh massacre: During the year of 1919 AD Rowlatt Acts was passed by the British government. Both Hindu and Muslim protested of these acts on the day of 13th April 1919 AD in Amritshar, the capital city of Punjab. There were above 20 thousand unarmed men, women and children assembled in a public square to protest against of these acts. British general Dyer (Suorer Bachcha) ordered his armies (50 soldiers) ordered to fire into the gathering without any warning and the armies fired 1650 round shots. Above 400 people were killed and more than 1200 were wounded. Unfortunately the wounded people received no medical attention. It was the most sorrowful day of Indian history. 

Non-cooperation movement: The massacre of Jallianwala Bagh made huge effects on the mind of Indians and they protested of this incident. In December 1921, Gandhi was authorized with the executive power of the Indian National Congress. Under his control, the Congress party was restructured with a new formation with the goal of Swaraj. He started the swadeshi policy - boycott of foreign-made goods, mainly British goods and he advised to Indians to use khadi kapor (homespun cloth) instead of British-made cloths. Gandhi insisted Indian to boycott British educational institutions and courts, to resign from government service and to leave British titles and honors. 

Non-cooperation movement increased enthusiasm and involvement from all division of the society and it reached its height but the movement was broken suddenly. Because the leader of Muslim League Jinha and the Dalit or Untouchable community rejected cooperation with Gandhi beside of this, a violent conflict in the town of Chauri Chaura, Uttar Pradesh, in February 1922 were totally stopped the movement. More than 15,000 peoples were jailed including Gandhi on 10 March 1922. Gandhi Ji was ordered to six years jail. But he was released in February 1924 for an appendicitis operation. 

Salt Satyagraha (Salt March): In 1930 during the month of March Gandhi began a new movement against the tax on salt. This was known as the famous Salt March or Dandi Avijaan where he marched from Ahmedabad to Dandi (388 kilometers) to make salt himself from 12 March to 6 April. Thousands of Indians joined him on this march to the sea. But the movement was stopped by punishing over 60,000 people in to jail. 

This movement was one of his most successful at disturbing British. The British accepted Gandhi's demand and decided to cooperate with Gandhi. The British governor Edward Irwin and Gandhi was signed a Pact in March 1931. The British Government agreed to release all political prisoners, in return for the suspension of the civil disobedience movement. Also as a result of the pact, Gandhi was invited to attend the Round Table Conference in London as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress. The conference was a disappointment to Gandhi and the nationalists, because it focused on the Indian princes and Indian minorities rather than on a transfer of power. 

Quit India Movement (Varat Chharo Andolan): World War II started in 1939 initially, Gandhi Ji provided a non-violent ethical support to the British, but the other leaders of Congress were disagreed with him and they resigned from office. After long discussions, Gandhi declared Quit India Movement which was the most perfect rebellion aimed at securing the British exit from India by the Congress Party. Quit India became the most powerful movement in the history of the independence struggle, with mass arrests and violence on an extraordinary scale. Thousands of freedom fighters were killed or injured by police gunfire and hundreds of thousands were arrested. 

Gandhi and his supporters clarified that this time the movement would not be stopped if individual acts of violence were committed. He called on all Congressmen and Indians to maintain discipline via ahimsa, and Karo Ya Maro (Do or Die) in the cause of ultimate freedom. The movement was extended every corner of India. But the movement was ended with the arresting of Gandhi and the entire Congress Working Committee in Bombay by the British on 9 August 1942. Gandhi was released on 6 May 1944 because of his failing health. 

Other hand, Muslim League a few years earlier had appeared marginal, but gradually occupied the centre of the political stage and the topic of Jinnah's divide of India in two separate country was a major talking point. Gandhi met Jinnah in September 1944 in Bombay but Jinnah rejected on the grounds that it fell short of a fully independent Pakistan, his proposal of the right of Muslim provinces to opt out of substantial parts of the forthcoming political union.