Reza ningtyas lindh biography of mahatma gandhi
Gandhi ran a thriving legal practice, and at the outbreak of the Boer War, he raised an all-Indian ambulance corps of 1, volunteers to support the British cause, arguing that if Indians expected to have full rights of citizenship in the British Empire, they also needed to shoulder their responsibilities. After years of protests, the government imprisoned hundreds of Indians in , including Gandhi.
Under pressure, the South African government accepted a compromise negotiated by Gandhi and General Jan Christian Smuts that included recognition of Hindu marriages and the abolition of a poll tax for Indians. In Gandhi founded an ashram in Ahmedabad, India, that was open to all castes. Wearing a simple loincloth and shawl, Gandhi lived an austere life devoted to prayer, fasting and meditation.
In , with India still under the firm control of the British, Gandhi had a political reawakening when the newly enacted Rowlatt Act authorized British authorities to imprison people suspected of sedition without trial. In response, Gandhi called for a Satyagraha campaign of peaceful protests and strikes. Violence broke out instead, which culminated on April 13, , in the Massacre of Amritsar.
Troops led by British Brigadier General Reginald Dyer fired machine guns into a crowd of unarmed demonstrators and killed nearly people. Gandhi became a leading figure in the Indian home-rule movement. Calling for mass boycotts, he urged government officials to stop working for the Crown, students to stop attending government schools, soldiers to leave their posts and citizens to stop paying taxes and purchasing British goods.
Rather than buy British-manufactured clothes, he began to use a portable spinning wheel to produce his own cloth. The spinning wheel soon became a symbol of Indian independence and self-reliance. Gandhi assumed the leadership of the Indian National Congress and advocated a policy of non-violence and non-cooperation to achieve home rule.
After British authorities arrested Gandhi in , he pleaded guilty to three counts of sedition.
Reza ningtyas lindh biography of mahatma gandhi
Although sentenced to a six-year imprisonment, Gandhi was released in February after appendicitis surgery. When violence between the two religious groups flared again, Gandhi began a three-week fast in the autumn of to urge unity. He remained away from active politics during much of the latter s. Wearing a homespun white shawl and sandals and carrying a walking stick, Gandhi set out from his religious retreat in Sabarmati on March 12, , with a few dozen followers.
By the time he arrived 24 days later in the coastal town of Dandi, the ranks of the marchers swelled, and Gandhi broke the law by making salt from evaporated seawater. The Salt March sparked similar protests, and mass civil disobedience swept across India. Approximately 60, Indians were jailed for breaking the Salt Acts, including Gandhi, who was imprisoned in May At the age of 11, he went to a high school in Rajkot.
Because of his wedding, at least about one year, his studies were disturbed and later he joined and completed his schooling. He joined Samaldas college in Bhavnagar in at Gujarat. Later, one of his family friends Mavji Dave Joshi pursued further studies i. Gandhiji was not satisfied with his studies at Samaldas College and so he became excited by the London proposal and managed to convince his mother and wife that he will not touch non-veg, wine, or women.
In the year , Mahatma Gandhi left for London to study law. Thereafter 10 days after arrival, he joined the Inner Temple, one of the four London law colleges, and studied and practiced law. In London, he also joined a Vegetarian Society and was introduced to Bhagavad Gita by some of his vegetarian friends. Later, Bhagavad Gita set an impression and influenced his life.
In May he went to South Africa to work as a lawyer. There he had a first-hand experience of racial discrimination when he was thrown out of the first-class apartment of the train despite holding the first-class ticket because it was reserved for white people only and no Indian or black was allowed to travel in the first class. This incident had a serious effect on him and he decided to protest against racial discrimination.
He further observed that this type of incident was quite common against his fellow Indians who were derogatorily referred to as coolies. In a short period, Gandhi became a leader of the Indian community in South Africa. Tirukkural ancient Indian literature, originally written in Tamil and later translated into various languages. Gandhiji was also influenced by this ancient book.
Gandhi called for a nationwide Satyagraha against the act. It was Rowlatt Satyagraha that elevated Gandhi into a national leader. Rowlatt Satyagraha was against the unjust Rowlatt Act passed by the British. On April 13th, the Jallianwala Bagh incident took place. Seeing the violence spread Mahatma Gandhi called off the civil disobedience movement on the 18th of April.
Gandhi convinced the congress leaders to start a Non-Cooperation Movement in support of Khilafat as well as Swaraj. At the congress session of Nagpur in , the non-cooperation program was adopted. After the non-cooperation movement ended, Gandhi withdrew from the political platform and focused on his social reform work. Gandhi declared that he would lead a march to break the salt law as the law gave the state the Monopoly on the manufacturer and the sale of salt.
Gandhi along with his followers marched from his ashram in Sabarmati to the coastal town of Dandi in Gujarat where they broke the government law by gathering natural salt and boiling seawater to produce salt. Gandhi accepted the truce offered by Irwin and called off the civil disobedience movement and agreed to attend the second round table conference in London as the representative of the Indian National Congress.
But when he returned from London he relaunched the civil disobedience movement but by it had lost its momentum. This was a pact reached between B. R Ambedkar and Gandhi concerning the communal awards but in the end, strived to achieve a common goal for the upliftment of the marginalized communities of the Indian society. Gandhi returned to active politics in with the Lucknow session of Congress where Jawaharlal Nehru was the president.
The outbreak of World war II and the last and crucial phase of national struggle in India came together. Gandhi was arrested and held at Aga Khan Palace in Pune. During this time his wife Kasturba died after 18 months of imprisonment and in Gandhi suffered a severe malaria attack. He was released before the end of the war on 6th May World war II was nearing an end and the British gave clear indications that power would be transferred to Indians hence Gandhi called off the struggle and all the political prisoners were released including the leaders of Congress.
While he and Congress demanded the British quit India the Muslim league demanded to divide and quit India. Gandhiji did not celebrate the independence and end of British rule but appealed for peace among his countrymen. He was never in agreement for the country to be partitioned. His demeanour played a key role in pacifying the people and avoiding a Hindu-Muslim riot during the partition of the rest of India.
Gandhiji was on his way to address a prayer meeting in the Birla House in New Delhi when Nathuram Godse fired three bullets into his chest from close range killing him instantly. Throughout his life, in his principles practices, and beliefs, he always held on to non-violence and simple living. He influenced many great leaders and the nation respectfully addresses him as the father of the nation or Bapu.
He worked for the upliftment of untouchables and called them Harijan meaning the children of God. Gandhian Philosophy inspired millions of people across the world. Hence, his impact on the global stage is still very profound. Gandhiji was a prolific writer and he has written many articles throughout his life. Enroll Now. Around 1 million aspirants learn from the ClearIAS every month.
In , after the Transvaal government passed an ordinance regarding the registration of its Indian population, Gandhi led a campaign of civil disobedience that would last for the next eight years. During its final phase in , hundreds of Indians living in South Africa, including women, went to jail, and thousands of striking Indian miners were imprisoned, flogged and even shot.
Finally, under pressure from the British and Indian governments, the government of South Africa accepted a compromise negotiated by Gandhi and General Jan Christian Smuts, which included important concessions such as the recognition of Indian marriages and the abolition of the existing poll tax for Indians. He supported the British war effort in World War I but remained critical of colonial authorities for measures he felt were unjust.
He backed off after violence broke out—including the massacre by British-led soldiers of some Indians attending a meeting at Amritsar—but only temporarily, and by he was the most visible figure in the movement for Indian independence. The iconic Indian activist, known for his principle of nonviolent resistance, had humble beginnings and left an outsized legacy.
As part of his nonviolent non-cooperation campaign for home rule, Gandhi stressed the importance of economic independence for India. He particularly advocated the manufacture of khaddar, or homespun cloth, in order to replace imported textiles from Britain. Invested with all the authority of the Indian National Congress INC or Congress Party , Gandhi turned the independence movement into a massive organization, leading boycotts of British manufacturers and institutions representing British influence in India, including legislatures and schools.