Mohandas Gandhi

     In 1858, "the British government decided to take India under the direct control of Crown under the rule of British Raj" (Indian Independence Movement, 1). "During its reign the British Empire popularly known as the ‘East India Company’ made full use of its power. It exploited the resources of the country. It even took away land from the poor people in order to grow indigo which was the main ingredient of the dye industry in Britain. Lot of injustices was done to people" (Karthik, 1).  There had already been struggles for freedom, but it was Gandhi whose work was most beneficial for India.

     "Gandhi and Kasturbai arrived in Bombay on January 9, 1915" (Feuerlicht, 8). In "1915, he founded the Satyagraha Ashram in Ahmadabad, Gujarat" (Falkensteiner, 1) - a religious retreat for devotees. Much "to the horror of orthodox Hindus, he admitted into his ashram a family of untouchables, who by implacable Hindu tradition are condemned from birth as unclean and outcaste.'We can infer from our past experience that the privileged and powerful are more unclean at heart than the downtrodden and despised, 'Gandhi observed" (Feuerlicht, 8). "Eventually, the Untouchables and the other members of the ashram learned to live together peacefully" (Cheney, 61).

(Satyagraha Ashram at Kochrab, Ahmedabad, founded May 25, 1915. Digital image. MKGandhi. 25 Dec. 2008 <http://www.mkgandhi.org/gphotgallery/1915-1932/pages/a7.htm>.)

     "In 1919, the British gave Gandhi something specific to fight against - the Rowlatt Act. This Act gave the British in India nearly free-reign to root out "revolutionary" elements and to detain them indefinitely without trial. In response to this Act, Gandhi organized a mass hartal (general strike), which began on March 30, 1919" (Rosenberg, 3). "This involved a boycott of goods manufactured in Britain. Gandhi insisted on complete non-violence, and called off the movement in 1922 when some villagers attacked a police station and killed several policemen" (Gupta, 1). 

     The "Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre, involved the killing of hundreds of unarmed, defenseless Indians by a senior British military officer, took place on 13 April 1919 in the heart of Amritsar" (Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, 1). "In Punjab, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of civilians by British troops caused deep trauma to the nation, leading to increased public anger & acts of violence. Gandhi criticized both the actions of the British Raj & the retaliatory violence of Indians. He authored the resolution offering condolences to British civilian victims & condemning the riots, which after initial opposition in the party, was accepted following Gandhi's emotional speech advocating his principle that all violence was evil & could not be justified" (Biography of Gandhi, 1).

     Soon, "Gandhi...assumed the responsibilities of the president of Indian National Congress in 1921, and unleashed a series of reforms in the party ranks, thereby giving impetus to the non-cooperation movement, that by that time took the entire nation in its grip" (Gandhi and the Indian National Congress, 1). The "non-cooperation movement" was essentially rebellion without violence. 

     "[Gandhi] obtained a wheel, and he and his disciples began to wear homespun cloth called khadi. Its value was twofold. If everyone wore khadi, the half-starved, unemployed women of India would have an occupation; and Indians would no longer be forced to wear foreign-made clothing." (Feuerlicht,  9).  The practice of spinning clothes spread widely, promoting nationalism throughout the country.

(White, Margaret B. Gandhi. Digital image. Margaret Bourke-White Gandhi Gallery M. Time, Inc. 25 Dec. 2008 <http://www.gallerym.com/work.cfm?ID=91.>)

"The 'non-cooperation' movement was suspended in February 1922 when a score of Indian policemen were brutally killed by a large crowd at Chauri Chaura, a small market town in the United Provinces. Gandhi himself was arrested shortly thereafter, tried on charges of sedition, and sentenced to imprisonment for six years" (Jhaveri, 2). "He was released after 22 months" (Yates, 1). 

     "After his release from prison, Gandhi traveled throughout India, preaching the cardinal tenets of his doctrine: Hindu-Moslem unity, the abolition of untouchability and the promotion of hand-spinning" (Falkensteiner, 1). For instance, "on September 18, 1924, Gandhi started a 21-day fast to foster amity between the Hindus and the Muslims" (B., 1). In addition, "The Simon Commission, constituted in November 1927 by the British Government to prepare and finalize a constitution for India and consisting of members of the British Parliament only, was boycotted by all sections of the Indian social and political platforms as an ‘All-White Commission’" (1930 Mahatma Gandhi Started The Civil Disobedience Movement, 1). The British soon backed off and "Satyagraha had finally won in India" (Feuerlicht, 10).

     "In 1930, in order to help free India from British control, Mahatma Gandhi proposed a non-violent march protesting the British Salt Tax, continuing Gandhi's pleas for civil disobedience" (Benner, 1). "The British monopoly on the salt tax in India dictated that the sale or production of salt by anyone but the British government was a criminal offense punishable by law" (Graham, 1). "On March 2, Gandhi addressed a letter to the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, informing him that unless Indian demands were met, he would be compelled to break the 'salt laws' (Jhaveri, 3)."The Viceroy's secretary acknowledged the letter coldly; the British conceded nothing" (Feuerlicht, 11).  In protest, "Gandhi led the Salt March. Accompanied by seventy-eight people, Gandhi began to walk from Sabarmati to Dandi, a town on the ocean over 200 miles away. By the time Gandhi reached Dandi and picked up a pinch of sea salt in symbolic defiance of British rule, he had been joined by hundreds of thousands of people" (Demi, 22).

(Salt March (1930). Digital image. Mahatma Gandhi - A Great Soul. 2006. 25 Dec. 2008 <http://www.gandhimemorial.org/gandhi%20pic/salt%20march.jpg.>)

     "Another cause Gandhi supported was improving the status of members of the lower castes, or Harijans. On September 20, 1932, Gandhi began a fast for the Harijans, opposing a British plan for a separate voting body for them" (MOHANDAS GANDHI Biography, 1). Through his fast, "he had forced Hindus to accept untouchables not only as citizens with equal rights, but as human beings" (Feuerlicht, 12).

     "When England went to war in September, 1939, she included India in the declaration without consulting her" (Feuerlicht, 13). "At the outset of World War II, Gandhi and the Congress leadership assumed a position of neutrality: while clearly critical of fascism, they could not find it in themselves to support British imperialism" (Jhaveri, 4). "Gandhi and [The Indian National Congress] supported Britain on the condition that they withdraw completely from India" (Karthik, 1). "The Britons refused that and offered compromises, which were rejected by the Indians" (Falkensteiner, 1). "Some Indian leaders wanted to turn on Britain while she was under assault by the Nazis" (Feuerlicht, 13), but Gandhi stated: "I know full well that the British will have to give us our freedom when we have made sufficient sacrifices and proven our strength. We must remove the hatred for the British from our hearts" (Gandhi, "Speech to All-Indian Congress, 1942"). "After lengthy 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" (Mohandas Biography, 1). Because of this, "Gandhi was arrested with Nehru and other Congress leaders" (Liukkonen, 1). 

     "As a result of this, a series of revolts broke out in what was known as 'British Quit India'" (Narayan, 1). "The British blamed Gandhi, who was powerless to do anything because they held him in prison...Pained by British accusations that he was somehow responsible for the thing he hated most, Gandhi announced he would fast twenty-one days" (Feuerlicht, 13). "He contracted malaria in prison and was released on May 6, 1944" (MOHANDAS GANDHI Biography, 1). "Kasturbai did not adjust as readily to being shut away as Gandhi did" (Spink, 53). "In 1944 Gandhi's wife, Kasturbai, died" (Gupta, 1).

    "When Gandhi was released from prison in 1944, Indian independence seemed in sight. Unfortunately, however, huge disagreements between Hindus and Muslims had arisen" (Rosenberg, 4). "The Moslem leader, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who, now that India was on the threshold of independence, was insisting that a separate Moslem state of Pakistan be carved out of it" (Feuerlicht, 13). "Gandhi attempted to negotiate with Jinnah, but the Moslem was determined to create his own country" (Cheney, 93). "The partition plan was approved by the Congress leadership as the only way to prevent a wide-scale Hindu-Muslim civil war" (Biography of Gandhi, 1). "Gandhi stood against the partition of India until he realized its inevitability" (Falkensteiner, 1). "On 15 August 1947, India was finally granted Independence, but for Mahatma Gandhi the achievement of the aim to which he had given so much of his life held little excitement" (Spink, 54).     

(Gandhi with Jinnah. Digital image. Gandhi and Children. 25 Dec. 2008 <http://www.ruraluniv.ac.in/Gandhi%20with%20Jinnah.JPG>.) 

     "Gandhi refused to join the official ceremonies in Delhi and instead went on a fast in Calcutta, in protest against the communal violence erupting all over the newly-partitioned country" (Gupta, 1). "Some Moslems remained in Hindu territory and some Hindus were trapped in Pakistan. In both places the majority turned on the minority. It is estimated that as many as seven or eight million persons were butchered" (Feuerlicht, 14). "The ferocious fighting in Calcutta came to a halt, almost entirely on account of Gandhi's efforts" (Jhaveri, 4).

     "After Calcutta, he went to Delhi, and mingled with both Hindu and Muslim in an attempt to heal wounds" (Yates, 2). "On January 30, 1948, the 78-year-old Gandhi spent his last day as he had many others" (Rosenberg, 5). "He walked...into the garden" of Birla House in Delhi "to address the huge crowd which gathered there every evening to hear him" (Rawding, 47). "In the front row of spectators sat another member of the fanatic group, a thirty-five-year-old newspaper editor named Nathuram Vinayak Godse. In his pocket was a small pistol" (Feuerlicht, 14). "He was shot and killed by Nathuram Godse"(Mohandas Gandhi Biography, 1) while walking through Birla House.

     India wept that day for their great hero--their Mahatma. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru gave a speech that night:

     "The light has gone out, I said, and yet I was wrong. For the light that shone in this country was no ordinary light. The light that has illumined this country for these many years will illumine this country for many more years, and a thousand years later, that light will be seen in this country and the world will see it and it will give solace to innumerable hearts" (Nehru, "The Light has Gone Out").