Mohan Das Karamchand GANDHI, is regarded as the
father of nation in India. He was a leader of the
Indian nationalist movement against British rule. In the eyes of millions
of his countrymen, he was the Mahatma, the great soul. Internationally he
is esteemed for his doctrine of
nonviolent protest to achieve political and social progress. Gandhi was indeed
the greatest leader of the Indian nationalist movement.
In fact, he can be regarded as a great leader of all major revolutions of the 20th century: the revolutions
against colonialism, racism, and violence. Gandhi
was born on October 2, 1869, in Porbander, Gujarat, India in a devout
Hindu family. He was the youngest child of Karamchand Gandhi's fourth wife
Putlibai. Karamchand, his
father, was the chief minister of Porbandar, Gujarat, in
western India, under the British rule. As a student Gandhi was not much
brilliant. However, he had been religious and driven by a sense of
morality since his early school days.
Gandhi's mother was thoroughly dedicated to her religion. And followed
all rites strictly. Thus Gandhi was brought up in an environment where
things, such as, ahimsa
(non injury to all living beings),
vegetarianism, fasting for self-purification, and mutual tolerance had
been taken for granted.
After finishing school Gandhi had been to London to major in Law. He came
back to India to be practice Law. However, he had to set sail for
South Africa for a better professional career. This is where he got
involved in political movements. Soon Gandhi took the lead in organizing
protests against the injustices of the South African Government. When
Gandhi finally came back to India he was already a popular political
leader. He joined the Indian National Congress and led the nationalist
movement.
Gandhi devised certain disciplines in lifestyle to equip himself for
service of the causes to which he was totally committed. And he observed
them in his food habit, sleep, thought, prayer, and daily activities.
Gandhi had been a die hard preacher for non-violent protests. He also
followed certain dietary thoughts and ideas, believed in nature cure,
and prescribed moral austerity, a quest for truth, and a
complete refusal of the pleasures of the flesh. Though many of his of his political colleagues accepted
nonviolence as a creed, very few of them followed his other thoughts and
ideas.
Gandhi had been a great mediator and reconciler. And all through his
political career he mediated to resolve the conflicts between the older
moderate politicians and the young radicals, the political terrorists and
the parliamentarians, the urban intelligentsia and the rural masses, the
traditionalists and the modernists, the caste Hindus and the untouchables,
the Hindus and the Muslims, and the Indians and the British.
He wrote copiously; the
collected edition of his writings runs to more than 80 volumes.
Much of what he wrote was in response to the needs of his co-workers
and disciples and the exigencies of the political situation, but on
fundamentals, he maintained a remarkable consistency, as is evident from
the Hind Swaraj ("Indian Home Rule") published in South
Africa in 1909.
Gandhi
dreamt of having an independent India. And he had it. But not the way he,
or most of the Indians, wanted. India gained Independence after
compromising a division. And it was one of the greatest disappointments of
Gandhi's life that Indian freedom was realized without Indian unity. Still
he fought to the last for an independent united India. He even went on a
fast when persuasion failed. But nothing materialized. And unfortunately
Gandhi was held responsible for all the consequences. He was shot down to death by a Hindu fanatic in Delhi, on January 30, 1948, a few months after Independence. In recent years Gandhi's name has been invoked by the organizers of numerous demonstrations and movements. Gandhi won the affection and loyalty of gifted men and women, old and young, with vastly dissimilar talents and temperaments; of Europeans of every religious persuasion; and of Indians of almost every political line. Great scientist, like Albert Einstein, great economist like Gunnar Myrdal, and the social activist like Martin Luther King, Jr. were all his admirers. In a time of deepening social disturbances and unrest ness all over the world, Gandhi's ideas and techniques seems to be more relevant. |