Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, also known as Mahatma (meaning Great Soul) Gandhi, or Bapuji (meaning ‘father’) is a name Indians all over the world are familiar with.
On 2nd October, Gandhi's birthday, we celebrate Gandhi Jayanti. On this day, we remember him, his deeds and his legacy. The United Nations also celebrates October 2nd as the International Day of Non-Violence.
In his lifetime, (born 2 October 1869 — died 30 January 1948) he was a lawyer, a politician, a social activist, a writer and later, the leader of the nationalist movement against British rule in India. He is considered the father of India and is most well-known for his doctrine of non-violent protest (satyagraha), which he used to achieve social and political progress when agitating against the British.
Gandhi was the youngest child of his father's (Karamchand Gandhi) fourth wife (Putlibai). As he grew older, his family began debating his future. Gandhi showed interest in becoming a doctor, but his family wanted him to keep up the tradition of holding a high legal office in one of the states of Gujrat (like his father) which meant he would need to qualify as a barrister.
In September 1888, he sailed to England to study law and joined the Inner Temple, one of the four London law colleges. During his stay in England he met socialists and humanitarians such as Edward Carpenter, “the British Thoreau”; Fabians such as George Bernard Shaw, and Theosophists such as Annie Besant. The ideas he was exposed to contributed to the shaping of his personality and, eventually, his politics.
Gandhi returned to India in July 1891 to find his mother had passed away and he faced difficulty in starting a career as a lucrative lawyer. He ended up making a modest living by drafting petitions for litigants in Rajkot, but that job was later closed to him when he earned the displeasure of a local British officer. He later accepted a year’s contract from an Indian firm in Natal, South Africa in 1893.
It was in South Africa that Gandhi became exposed to the racial discrimination practiced in the area. He learned about the daily humiliations his fellow Indians faced over there and experienced it first hand as well. One well known event is when he was thrown out of a first-class railway compartment even though he held a valid ticket. Another time he was beaten up by the white driver of a stagecoach when he refused to travel on the footboard in order to make room for a European passenger. He ended up spending over 20 years there, and began to become a prominent figure for the rights of his fellow Indians. It was during this time that he developed 'satyagraha', a then new way of redressing wrongs by inviting rather than inflicting suffering, and resisting those who went against him without violence. Gandhi left South Africa in July 1914 and after a long journey, which included a stop in England for a few months, he returned to India in January 1915.
In 1919, after the passing of the Rowlatt Acts, Gandhi announced a satyagraha struggle against British rule, which resulted in a political earthquake which grabbed hold of the entire subcontinent. By 1920, he became a dominant figure in the political stage. In December 1924, he was named president of the Congress Party, which he served for a year.
In March 1930, he began the Salt-March, a non-violent protest against the British salt tax. It was one of his most successful campaigns and led to the imprisonment of 60,000 people.
In 1934 Gandhi left the Congress party and began concentrating on his program to build the nation, "from the bottom up."
Gandhi became politically active again after the outbreak of World War II. In the summer of 1942, he demanded the immediate withdrawal of the British from India, which later became the Quit India Movement.
On 30th January 1948, soon after India had gained independence from British rule, he was shot down by Nathuram Godse, while on his way for his evening prayer.
Today, Gandhi's role has left a clear and deep mark in history, one which we Indians celebrate with pride every year on this day.