Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2 1869–January 30, 1948) (Devanagari: ??????? ??????? ?????, Gujarati મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી) was a national icon who led the struggle for India's independence from British colonial rule, empowered by tens of millions of common Indians. Throughout his life he opposed any form of terrorism or violence, instead using only the highest moral standards. His philosophy of nonviolence, for which he coined the term satyagraha, has influenced national and international nonviolent resistance movements to this day, including the American Civil Rights Movement led by Martin Luther King.

Legacy

India's independence was not won by Gandhi alone, but by the work and sacrifice of 100 million Indians over three to four generations. Gandhi himself stated that "truth and non-violence are as old as the hills" and that he had taught nothing new to the world. Mahatma Gandhi's biggest contributions to India and the world were:

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The universal weapon

Gandhi was a simple, frail and timid-looking man. He had not been a distinguished student or great professional. Yet he led a rebellion of 300 million people from the front and tore down the British Empire. Gandhi gave the universal weapon of Satyagraha to ordinary human beings to fight injustice, tyranny and oppression. It did not require men becoming armed militants and leading the lives of the hunted. It instead gave voice and strength to the poorest farmers, the most downtrodden of a huge society, the youngest of men and women and the most timid housewife. Gandhi helped a silent nation that had suffered through 1,000 years of tyranny, oppression and invasion, to stand up for themselves, their beliefs and way of life, and tear down a world-wide empire.

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The making of a nation

Before Gandhi, the Congress Party itself had been segregated by caste and ethnicity. Language differences and religious antagonism made it a body of talk, not action or results. It claimed to represent a country united only in poverty and ignorance. Elitist lawyers from Delhi and Mumbai made up its office-bearers, speakers and leaders.

Related Topics:
Delhi - Mumbai

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In reality, India had not been united since Emperor Ashoka over 1,500 years ago. It had seen over 1,000 years of oppression, tyranny and invasion, new rulers coming and going. None had touched or changed the lives of the people.

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The Rebellion of 1857 touched something deep in many common Indians, but failed to do anything more. It was Gandhi who created the first-ever nationwide organization truly representative of the common Indians. It contained men and women of all religions, 18 different language groups and from the poorest villages of the farthest corners of the Indian subcontinent. And all these Indians, numbering in the tens of millions, were united in a nationwide struggle for something called freedom and democracy.

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In his famous attire of loincloth and shawl, Gandhi instantly struck a chord with the hundreds of millions of people who thought he was one of them. He talked in the native language, inspiring the common man to feel he belonged to something called a nation.

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Gandhi made this Indian National Congress fight for the causes of common man: he led the fights against poverty, alcoholism, illiteracy, disease while simultaneously fighting the British. He knew there could be no freedom when a system of slavery remained a part of Hindu society, called untouchability. He gave voice to Muslim and Hindu women, and brought Muslims and Hindus together for the first time in history in a peaceful and righteous common cause. And above all, he made them work together for something common, and develop a common sense of identity and brotherhood.

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Gandhi's all-cultures, egalitarian, democratic organization laid the foundation for a nation that would genuinely be free, and where all religions, ethnic and linguistic groups would have genuine respect, love and brotherhood for one another.

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It may be too much to say he made a nation, for India is as timeless and boundless as the whole world itself. But he did something, without which there would be no one country but 500, and no real freedom for the so-called common Indian. All 350 million of them.

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