
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869 - January 30, 1948) was an Indian social activist, lawyer, anti-colonial ethicist who employed nonviolence to lead the successful campaign for India’s independence from British rule. He inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. Gandhi is internationally esteemed for his doctrine of nonviolent protest to achieve political and social progress. In spite of challenges such as having a rural background, a shy demeanour, and being unsuccessful in his profession, he became very popular and was an important leader in achieving freedom due to his continuous struggle, simple living, nonviolence policy, and selecting leaders for suitable positions only on the basis of merit. He tried his best to avoid the partition of India and spent about two weeks with Mohammed Ali Jinah to persuade him to keep India united. He never desired to obtain any position in independent India after 1947.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in Porbandar, Gujarat state on October 2, 1869. His father Karamchand Gandhi was Dewan of Porbandar. Gandhi was vegetarian and strongly believed in Jainism. He was neither good in the classroom nor in the playground and was a very shy boy. He completed his matriculation examination from rural area and then went to England for higher studies. He studied law in the Inner Temple in London and was called to the bar at the age of 22. He spent two years in India, where he was unable to start a successful law practice, and also tried to settle in his village but could not. Gandhi moved to South Africa in 1893 to represent an Indian merchant in a lawsuit. He lived in South Africa for 21 years and raised his family. He campaigned by nonviolence for civil rights. In 1915, aged 45, he returned to India and soon set about ongoing farmers and urban labourers to protest against discrimination and excessive land tax. He also joined the Indian National Congress and became the leader in 1921. Gandhi lead a nationwide campaign for easing poverty, expanding women’s rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, and above all, achieving self-rule.
Gandhi adopted the short dhoti woven with hand-spun yarn as a mark of identification with India’s rural poor. He ate simple food, and undertook long fasts as a means of both introspection and political protest. He challenged the British imposed salt tax in 1930. He took an active part in the Non-Cooperation Movement and he was arrested on March 10, 1922 and sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment. Gandhi apposed the partition of India along religious lines. The Indian National Congress Party and Gandhi called for the British to Quit India in 1942. However, The All India Muslim League demanded Divide and Quit India.
Some Hindus believed that Gandhi helped the Muslims, and so Nathuram Godhs, a Hindu Nationalist from Pune, assassinated Gandhi by firing three bullets into his chest at an interfaith prayer meeting in Delhi on January 30, 1948. Gandhi is considered to be the Father of the nation in Post-Colonial India. He was also commonly called Bapu Gandhi and Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi became a very popular leader of India and also globally, for his nonviolence policy.
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