THE greatest soul in the world

MAHATMA GANDHI “BAPU”

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Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar, Gujarat commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi.  His father’s name was Karamchand Gandhi and mother’ name was  Putlibai.

In May 1883, the 13-year-old Mohandas was married to 14-year-old Kasturbai Makhanji (her first name was usually shortened to "Kasturba“.

 His attempts at establishing a law practice in Bombay failed because he was too shy to speak up in court. He returned to Rajkot to make a modest living drafting petitions for litigants but was forced to close it when he ran afoul of a British officer.

In 1888, Gandhi travelled to London, England, to study law at University College London where he studied Indian law and jurisprudence and to train as a barrister at the Inner Temple.

Gandhi spent 21 years in South Africa, where he developed his political views, ethics and political leadership skills. Indians in South Africa were led by wealthy Muslims, who employed Gandhi as a lawyer, and by impoverished Hindu indentured laborers with very limited rights.

Reactions to blacks After the black majority came to power in South Africa, Gandhi was proclaimed a national hero with numerous monuments.Gandhi focused his attention on Indians in South Africa, but historians have also examined his changing ideas on the proper role for blacks. White rule enforced strict segregation among all races and generated conflict between these communities. At first Gandhi shared racial notions prevalent in the 1890s. Bhana and Vahed argue that Gandhi's experiences in jail sensitized him to the plight of blacks. "His negative views in the Johannesburg jail were reserved for hardened African prisoners rather than Africans generally."

M.K. Gandhi while serving in the Ambulance Corps during the Second Boer War (1899)

Gandhi in 1918, at the time of the Kheda and Champaran Satyagrahas

Gandhi's first major achievements came in 1918 with the  Champaran and Kheda agitations of Bihar and Gujarat. The Champaran agitation pitted the local peasantry against their largely British landlords who were backed by the local administration.

Mahatma Gandhi spinning yarn, in late 1920

With Congress now behind him in 1920, Gandhi had the base to employ non-cooperation, non-violence and peaceful resistance as his "weapons" in the struggle against the British Raj.

Sabarmati Ashram, Gandhi's home in Gujarat

 Under his leadership, the Congress was reorganised with a new constitution, with the goal of Swaraj. Membership in the party was opened to anyone prepared to pay a token fee. A hierarchy of committees was set up to improve discipline, transforming the party from an elite organisation to one of mass national appeal. Gandhi expanded his non-violence platform to include the swadeshi policy—the boycott of foreign-made goods, especially British goods.

Salt Satyagraha (Salt March)

Gandhi stayed out of active politics and, as such, the limelight for most of the 1920s. He focused instead on resolving the wedge between the Swaraj Party and the Indian National Congress, and expanding initiatives against untouchability, alcoholism, ignorance and poverty. He returned to the fore in 1928. In the preceding year, the British government had appointed a new constitutional reform commission under Sir John Simon, which did not include any Indian as its member. The result was a boycott of the commission by Indian political parties. 

World War II and Quit IndiaGandhi initially favoured

offering "non-violent moral support" to the British effort when World War II broke out in 1939, but the Congressional leaders were offended by the unilateral inclusion of India in the war without consultation of the people's representatives. All Congressmen resigned from office.[80] After long deliberations, Gandhi declared that India could not be party to a war ostensibly being fought for democratic freedom while that freedom was denied to India itself.

Gandhi and Nehru in 1942

Gandhi and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Bombay, 1944

Partition and independence, 1947As a rule, Gandhi was opposed to the concept of partition as it contradicted his vision of religious unity.Concerning the partition of India to create Pakistan, while the Indian National Congress and Gandhi called for the British to quit India, the Muslim League passed a resolution for them to divide and quit, in 1943. Gandhi suggested an agreement which required the Congress and Muslim League to cooperate and attain independence under a provisional government, thereafter, the question of partition could be resolved by a plebiscite in the districts with a Muslim majority.When Jinnahcalled for Direct Action, on 16 August 1946, Gandhi was infuriated and visited the most riot prone areas to stop the massacres, personally.[91] He made strong efforts to unite the Indian Hindus, Muslims and Christians and struggled for the emancipation of the "untouchables" in Hindu society.On the 14 and 15 August 1947 the Indian Independence Act was invoked. In border areas some 10—12 million people moved from one side to another and upwards of a half million were killed in communal riots pitting Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs.

Assassination of Mohandas Karamchand GandhiOn 30 January 1948, Gandhi was shot while he was

walking to a platform from which he was to address a prayer meeting. The assassin, Nathuram Godse, was a Hindu nationalist with links to the extremist Hindu Mahasabha, who held Gandhi responsible for weakening India by insisting upon a payment to Pakistan.Godse and his co-conspirator Narayan Apte, were later tried and convicted; they were executed on 15 November 1949. Gandhi's memorial at Rajghat, New Delhi, bears the epigraph "Hē Ram”

“Before you do anything, stop and recall the face of the poorest most helpless destitute person you have seen and ask yourself, “Is what I am about to do going to help him?” 

“We must become the change we want to see in the world.” 

“There are times when you have to obey a call which is the highest of all, i.e. the voice of conscience even though such obedience may cost many a bitter tear, and even more, separation from friends, from family, from the state, to which you may belong, from all that you have held as dear as life itself. For this obedience is the law of our being. ”

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