Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Mahatma Gandhi
One of the great figures of the 20th century, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2
October 1869 in Porbandar, Gujarat. After studying in London (1888-91), he worked as a
barrister in South Africa. Here, the young Gandhi became politicised, railing against the
discrimination he encountered. He soon became the spokesman for the Indian community
and championed equality for all.
Gandhi returned to India in 1915 with the doctrine of ahimsa (nonviolence) central to his
political plans, and committed to a simple and disciplined lifestyle. He set up the Sabarmati
Ashram in Ahmedabad, which was innovative for its admission of Untouchables (the low-
est caste Dalits).
Within a year, Gandhi had won his first victory, defending farmers in Bihar from exploit-
ation. It's said that this was when he first received the title 'Mahatma' (Great Soul) from an
admirer. The passage of the discriminatory Rowlatt Acts (which allowed certain political
cases to be tried without juries) in 1919 spurred him to further action and he organised a
national protest. In the days that followed this hartal (strike), feelings ran high throughout
the country. After the massacre of unarmed protesters in Amritsar (Punjab), a deeply
shocked Gandhi immediately called off the movement.
By 1920 Gandhi was a key figure in the Indian National Congress, and he coordinated a
national campaign of noncooperation or satyagraha (passive resistance) to British rule, with
the effect of raising nationalist feeling while earning the lasting enmity of the British. In
early 1930 Gandhi captured the imagination of the country, and the world, when he led a
march of several thousand followers from Ahmedabad to Dandi on the coast of Gujarat. On
arrival, Gandhi ceremoniously made salt by evaporating sea water, thus publicly defying
the much-hated salt tax; not for the first time, he was imprisoned. Released in 1931 to rep-
resent the Indian National Congress at the second Round Table Conference in London, he
won the hearts of many British people but failed to gain any real concessions from the gov-
ernment.
Disillusioned with politics, he resigned his parliamentary seat in 1934. He returned spec-
tacularly to the fray in 1942 with the Quit India campaign, in which he urged the British to
leave India immediately. His actions were deemed subversive and he and most of the Con-
gress leadership were imprisoned.
In the frantic Independence bargaining that followed the end of WWII, Gandhi was
largely excluded and watched helplessly as plans were made to partition the country - a
