Funday Times

India – Leaders of Modern Times – Part 1
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
By Kamala Silva
Among the modern leaders of India, M.K. Gandhi stands out as an eminent figure. India has been fortunate, to have great leaders who worked untiringly to make the country an independent state.

Though frail and puny in body, Gandhi had a clear vision. He was greatly responsible for awakening in the oppressed people, a sense of their dignity and encouraged them to strive for their independence. His long struggle on behalf of the Indians of South Africa and his emergence later as a prophet of a new India have enshrined the name of Gandhi in the hearts of millions of Indians. He has won world renown by his doctrine of ‘Non-violence’.

Gandhi belongs to a high cast family who had held high positions in the political life of the state of Kathiawar. Gandhi was the youngest son of Kaba Gandhi and was born on October 2, 1869 at Porbandar. When he was about seven years old, the family left for Rajkot where his father was to take up work at the courts. Gandhi was married at the age of 13 and after an year’s break continued his studies at high school. When his father fell ill, he was his devoted attendant. His father’s death was a great blow to Gandhi. He even lost his first child. After the lapse of about a year or two, it was decided that Gandhi should proceed to England to study law. He sailed from Bombay in 1887, leaving behind a son, who was a few months old.

In London, he met Mrs. Besant and Madame Blavatsky. Through them, he developed an interest in Hindu sacred literature and turned his attention to Christianity too. After about four years of study in England, he was called to the bar and returned to India. He practised at Rajkot for a short spell and was then invited to South Africa, to help in an important law suit. In 1893, he went to South Africa for just one year but stayed on for over 20 years.

Many are the instances when Gandhi was humiliated by the British in South Africa. Once, when he was asked to remove the turban, as he entered the courts, he left the court room. Again when he was traveling on a 1st class ticket, he was ejected by force from the 1st class compartment. He was called the ‘coolie barrister’.

Observing how the Indians were suffering at the hands of the Europeans and experiencing doses of it himself, he thought of fighting for their rights. He tried to raise the living standards of the Indians in South Africa. During his stay of nearly 20 years in South Africa, he suffered imprisonment many a time. He taught a policy of passive resistance to and non-cooperation with the South African authorities. In formulating this policy, he was greatly influenced by the Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy, the teachings of Christ and the 19th century American writer Henry David Thoreau. To identify his movement, he coined the term ‘Satygraha’, which in Sanskrit means ‘truth and firmness’. During the Boer War, he organized an Ambulance Corps for the British army and commanded a Red Cross unit. After the war, he returned to India to campaign for Indian rights.

Gandhi became a leader in the struggle for home rule in India. Following the 1st World War, anti-British activities spread in India. When in 1920, the British soldiers massacred hundreds of Indians at Amritsar, Gandhi organized a campaign of non-cooperation. Indians in public office resigned, courts of law were boycotted and Indian children were withdrawn from government schools. Gandhi was arrested.

Gandhi in jail was a greater force than Gandhi out and so the British were forced to release him. He carried on a campaign of boycotting all British goods. Gandhi organized a bonfire of foreign cloth, when the Prince of Wales visited Bombay and aroused riots in Bombay. He was arrested and sentenced to six years imprisonment. He served the sentence in Yeravda jail in Poona. Gandhi is also famous for the fight against the salt laws. Gandhi was again arrested but the ‘hartal’ followed, in all important towns of India.

Gandhi is famous for having woven his own clothes. He thought that India must gain ‘Swaraj’, within or without the empire. He created Hindu – Muslim unity for this purpose. India gained independence in 1947 and it was on Gandhi’s advice that Jawaharlal Nehru was made the first Prime Minister of India. What a tragedy it was – when Gandhi was assassinated by a fanatic named Godse in 1948.

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