Mahatma Gandhi(1869-1948)
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born at Porbandar in Gujarat on October 2, 1869. His father, Karamchand Uttamchand, was Prime Minister of Porbandar and of Rajkot. Gandhiji was in school from 1881 to 1887. After spending nine months in college, he left for England in September 1888 to study law. He returned home in 1891 and set himself up as a lawyer. In 1893, Gandhiji was called to Natal in the service of a merchant named Seth Abdulla. Soon after arrival, he experienced in person the harsh treatment meted out to Indians by the whites. After an amicable settlement of his client's case, Gandhiji decided to return home in April 1894. But news appeared about a proposed legislation against Asian immigrants when he decided to stay on and defend his people. The struggle in South Africa lasted from 1894 to 1914 in three stages: 1894-99, 1902-06 and 1907-14. The weekly Indian Opinion (1903) became Gandhiji's chief organ of education and propaganda. In 1904 it was shifted to the Phoenix Settlement, 14 miles from Durban where a colony was established for the practice of an austere, egalitarian life, and where everyone contributed his share of manual labour for the service of the community. As constitutional, legal methods did not prove sufficient for the redress of the Indian grievances, Gandhiji eventually led a peaceful march into the Transvaal in defiance of the restrictions imposed. The civil resisters were subjected to severe punishment. A Satyagrahi Camp known as the Tolstoy Farm was established at Lawley, 21 miles from Johannesburg, on May 30, 1910, in order to shelter the satyagrahis and their families. Eventually, on June 30, 1914, the Government yielded and a settlement was arrived at. Gandhiji reached Bombay on January 9, 1915. After an interrupted stay in Santiniketan in February-March 1915, he collected his companions of Phoenix and established the Satyagraha Ashram in Ahmedabad city on May 25, 1915. This was shifted in June 1917 to the banks of the Sabarmati opposite the city. Between 1917 and 1918 Gandhiji participated in two peasant movements in Champaran (Bihar) am Kaira (Gujarat), and in the labour dispute in Ahmedabad itself. Through his intervention, all these were brought to a successful end. The proposal of the Rowlatt Bills designed to curb the rising tide of sedition started a new chapter in Gandhiji's political career. He reacted strongly to the oppressive measures. He founded the Satyagraha Sabha (February 28, 1919) whose members undertook a peaceful breach of the law of sedition in April 1919. The movement, however, did not remain peaceful for long; indisciplined crowds turned violent in several cities when Gandhiji cried a halt after what he had personally witnessed. In the meanwhile, meeting had also taken place in the Punjab, where the Government unleashed all its military fury on unarmed citizens. The end of the war also saw the dismemberment of the Khilafat (Caliphate). This hurt the Indian Muslim deeply. Gandhiji proposed that India should respond by non-violent non-cooperation. Gandhiji then prevailed upon the Indian National Congress to convert the redress of the triple wrongs - the Rowlatt Act, the Punjab atrocities and the Khilafat - as India's national demands. The Non-Cooperation Movement was consequently initiated in 1920. It was first adopted, at the Calcutta Session (September 1920) by a small majority and later at the Nagpur Session (December 1920) by an overwhelming majority. It is significant to note, however, that at the Amritsar Session (December 1919) Gandhiji had opposed those who wanted to reject the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms and had offered to cooperate with the Government. Gandhiji's triumph at the Nagpur Session of the Congress was historic. Many of those who had gone to oppose him were converted to his ideology and method of action. After Nagpur he emerged as the undisputed leaders of the Congress and Indian national and he retained that unique position till his death. After the assumption of command by Gandiji, the constitution of the Congress was recast by him and it was transformed into a fighting organization, whose means were 'legitimate and peaceful'. India was moreover reorganized into 21 Congress Provinces on the basis of language. The programme placed before the country was of the boycott of governmental institutions and of British textiles. On March 10, 1922, he was arrested and sent to gaol for six years. But after an operation, he was set free on February 5, 1924 before the expiry of his term. The sudden suspension of the civil disobedience movement brought not a little unpopularity to Gandhiji and gave a new turn to the Indian political situation. The short-lived Hindu-Muslim unity gave place to communal riots in many parts of the country, most of the Congress stalwarts under the name of Swarajists decided on Council entry and the programme of boycott of governmental institution was virtually abandoned. From 1924 to 1929, Gandhiji devoted himself largely to the constructive programme. Several local satyagraha movements were also undertaken. In 1924 Gandhiji was elected President of the Indian National Congress. He had already suggested labour-franchise for membership of the organization. The proposal was, however, not well received; and the gulf between him and the educated classes appeared to deepen. The lull was broken towards the end of the 'twenties by the appointment of the all-white Simon Commission, the Indian reply in the form of the All Parties Convention and the drafting of a Dominion Constitution and the resolution of the Congress in the Calcutta Session (December 1928) virtually giving an ultimatum to the British Government that if Dominion Status was not given by December 31, 1929 a countrywide Civil Disobedience Movement would be launched. No favourable response having been received by the stipulated date, on January 1, 1930 the Congress declared Independence to be its political objective and authorised the Working Committee to launch a Civil Disobedience Movement. Gandhiji was called back from seclusion to lead the movement again. Most significantly, Gandhiji chose the unpopular Salt Law which pressed hard on the poorest sections as the first object of defiance. His famous march to Dandi became a mass movement of open defiance of the Government. Gandhiji was arrested on May 4, 1930, and the Government struck hard to crush the movement. But it soon realised the futility of its policy of repression and decided to show a conciliatory attitude. So Gandhiji was set free on January 26, 1931; and following a pact between him and the British Viceroy, Lord Irwin (March 5, 1931), he was prevailed upon to represent the Congress at the Second Round Table Conference in London. Gandhiji was chosen as the sole representative of the Congress to the Conference, which opened in September 1931. He achieved nothing so far as his main political mission was concerned; but he succeeded in establishing genuine contacts with the people of England. On his return home on December 28, 1931, Gandhiji was comp1etely disillusioned about the attitude of the Government which had renewed its policy of ruthless repression. As a result the Civil Disobedience Movement was resumed in January 1932. Once more Gandhiji and all the leaders of the Congress were thrust into jail, and the Congress was declared unlawful. A reign of terror was let loose. Gandhiji was in prison when the Communal Award was announced in August 1932, providing for the introduction of separate electorates for the Depressed Classes. He opposed this attempt to divide the Hindu community and threatened to fast unto death to prevent it. He started his fast on September 20, 1932. It created consternation in the country, and the leaders of the Hindu community saved the situation by concluding an agreement which provided for special reservation of seats for the Depressed Classes in legislatures, but under joint electorate. The Civil Disobedience Movement continued for a few months more, but Gandhiji was getting more and more concerned about the question of untouchability. On May 8, 1933 he announced a fast for 21 days for the Harijan cause and he was promptly released by the Government. After coming out of prison Gandhiji devoted himself exclusively to the cause of the 'Harijans'. The weekly Harijan now took the place of the Young India which had served the national cause from 1919 to 1932. Gandhiji also now severed his formal connection with the Congress (September 17, 1934), although till his death in 1948 he was the acknowledged leader of the Congress and of Indian nationalism. After 1934 Gandhiji settled down in Sevagram near Wardha to form a new centre of his enlarged Constructive Programme. Although officially out of the Congress, Gandhiji's strong grip on the organisation was clearly demonstrated in 1938-39 during his dispute with Subhas Chandra Bose, the leader of the leftist or extremist group in the Congress. Subhas, no doubt, was elected President of the Congress for the second time in 1939 despite the almost open opposition of Gandhiji but the latter's triumph was swift and complete when within a few months Subhas resigned from the Congress to form the Forward Bloc. This controversy between Gandhiji and Subhas Babu was not only one of personality but also of ideology. The Allied reverses in the East and the failure of the Crippe Mission (1942) gave a new turn to the Indian political situation. Gandhiji advised the Congress to make a last bid for winning independence non-violently. It would be better for India to "Do or Die" than for her to succumb to passivity and moral degradation. The Working Committee and the AICC adopted the famous 'Quit India' resolution, demanding immediate independence and British withdrawal from India. Immediately after, all the Congress leaders were clapped into prison (August 9, 1942). There Gandhiji lost his lifelong companion Kasturba. His release came in 1944. When at the end of the war the Labour Party came to power in 1945 and wanted to reach a political settlement with India, the real spokesmen for the Congress were Azad, Nehru and Patel. On March 24, 1946, a British Cabinet Mission arrived in Delhi with the proposal of setting up a Constituent Assembly which was finally to decide the future fate of India. Differences arose between the Congress, the Muslim League and the British Government over many of the terms. In consequence, the League launched 'Direct Action' on August 16, 1946. Communal riots started in Calcutta and spread into East Bengal and Bihar. Instead of working for a settlement between leaders at the top, Gandhiji went to Noakhali in East Bengal in order to rouse the masses to set things right by their own effort, rather than rely on those at the top. But in this endeavour Gandhiji was fighting a lone battle. In the meanwhile Lord Mountbatten proposed the partition of India (June 1947) before a peaceful transfer of power could take place. Gandhiji alternative was for the country to reject the proposal and prepare for another massive civil disobedience movement. August 15 found Gandhiji in Calcutta. His presence and a fast undertaken by him restored peace in the city, and he left it for Delhi on September 7, 1947. The next five months were spent there, when he spoke every evening to the people as well as to the Government as to what they should do in order to lay the foundation of true 'Swaraj'. On January 13, 1948, he undertook his last fast because his feelings were that neither the public nor the Government were doing enough to restore communal harmony. Shortly after, he also decided that the Congress organization should be disbanded, and its workers spread all over the country, to educate and organize the masses to make proper use of their constitutional rights. On January 30, 1948, he was assassinated by a young Hindu while he was on his way to his prayer meeting in the city of Delhi. Despite all controversies about Gandhiji's role in the history of Indian nationalism there is no denying the fact that he was the dominant figure on the Indian political scene from the end of World War I to the achievement of independence. Even the other political parties and the British Government considered him the principal spokesman of the Congress. It was only on the eve of partition and independence in 1947 that he seemed to have lost some of his old influence with the leading figures in the Congress. I have thus dilated upon the spinning wheel because I have no letter or other message for the nation. I know no other effective method for the attainment of Swaraj if it is to be by 'peaceful and legitimate means'. As I have already remarked it is the only substitute for violence that can be accepted by the whole nation. I swear by Civil Disobedience. But Civil Disobedience for the attainment of Swaraj is an impossibility unless and until we have attained the power of achieving boycott of foreign cloth. From the Presidential Address - Mahatma Gandhi, |
