Gandhi Ji also known as Mahatma Gandhi, was a great patriotic Indian. The honorific Mahatma, first applied to him in 1914 in South Africa, is now used throughout the world. His great thoughts and ideologies made people honour him for calling him ‘Mahatma Gandhi’.
Mahatma Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist and political ethicist and preacher of truth and non-violence. He was a social reformer and a freedom warrior who worked hard to free India from British rule.
Gandhi Ji's Early Life and Background
- Full Name : Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
- Birthday : 2nd oct,1869, Porbandar
- Father Name : Karamchand Gandhi
- Mother Name : Putli Bai Gandhi
- Wife Name : Kasturba Gandhi
- Children : Harilal, Manilal, Ramdas, Devdas
- Death : 30th Jan, 1948
Gandhi Ji received his primary education in the city of Porbandar. In school days he was an average and shy student. His high school life was a challenge since he married at 13 years and had to take care of his family. After study in Indian college for few years Gandhi Ji went to England to complete his Law and in England he became a barrister.
Then he returned to India and began to practice at the Bombay High Court. On 24th May, 1893 Gandhi Ji went to South Africa to attend to a legal matter of Dada Abdullah Jhaveri.
Movements led by Gandhi Ji
In South Africa, Gandhi Ji faced discrimination because of his skin colour and heritage. He was not allowed to sit with European passengers. The Abdullah case that had brought him to South Africa concluded in May 1894. However, a new Natal government discriminatory proposal led to Gandhi extending his original period of stay in South Africa. He planned to assist Indians in opposing a bill to deny them to right to vote.
In South Africa, he was the first to start a nonviolent protest movement, it made him different from other protesters. He spent 21 years of his life in South Africa fighting for discrimination.
At the request of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Gandhi Ji returned to India in 1915. Gandhi Ji joined the Indian National Congress. He took Gokhale's liberal approach based on British Whiggish traditions and transformed it to make it look Indian.
The "Champaran Movement" of 1917 was the first movement led by Gandhi Ji in India. In Champaran, a district in the state of Bihar labourers and poor farmers were forced to grow indigo and other cash crops instead of the food crops which were necessary for their survival. Raj Kumar Shukla who was an indigo cultivator persuaded Mahatma Gandhi to go to Champaran and hence, the "Champaran Satyagraha" began. Gandhi Ji took the administration by surprise and won concessions from the authorities.
In 1919, Gandhi sought political support from Muslims and started the "Khilafat Movement" to support the Ottoman Empire, against the British. Before this initiative of Gandhi, communal disputes and religious riots between Hindus and Muslims were common in British India. The increasing Muslim support for Gandhi Ji temporarily stopped the Hindu-Muslim communal violence. By the end of 1922 the Khilafat Movement had collapsed and Muslim support for Gandhi Ji largely evaporated.
Gandhi Ji started "Non-Coorporation Movement". he asked the people not to kill or injured Britishers but to express their frustration with peace, to boycott British goods and burn any British clothing they owned. Mahatma Gandhi started the ‘Khadi Movement’ to push the use of fibers like khadi or jute. ‘Khadi Movement' was part of the greatest movement, the “Non-co-operation Movement".
He started the "Salt Satyagraha" against the salt tax imposed by the British government in India. He led a large group of people from Sabarmati Ashram on 12th March 1930 till Dandi, a coastal village in Gujarat, to break the salt law by producing salt from seawater.
Struggle for Independence
Gandhi Ji's contribution to the Indian freedom movement cannot be measured in words. Gandhi took leadership of the Congress in 1920 and began escalating demands until on 26 January 1930 the Indian National Congress declared the independence of India. He, along with other freedom fighters, compelled the British to leave India.
He gave a new form to the independent movement through his policies. He started Non-violence based Non-Cooperation and civil Disobedience Movement, and finally, his slogan ‘Do or Die’ inspired the Quit India movement.
In those days of the struggle for Indian Independence, Gandhiji suffered and was imprisoned several times with his followers, but freedom of his motherland remained his main goal. Even after getting in prison, he never used the path of violence.
Gandhi demanded immediate independence in 1942 and the British responded by imprisoning him and tens of thousands of Congress leaders. The Muslim League did co-operate with Britain and moved against Gandhi Ji, to demands for a totally separate Muslim state of Pakistan. In August 1947 the British partitioned the land with India and Pakistan each achieving independence on terms that Gandhi disapproved.
Finally on 15th Aug, 1947 India got freedom from British rule because of Gandhi Ji and many other freedom fighters.
Conclusion
Mahatma Gandhi was the man who majorly contributed to the independence of India from British rule. He spent his entire life serving his country and its people. He played an important role in social and political reform.
Gandhi Ji felt it was his responsibility to fight for India's rights. He influenced many people and places other than India. He changed history by protesting non-violently and gaining Independence for India.
