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.

Opponents

Throughout the Gandhi Era (1918-1948), there were many political leaders who fought for India's freedom but did not share Gandhi's views, and sometimes outrightly opposed them. Such leaders included Subhas Chandra Bose, who sided openly with Germany and Japan in World War II and organized the Indian National Army to militarily liberate India from colonial rule. Mohammad Ali Jinnah was opposed to Gandhi's satyagraha methodology, and became the leader of Muslim separatists. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was a Hindu fundamentalist, who was implicated in the assassination of the Mahatma.

Related Topics:
Subhas Chandra Bose - Germany - Japan - World War II - Indian National Army - Mohammad Ali Jinnah - Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gandhi's own entrance into Indian politics was greeted with skepticism over his work in South Africa. When he introduced Satyagraha as a methodology of revolution, Gandhi was opposed by the leading Indian revolutionaries of the earliest years: Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Annie Besant and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Yet Gandhi was of the new generation of Indian nationalists, and his rise inevitable due to the empowerment the common man felt from non-violent resistance.

Related Topics:
South Africa - Bal Gangadhar Tilak - Bipin Chandra Pal - Annie Besant - Muhammad Ali Jinnah

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Indian heroes like Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad also did not meet with Gandhi's approval, who absolutely despised violent means of gaining freedom. But Gandhi always admired the courage of revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh and Azad, and strongly protested the execution sentence handed to them. When their differing approaches were brought up, Gandhi always openly encouraged everybody to abandon violence and remain united, to prevent the British from justifying repression and dividing the Indian political leaders. There were never harsh words from Gandhi for anybody, even when he was on the receiving end of some terrible criticism. For example, Subhas Bose had repeatedly declared from Europe that Gandhi's leadership had failed. Jinnah called him a hypocrite, and openly accused him of suppressing Muslims. And Savarkar attacked him as being a "traitor" by conceeding Pakistan and mollycoddling Muslims at the expense of Hindus.

Related Topics:
Bhagat Singh - Chandrashekhar Azad

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

To Gandhi, men like Subhas Bose, Jinnah and Bhagat Singh were all Indians, and thus partners in the freedom struggle. Even at the height of the tensions between the Congress and the Muslim separatists, Gandhi never refrained from openly talking to Jinnah, calling him "my brother." After Pakistan was created, Gandhi had planned to visit to heal the wounds of partition, and re-create an atmosphere of friendship and goodwill, instead of the mistrust and hatred that poisoned inter-community and inter-nation relations for decades after Gandhi.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When the World War ended and the INA surrendered to the British, Gandhi openly lauded their bravery and encouraged the Congress to itself take up the work of rehabilitating INA soldiers, supporting the families of the soldiers and honoring their sacrifices.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

To his direct and main opponents, the British, Gandhi was always most gracious and civil. While he was the victim of Raj propaganda attempting to defame him and break up the freedom fighters, Gandhi's image in the United Kingdom proper was of a holy man, a lovable, saint-like gentle soul. When he traveled to England in 1931, he was lovingly greeted by Lancashire textile workers, whose produced goods he had himself advocated to be burned in India. The working English, if not their government, understood how the manufactures were hurting poor Indians, and that Gandhi wanted friendship with the British, but only on equal terms and with a free India.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~