South Asia: Creating Dilemmas of Diversity - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 176

Gandhi, who came to lead the Congress movement,
launched three mass campaigns of civil disobedience in
1920, 1930, and 1942. These marches, sit-downs, boy-
cotts, and blockades resulted in retaliatory violence and
imprisonment for thousands. But the British did make
concessions. In 1932, they began recruiting Indian mili-
tary officers. In 1935, the Government of India Act and a
new constitution put the power of 11 states in the hands
of Indian representatives. Indians moved into higher
ranks of the civil service. In sports, science, and litera-
ture, Indians began receiving world recognition—
Olympic gold medals and Nobel Prizes.
In 1929, Gandhi nominated Jawaharlal Nehru
(1889-1964) to succeed him as leader of the Congress
movement. The dynamic, Western-educated Nehru,
who could eloquently express his empathy for the
Hindu masses, would eventually become India' s first
prime minister.
The only serious rival to Congress was the Muslim
League, founded in the Bengali city of Dhaka. It was led by
European-educated Muhammed Ali Jinnah (1876-1949),
who believed that Muslims and Hindus had evolved
as “two nations.” As Nehru' s Hindus gained power,
thousandof Muslims joined the League. With Nehru' s
refusal to recognize Jinnah as the spokesperson for all
Muslims, an attempt at power sharing failed. Jinnah then
turned to convincing Muslims that a Congress election
victory would be a Hindu victory .
World War II (1939-1945) was the final catalyst
in bringing about India' s independence from Britain.

1914, he abandoned his European dress and
adopted the lifestyle of a saddhu. T Traveling far and
wide, he used traditional Hindu values such as
ahimsa to spread the concept of peaceful, mass
protest against British oppression (Figure 6-17). He
employed traditional symbols such as the spinning
wheel to rebuild an Indian sense of nationalism.
Jawaharlal Nehru, in his autobiography
(1942), said that Gandhi was “like a beam of
light that pierced the darkness.” Moreover, rather
than direct from the top down, “He seemed to
emerge from the millions in India . . . and the
essence of his teaching was fearlessness and
truth.” Gandhi' s notion of nonviolence was not
simply the absence of violence; compassion and
responsibility for the welfare of others were vital
components of the concept.
Gandhi spoke out against Hindu-Muslim ani-
mosities as well as violence against women. He
pointed to male chauvinism as being responsible
for the genesis of sati . He abhorred the inequities of
the caste system and as we noted earlier, he said
that untouchables should be called harijans : chil-
dren of God. Beloved by the masses and many polit-
ical leaders, he was given the title Mahatma,
meaning Great Soul. Mahatma Gandhi was instru-
mental in bringing about India' s independence from
Britain. He is often referred to as the “Father of In-
dependent India.”

Figure 6-17
This Delhi sign shows Gandhi promoting vegetari-
anism. Note that the sign mentions ahimsa —the
sanctity of all forms of life. Note also the use of
both Hindi and English. Photograph courtesy of
B. A. W eightman.