Mahatma Gandhi Information
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869 - January 30, 1948) was a leading figure and philosopher in India's freedom struggle. He is known as Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi led India to independence through non-violent non-cooperation movements. He inspired the whole world to achieve freedom through non-violent means. Rabindranath Tagore was the first to give him the title 'Mahatma' (meaning: Great Soul). People in India affectionately call him Bapu and he is unofficially called the Father of the Nation of India. Subhash Chandra Bose He was first called the 'Father of the Nation' in 1944. Gandhi was the father of the idea of civil satyagraha. His birthday, October 2, is celebrated in India as Gandhi Jayanti and around the world as the International Day of Non-Violence. This day is a public holiday in India.
Gandhi first used satyagraha based on the principles of non-cooperation and non-violence in South Africa to give Indians their civil rights. On his return to India in 1915, he rallied the farmers of Champaran to fight against oppressive taxes and landlords. After taking over the reins of the Indian National Congress in 1921, he launched a nationwide movement for poverty alleviation, economic independence, equal rights for women, inter-religious equality, abolition of untouchability and most importantly, self-government. Gandhi was a lifelong opponent of communalism (politicizing sects) and reached out to all religions and sects in large numbers. He supported the declining Khilafat movement and became the leader of the Muslims. In protest against the salt tax imposed by the British in 1930, thousands of Indians marched 400 km. Represented in (250 miles) long Dandi Yatra. In 1942, he started the Quit India Movement against the British. He was often imprisoned in India as well as in South Africa for these and other reasons.
Throughout his life, Gandhi advocated the principles of truth and non-violence, lived by them himself, and suggested that others do the same. He saw villages as the origin of true India and rewarded self-sufficiency. Winston Churchill of Britain denounced him as a "half-naked fakir" in 1930. He lived a simple life of self-spinning cotton dhoti and shawl. He adopted a vegetarian diet and often fasted as a means of self-purification and political movement. In his last years, Gandhi, plagued by India-Pakistan partition, tried to stop Hindu-Muslim riots.
Early period
Gandhi was born on October 2, this year. Born on this day in 1869 in the city of Porbandar in present day Gujarat. His father's name was Karamchand and his mother's name was Putlibai. Karamchand Gandhi was the Diwan of Porbandar in the then Kathewad province. His grandfather's name was Uttamchand Gandhi. He was also called Utta Gandhi. Putalibai was Karamchand's fourth wife. The previous three wives had died during childbirth. Childhood in a very religious environment has a great impact on Gandhiji's later life. In particular, the seeds of non-violence, vegetarianism, tolerance, compassion for others were sown during this period. Due to his mother, Mohandas was influenced by Jain concepts and practices. Mohandas had a profound effect on Shravanbal and Harishchandra in ancient literature. In his autobiography, he admits that these two stories had an indelible effect on his mind. He writes, "He struck me and I must have treated myself like Harishchandra countless times."
In 1883, at the age of thirteen, he had a child marriage with Kasturba Makhanji. But according to the custom of the time, Kasturba stayed at his father's house for most of the time. In the process, Mohandas had to miss a year of schooling. He once said of his wedding day memories, "Since we don't know much about weddings, weddings are all about dressing up, eating sweets and playing with relatives."In 1885, when Gandhiji was 15 years old, he had his first child, but he lived a very short time. Earlier in the same year, his father Karamchand Gandhi had passed away. Later, Gandhiji and Kasturba had four more children. In 1888, Harilal, I.S. In 1892, Manilal, I.S. In 1897, Ramdas and I.S. Devdas in 1900.
He was an ordinary student in his primary education in Porbandar and secondary education in Rajkot. His annual exam report was as follows - "Good in English, good in arithmetic and poor in geography. Behavior is very good, handwriting is bad".
Barrister
After completing his schooling at the age of nineteen. In 1888 he went to London, England, to study law at University College. There he lived in the village of Inner Temple and studied Indian law and jurisprudence to become a barrister. Before leaving for England, he had promised his mother in the presence of a Jain monk that he would stay away from meat, women and bottles (alcohol), which he kept there. But they did not like the taste of sapak vegetarian food in London. And he went hungry many times until he found an Indian restaurant that was rare in London at that time. Gandhi tried to adopt English customs there. For example, teaching dance. He became a member of a vegetarian organization in England and soon became its president. Some of the vegetarians whom Gandhi met there were women members of the Theosophical Society. He encouraged Gandhi to come and meet him and read the translated and original Bhagavad Gita. Gandhi, who was not interested in religious matters before, started taking interest in religious matters.
After studying law in England, he became a barrister and returned to India to practice law. He left England and returned to India in 1891. Upon his arrival in India, he learned that his mother had died while he was in London, and his family hid the news from him. His plan to set up a law practice in Mumbai was not successful as he was too shy to speak in court. He returned to Rajkot to begin a simple life of drafting lawsuits, but had to stop working against a British official. In 1893, he signed a one-year contract with Dada Abdullah of Natal (South Africa) in the then British Empire and a position in an Indian company called Company.
Living in South Africa
Gandhi spent 21 years of his life in South Africa, where he developed his political views, ethics and political leadership skills. Wealthy Muslims led by Indians in South Africa and poor Hindu Girmityas (?) With very few rights gave Gandhi a job. Throughout his life, Gandhi considered all of them to be Indians, with the view that 'Indianness' has permeated all religions and castes. He believed in himself that we could make historical differences, mainly in terms of religion, and he came to India with this belief. Here he tried to implement this belief.
In South Africa, Gandhi became aware of the disability of society. He realized that we were far from the intricacies of Indian religion and culture, and began to believe that he understood India by understanding and leading the Indians in South Africa.
In South Africa, Gandhi faced discrimination against non-Indians, experiencing unequal treatment of Indians there. Despite having a first-class ticket, he was asked by train officials in Pietermaritzburg to board a third-class coach. When Gandhiji refused, he was insulted and pushed out of the train. Gandhi spent the whole night in the guest room on the platform. (June 7, 1893). If Gandhi had decided, he could have punished the arrogant railway official. But it was not his intention to punish anyone with revenge, but to change the unjust system.
Next time, the driver hit the passengers for not waiting. They had to endure many hardships throughout the journey. They were evicted from several hotels. In Durban, a judge in Durban ordered them to remove their hats. Gandhi refused even then. These events turned his life upside down. After experiencing all this, Gandhi began to question his own place in society and the value of his people in the British Empire. Thus, in the face of racism and inequality against Indians, Gandhi began to speak out against this injustice and to establish his own place in society.
Gandhi extended his stay in South Africa for a while to help Indians who opposed the enactment of a law that would deprive Indians of the right to vote. Although he failed to repeal the law, his movement succeeded in drawing attention to the injustice done to Indians. He In 1894, he founded the Natal Indian Congress, which turned the scattered Indians in South Africa into a political party. After settling in India for some time in 1897, while descending on the gate, he was attacked by a mob of whites and tried to kill him. And only with the help of the wife of the superintendent of police was he released. His mouth was injured and two teeth were broken in the incident. But he refused to file a complaint in court. Going to court about personal harassment was not in their principles.
In 1906 the Transvaal government announced a new law. According to this law, every Indian was required to register himself. In a meeting called to oppose this, on September 11 of that year, Gandhi, for the first time, endorsed his still-evolving Satyagraha or non-violent system. He asked the Indian brothers to oppose the law in a non-violent manner and to endure the atrocities committed in doing so. The community responded to the call, and over the next seven years, thousands of Indians went on strike, refused to register, burned registration sheets, and engaged in similar non-violent activities, leading to imprisonment, flogging, and even bullets. Although the government successfully crushed the protests of the Indian protesters, South African leader John Christian Smuts, who was himself a philosopher, was forced to take note of this non-violent movement and popular uprising and negotiate with Gandhi. The South African government's crackdown on peaceful protesters has sparked outrage. Gandhi's ideas took shape and the concept of Satyagraha matured during this struggle.
In 1906, the British declared war on the Zulu kingdom at Christmas. Gandhi encouraged the British to recruit Indians to fight on the side of the British. He argued that Indians needed the support of the British to validate their claim to full citizenship. The British accepted Gandhi's demand. And let a detachment of 20 Indian volunteers go. The detachment was responsible for transporting wounded soldiers on stretchers for treatment. This detachment was under the control of Gandhi. The team worked for less than two months. From this experience he learned that it was frustrating to openly appeal to the inevitable growing military might of the British - he decided that it could only be countered by such a sacred non-violent method of heart. Then when the majority of black people come to power
When he arrived, Gandhi was declared a national hero in various monuments.
Freedom struggle
In 1915, Gandhiji returned to India permanently. He had an international reputation as a leading Indian nationalist, theorist and organizer. He spoke at several meetings of the Indian National Congress. Gopal Krishna Gokhale introduced him to the real politics and problems of India. Gopal Krishna Gokhale was then a prominent leader in the Indian National Congress. Gokhale was known for his patience, balance and insistence on working within the system. Even today, he is known as Gandhiji's political guru. Gandhi followed Gokhale's liberal approach based on British traditions, and changed it to look completely Indian. After the death of Lokmanya Tilak in 1920, he became the main leader of the National Assembly.
Gandhi took over the leadership of the Congress in 1920. After that, on January 26, 1930, the Congress declared India's independence, constantly increasing the demands (stopping and compromising in some places). More and more negotiations took place and the British did not recognize this until the Congress joined the provincial government in 1930. When the Viceroy declared war on Germany in September 1939 without consulting anyone, Gandhi and the Congress withdrew their support for the British government. Tensions continued to rise until Gandhi demanded immediate independence in 1942 and the British government responded by imprisoning him and millions of Congress leaders. The Muslim League, meanwhile, co-operated with Britain, and in the face of Gandhi's fierce opposition, demanded a completely independent Muslim nation, Pakistan. In 1947, the British divided the land and India and Pakistan gained separate independence on the terms that Gandhi rejected.
Role in the First World War
In April 1918, in the aftermath of World War I, the Viceroy summoned Gandhi to a war conference in Delhi. Perhaps Gandhi's intention was to show his support for the British Empire and to get help for India's demand for independence. Gandhi showed readiness to actively engage Indians in war. Against the backdrop of the Zulu War of 1906 and World War I of 1914, this time when he recruited volunteers for the ambulance force, he tried to recruit warriors. In an appeal to become an Indian in the army, published in June 1918, Gandhi said, It is our duty to enlist in the army if we want to be aware, "he said in a letter to the viceroy's private secretary.
Gandhi's recruitment drive called into question his homogeneity about non-violence. His friend Charlie Andrews notes - "Personally, I've never been able to reconcile this behavior with their own. It's one of the issues that I've painfully disagreed with."
Champaran and Kheda
Gandhiji's first major achievement came in 1918 during the Satyagraha in Champaran and Kheda. The landlords of Champaran, Bihar, who were mainly British, were forcing the local farmers to produce indigo. They were not getting proper compensation. As a result, they lived in constant poverty. Farmers' villages were kept very dirty and unhealthy. There were also many problems in these villages like alcohol, untouchability, curtain method. The emphasis was on the famine, but the British still imposed many oppressive taxes and it was increasing. The situation was no different in the villages of Gujarat. Gandhiji built an ashram there. There he gathered all his followers, young and old. They gathered information about the situation in the area and studied it thoroughly. Taking the villagers into confidence, he undertook the task of cleaning the village as well as building schools and hospitals. At the same time, he urged the village chiefs to destroy the above mentioned practices.
When the police arrested him on charges of creating unrest in the region and asked him to leave the area, Gandhiji's influence was felt. Thousands protested the arrest. They marched outside the jail, in front of the police station and in front of the court for Gandhiji's release. The court finally granted Nilaja his request. Gandhiji started a well-organized agitation against the landlords. As a result, the landlords passed a resolution under the guidance of the British government. Accordingly, farmers were given higher wages and the freedom to grow crops at their own discretion, as well as exempt from paying taxes as long as there was a drought. It was during this movement that people started referring to Gandhiji as "Bapu" and "Mahatma". In the village, Sardar Patel negotiated with the British on the side of the farmers. The tax was then repealed and all were released from prison. Due to this movement, Gandhiji's fame spread all over India.
Non-cooperation
Gandhi used non-cooperation, non-violence and peaceful protest as weapons against the British. In Punjab, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre sparked outrage and violent protests in many places. Gandhiji condemned both the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the subsequent violent protests. He moved a resolution expressing sympathy for the victims of the riots and condemning the riots. The resolution was initially opposed in Congress. But according to Gandhiji's principles, any kind of violence was a sin and could not be justified. The Congress accepted his resolution after his emotional speech outlining this principle. Their idea of complete self-government included complete personal, religious and political freedom.
December In 1921, Gandhiji was given full authority of the Indian National Congress. Under his leadership, the Congress was restructured in accordance with the new constitution. Whose main objective was - Swarajya. Party membership was open to all for a small fee. Committees were formed by category to enhance party discipline. This changed the face of the party which was perceived only for the upper castes and the Congress became the party representing the masses. Gandhiji added Swadeshi to the principle of non-violence. He called on all to boycott foreign - especially British - goods. According to this principle, all Indians were to use khadi instead of British clothing. Gandhiji insisted that every Indian man and woman, every poor and rich person, should spin a spinning wheel for some time of the day in support of the Indian freedom struggle. Along with the boycott of British goods, Gandhiji called for a boycott of British educational institutions, a renunciation of government jobs, and a renunciation of the honors and titles bestowed by the British.
The non-cooperation movement received an overwhelming response from all walks of life. But while the non-cooperation movement was in full swing, it was stopped. This was due to the violent turn taken by the movement in Chauri Chaura village in Uttar Pradesh. February 4 Police in riot gear stormed a rally on Friday, removing hundreds of protesters by truck. Police in riot gear stormed a rally on Friday, removing hundreds of protesters by truck. Three people were killed in the firing while 23 policemen were burnt to death in the police station. Gandhiji suspended the movement for fear of further violence. In 1922, Gandhi was arrested on charges of treason and sentenced to six years in prison. He was released in 1924 after serving two years in prison for appendix surgery.
While Gandhiji was in jail, the Congress began to split due to his lack of leadership. Eventually the Congress split into two factions. One group was led by Chittaranjan Das and Motilal Nehru. The group tended to participate in parliamentary proceedings. But it was opposed by another group led by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari and Sardar Patel. The growing unity between Hindus and Muslims during the movement was also gradually diminishing. Gandhi made several attempts to resolve these differences. In 1924, he fasted for three weeks. But these efforts have not met with much success.
Satyagraha of Swarajya and Mitha
For most of the 1920s, Gandhi stayed away from direct politics and focused on bridging the gap between the Swarajya Party and the Indian National Congress. During this time he continued his efforts to reduce untouchability, alcohol problems and poverty in the society. On the plate of politics, he Returned in 1928. A year ago, the British government set up a committee under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon to amend the constitution. There was not a single Indian member in this committee. For this reason, the Indian parties boycotted the committee. Gandhiji passed a resolution at the 1928 Congress session in Calcutta. It called on the British government to grant India sovereignty and warned that if it did not comply, the non-cooperation movement would be resumed. The demand for young leaders in the party like Subhash Chandra Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru was for immediate self-government. But Gandhiji gave the British government one year to respond. [8] The Indian flag was hoisted at the Lahore Convention in 1929. This day was celebrated by the Congress as Swarajya Din. Every little thora in the party celebrated this day. Gandhiji then in March In 1930, a satyagraha was declared against the salt tax and it resulted in the famous Dandi Yatra. The Yatra started from Ahmedabad on 12th March and reached Dandi on 6th April covering a distance of 400 km (250 miles). Thousands of Indians took part in the yatra. This yatra was one of the most successful attempts of the British to uproot India. The British later imprisoned more than 60,000 people.
Eventually, the British government, led by Lord Edward Irwin, decided to negotiate with Gandhi. March The Gandhi-Irwin Agreement was signed in 1931. Under the agreement, the British government agreed to release all Indian prisoners and demanded an end to the lawlessness movement. He also invited Gandhiji to the Round Table Conference in London as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress. The conference was disappointing for Gandhiji and the party, as it focused on the kings and princes and minorities in India rather than on independence. In addition, Lord Willingdon, who came after Irwin, continued his efforts to soften the nationalist movement. Gandhiji was arrested. It was a ploy to isolate them in order to reduce their influence on their followers. But their efforts were not successful.
In 1932, at the request of Babasaheb Ambedkar, the British government decided to give separate constituencies to Dalits. Against this, Gandhiji went on a six-day fast. This forced the British government to further divide the constituencies on the basis of equality. In these negotiations, the Dalit community (former cricketer) P. Passed through the mediation of Baloo. The agreement reached between Gandhiji and Ambedkar in Pune is called the Pune Agreement. From here, Gandhiji started working for the emancipation of Dalits. They called Dalits Harijans (God's people). May 8 In 1933, Gandhiji began a 21-day fast for the Dalit movement. His efforts were not so successful. He did not get enough support from the Dalit community. Ambedkar protested against calling Dalits Harijans. In his view, calling Dalits Harijans is tantamount to calling them socially immature, and that address seems to indicate that the upper castes are the parents of Dalits. Ambedkar and some of his colleagues felt that Gandhiji was depriving the Dalits of their political rights. Gandhiji believed that despite being a leader of the Dalit community like Ambedkar and a Vaishya himself, we could take the side of the Dalits.
In the summer of 1934, there were three unsuccessful assassination attempts on Gandhiji.
When the Congress decided to contest the elections and take power under the Federation framework, Gandhi resigned from his party membership. Gadhinji did not disagree with the party's decision. But he felt that if he resigned, his publicity among Indians, other communist, socialist, labor representatives, students, religious orthodox and business class representatives of the party would not prevent him from expressing his views to the public. Also, Gandhiji did not want to give another chance to the British to speak against him by leading the party (Congress) which had accepted his participation in the British government.
Gandhiji He returned to the party in 1936. At that time the party was holding a convention in Lucknow under the chairmanship of Jawaharlal Nehru. Gandhiji was of the view that the focus should be on how to achieve complete self-government before thinking about the future of India after independence. However, he did not oppose the party's decision to adopt a socialist policy. Subhash Chandra Bose, who was elected party president in 1938, and Gandhiji had many disputes. The root cause of Gandhiji's opposition was Subhash Chandra's distrust of non-violence. Despite Gandhiji's opposition, Bose was elected president for the second time in a row. But when Subhash Chandra Bose resigned from the presidency when many party leaders across the country resigned en masse on the grounds that these principles had been abandoned.
Books written by Gandhi
- Indian Home Rule
- Gandhiji's brief autobiography
- Gandhiji's life in his own words
- Gandhi Vichar Darshan: Ahimsavichar
- Gandhi Vichar Darshan: Politics
- Gandhi Vichar Darshan: Satyagraha Prayog
- Gandhi Vichar Darshan: Satyagraha Vichar
- Gandhi Vichar Darshan: The Birth Story of Satyagraha
- Gandhi Vichar Darshan: Harijan
- Moral religion
- Bhagavad Gita: From Gandhiji's Contemplation
- The India of my dreams
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