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Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, was an anti-colonial nationalist who embraced non-violence as a tool to attain freedom for his motherland. A staunch believer in non-violence and truth, he began and continued a resistance campaign against the British till the end. A lawyer by profession, he changed with the times and was a politician, a social activist, and a writer simultaneously. Immensely loved and deeply respected political and spiritual leader of his times, he helped and led the Indian masses through a non-violent resistance movement to attain freedom. The world bows to his greatness. To his countrymen, he is Bapu or Father of the Nation.
Mahatma Gandhi – Important Details
- Name: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
- Date of Birth: 2nd October 1869
- Birthplace: Porbandar, Gujarat
- Father: Karamchand Gandhi
- Mother: Putlibai
- Death: 30th January 1948, Delhi
- Nationality: Indian
- Wife: Kasturba Gandhi
- Professions: Lawyer, Activist, Politician, and Writer
Early Life & Family
He was born at Porbandar, Gujarat, on 2nd October 1869 to Karamchand Gandhi and Putlibai. His mother was his father’s fourth wife, and she was from an affluent Vaishnavite family. This background influenced Mohandas deeply. The stories of Shravan Kumar and Harishchandra affected him and made him realise the importance of truth at an early age. His father was the Diwan of Porbandar. He was married to Kasturba at the tender age of thirteen. This disturbed his studies for some time. Kasturba supported Mohandas in all his decisions until her demise in 1944. Together they had four sons – Manilal, Harilal, Devdas, and Ramdas.
Education
Mohandas did his early schooling at a school in Rajkot, where he studied history, geography, arithmetic, and languages. Later, he shifted to a high school situated in Rajkot. His marriage affected his education, but he re-joined school and completed his education. In 1888, he joined the Samaldas College in Bhavnagar. He was unsatisfied with his education, convinced his parents and managed to go to London to study Law. Before leaving for London, he promised his family that he would not touch non-vegetarian food, women, and wine. In London, he joined Inner Temple Law College and also joined a veg society. People in the society introduced him to the Bhagavad Gita. The Bhagavad Gita influenced him deeply.
In South Africa
In May 1893, he left for South Africa to establish his law practice. He had a terrible experience of racial discrimination in South Africa. Despite holding a 1st class train ticket, he was not allowed to travel in the 1st class as the compartment was reserved only for white people. In those days, Indians and blacks were prohibited from entering or travelling first class. It was an eye-opening and humiliating experience for Mohandas. He later realised that it was a common occurrence, and Indians were treated in a derogatory manner there.
Deeply affected, Gandhi formed the Natal Indian Congress on 22nd May 1894. He strived hard to improve the rights and conditions of Indians in South Africa. Soon he became a leader of the Indian community there. Tirukkural is ancient Indian literature scripted initially in Tamil and later translated into different languages. The ancient wisdom in the book influenced Mohandas.
The idea of satyagraha appealed to him, and in 1906 he arranged a non-violent protest in South Africa against the injustice and discrimination suffered by the Indians and the Africans. After spending 21 years of his life in South Africa, he returned to India in 1915. He was a changed man. Years of fighting the system for the civil rights of his people, achieving some, and being refused much had given him new wisdom and confidence.
Role in the Indian Independence Movement
After returning to India permanently, he joined the Indian National Congress. Gopal Krishna Gokhale was his mentor at that time. In 1917-18, Gandhi led the Champaran agitation of Bihar and the Kheda agitation of Gujarat. He initiated and led other Non-Cooperation Movements, Civil disobedience Movements, Swaraj, and Quit India Movement.
Major movements of Mahatma Gandhi
Champaran Satyagraha
The Indigo cultivators in Champaran were suffering owing to the Tinkathia system. Under this system, the cultivators had to devote the most fertile 3/20th part of their land to indigo cultivation. They were forced to sell the produce at a minimal amount and incur losses. Bad weather conditions and high taxes made it worse. Rajkumar Shukla met Mahatma Gandhi at Lucknow and invited him to Champaran to help the farmers. At Champaran, Mahatma Gandhi implemented the civil disobedience formula against the landlord. A series of demonstrations and strikes also continued. As a result, a Champaran Agrarian committee was formed. Gandhiji was one of the members of the committee. In the end, the demands of the cultivators were accepted, and satyagraha was successful.
Kheda Satyagraha
The cultivators of Kheda Village Gujarat were suffering owing to poor harvest. In 1917, Mohanlal Pandey started a campaign asking for the remission of taxes as the cultivators could not eke out a living, let alone pay the taxes due to crop failure/ poor harvest. Unable to do much, he invited Mahatma Gandhi, who joined the movement on 22nd March 1918. He started satyagraha there. Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel and Indulal Yagnik too joined the movement. Finally, the British government agreed to the demand, and the movement became successful.
Khilafat Movement
The Ali brothers started the movement as a protest against injustice in Turkey after the first World War. The movement was launched against the British government with a demand to restore the status of the Caliph in Turkey. In Delhi, an all-India conference was held, and Mahatma Gandhi was elected President of the conference. He returned all the medals given to him by the British empire to honour him in South Africa. After the success of the Khilafat Movement, Mahatma Gandhi became a national leader.
Non-Cooperation Movement
After the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Gandhiji decided to launch a Non-Cooperation Movement against the British. He realised that such atrocities and inhuman behaviour would continue, and the British control over the country would not loosen. With the help of Congress, he appealed to the people to cooperate with him and convinced them that a peaceful Non-Cooperation Movement against the British was very important and needed to attain independence. The concept of Swaraj became crucial to the freedom struggle. The masses started boycotting all establishments and products of the British and using swadeshi. Mahatma Gandhi had to end the movement abruptly owing to the Chauri Chaura incident. It was unfortunate that in the incident, 22 police officials were killed.
Civil-Disobedience Movement
Addressing the nation through the Young India newspaper, Mahatma Gandhi offered to suspend the Civil-Disobedience Movement if the British government accepted his 11 demands. At that time, Lord Irwin was the head of the government in India and he did not respond at all. As a result, the movement continued with added vigour.
The dream of Indian Independence became a reality in 1947 but the joys were drowned in sorrow as the riots continued on either side of the border. Mahatma Gandhi was very disappointed and unhappy, and he fasted and appealed to his countrymen to make peace. It was a very crucial time for the country. Amid such disappointment and grief, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in New Delhi on 30th January 1948 in the compound of Birla House. He was 78 years of age, and his assassin was Nathuram Vinayak Godse. The Birla house where Gandhiji was assassinated has been established as Gandhi Smriti.
