Mohandas Gandhi is considered the father of the Indian independence movement. Gandhi spent twenty years in South Africa working to fight discrimination. It was there that he created his concept of satyagraha, a non-violent way of protesting against injustices. While in India, Gandhi's obvious virtue, simplistic lifestyle, and minimal dress endeared him to the people. He spent his remaining years working diligently to both remove British rule from India as well as to better the lives of India's poorest classes. Many civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., used Gandhi's concept of non-violent protest as a model for their own struggles.
He is regarded as the father of India. He led a boycott on British goods like cotton, and was part of the Indian National Congress. He inspired people like Martin Luther King to hold rallies for freedom in a peaceful manner.
With the nickname, “Apostle of Peace,” Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi taught all following generations what “peaceful fighting” can accomplish. Time and other cultures have produced great leaders that have continues Gandhi’s goals of peaceful resistance.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Mohandas Gandhi was a peace maker from India. He influenced others to be strong influencers on world peace. Gandhi was a political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement. The nonviolence concept helped India to gain independence, and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. He is officially honoured in India as the Father of the Nation; his birthday, 2 October, is commemorated there as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and worldwide as the International Day of Non-Violence. Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948 by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu Nationalist.
Gandhi became a leader in a difficult struggle, the Indian campaign for home rule. He believed and dedicated his life to demonstrating that both individuals and nations owe it to themselves to stay free, and to allow the same freedom to others. Gandhi was one of the gentlest of men, a devout and almost mystical Hindu, but he had and iron core of determination. Nothing could change his convictions. Some observers called him a master politician. Others believed him a saint.
The person who will head the list of people for their contribution to India it will be none other than Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Not just because he is the Father of the Nation but his immense contribution to the country not just in terms of struggle for freedom but his ideologies and thoughts which changed the map of our country. When he took the charge of Indian National Congress it was a turning point in its history due to his enormous following, his spiritual powers and his non-violent means of fighting. Gandhi introduced the concept of Satyagraha. Which appealed to the common masses who were largely pious and religious. Gandhi adhered to a strictly non-violent protest. No matter what happened he never diverted from his ideologies and every time he was successful. Gandhiji always followed the path of non-violence or Ahimsa. His tactic of passive resistance or Satyagraha was his weapon to fight against the British rule. Swaraj for Gandhi meant self-rule, as much a moral and personal ethic, the self-rule of an individual over his own impulses and weaknesses, as the political objective of a people struggling rightfully to be free - an ambiguity which Gandhi was repeatedly to exploit during his Non-cooperation and Civil Disobedience Movements.
Gandhiji and his ideologies were quite successful among the common masses. He planned to win leadership of those organizations, which fitted his grand purpose, the achievement of Swaraj. Gandhiji made very valuable contribution, firstly, to frame the secular agenda within the parameters of the Indian cultural tradition, and subscribed to the dictum of Sarva dharma sambhava i.e. equal respect for all religions. Secondly, he gave an indigenous content to the concept of nationhood, arguing that it was the common heritage of a highly pluralistic, multicultural civilisation, which provided the necessary clue to hold the Indian people together, as against the Western concept of 'nations' being one race, one religion and one language. He always believed in the idea of 'unity' in diversity. All his life he battled against the cult of violence and war; against cruelty of man to man; against industrialism and domination of man by machine; inequality and discrimination. His fight to give equal rights to each and every person of the society irrespective of which strata they belong made him immortal among us. He tried to attained moksha by service to mankind. Gandhiji portrays a multi-faceted moral and spiritual messiah. His tireless endeavor to make people understand the basic happiness of life is to be happy with whatever you have, thus showing the only way to save the world.
He lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven from yarn that he had spun by hand himself. He ate simple vegetarian food, experimented for a time with a fruitarian diet, and undertook long fasts as a means of both self-purification and social protest. He was a leader during World War 1. In April 1918, during the latter part of World War I, the Viceroy invited Gandhi to a War Conference in Delhi Perhaps to show his support for the Empire and help his case for India's independence, where he agreed to the support. Gandhi had several pace making skills and a list of ideas titled to create world peace.
His first belief was giving the word of truth, Gandhi dedicated his life to the wider purpose of discovering the truth. He tried to achieve this by learning from his own mistakes and conducting experiments on himself. He called his autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth. Gandhi stated that the most important battle to fight was overcoming his own demons, fears, and insecurities. Gandhi summarized his beliefs first when he said "God is Truth". He would later change this statement to "Truth is God". Thus, Satya (Truth) in Gandhi's philosophy is "God.
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