Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Indian Spiritual Leader Sought Independence from British Rule
Nov 23, 2007
Ever since he returned to India from South Africa in 1915, Mahatma Gandhi wanted just one thing. His goal was to achieve total and unequivocal independence from Great Britain and he did succeed partially. On August 15, 1947 the Union Jack was lowered all over India and the British left forever. But while Gandhi's dream of a single, unified India was with the best of intentions it ultimately collapsed. What ended up happening instead was the country was split into two predominantly Islamic states which flanked India's western and eastern borders, Pakistan and East Pakistan, which we now call Bangladesh. The separation was nothing short of disastrous as Hindu mobs attacked all the Muslims they could find, and vice versa. It literally broke Gandhi. This article takes a closer look at the extraordinary, bespectacled man who brought a colonial empire to its knees without ever firing a single bullet, and in doing so gave hope to millions of people around the world. His remarkable journey began not in India but thousands of kilometres away in South Africa.
Fighting for equality in South Africa
In 1893 while on a train bound for Pretoria Gandhi received a taste of some ugly discrimination when he was forced to leave his seat which was reserved for white passengers, despite holding a first class ticket. He was kicked off the train at Pietermaritzburg and spent the whole night on the freezing platform. He found out Indians had to pay a poll tax of three pounds sterling on entering the Transvaal, and they could not walk on public footpaths or sidewalks (Vincent Sheean, Lead, Kindly Light, Random House, Inc., 1949). In 1894 he founded the Natal Indian Congress to pressure the government into granting equal rights to Indians. At the beginning of World War I the South African authorities finally abolished the poll tax and began to validate Indian marriages. Although he was arrested several times he always advocated passive and non-violent resistance.
Imprisonment and defying the British
Fuelled by his victories in Africa, Gandhi returned to India more determined than ever to win his nation's freedom. He became the leader of the Indian National Congress and 1919 was the year that launched the Non-Cooperation Movement, which eventually led to the infamous Chauri Chaura massacre near Gorakhpur in 1922. Gandhi was subsequently sent to jail and was released in 1924. His most widely known act of defiance took place in 1930, the Salt March. The British Salt Tax made it illegal for Indians to produce and sell salt, so Gandhi and a small band of followers protested this unfair policy by travelling over 200 miles in twenty-four days to the coastal town of Dandi. The British responded again by placing Gandhi in jail. Just as he did in South Africa many years before he never encouraged his supporters to take up arms.
Independence and Hindu extremism
The 1940s were particularly turbulent for the man whom Indians referred to as the "Mahatma," or great soul. World War II was heating up in Europe and the Indian National Congress declared it would support the war effort if independence was granted. The British flatly refused and this led to the creation of the "Quit India" campaign. Gandhi was kept in detention until May, 1944. To make matters worse, the tensions between Hindu and Muslim radicals were at an all time high and he tried desperately to pacify both sides by fasting until he was too weak to stand. His attempts to iron out a satisfactory political climate with Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim league, also ended in failure. A Hindu assassin named Nathuram Godse shot Gandhi at point blank range on January 30, 1948. A courageous leader was lost but his ideas continued to inspire other men like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr.
