Gandhi, Mohandas K.

Gandhi, Mohandas K. (1869–1948),Indian political and spiritual leader whose non-violent efforts to free his country from the British resulted in his imprisonment during most of the war. He passionately believed in achieving his political ends by means which went beyond passive resistance—a phrase he disliked—and he chose instead the word ‘Satyagraha’ (from Sanskrit satya, truth or love, and agraha, firmness or force) to describe the non-violent resistance practised by his followers.

Gandhi, an English-trained lawyer by profession, was born at Porbandar in Gujarat. After living in South Africa, where he began his life of fighting injustice—whether caused by racism, imperialism, or caste—he returned to India in 1915. By 1921 he controlled the policies of the Indian National Congress (see India, 3) and declared that ‘my life is dedicated to the service of India through the religion of non-violence which I believe to be the root of Hinduism’.

He was soon known to millions as Mahatma (great soul) and he gave them hope and a degree of self-respect. He adopted the dhoti (loincloth) as his usual garb, and his spinning-wheel, which he used daily, became an emblem of his belief in the importance of simplicity. Between the wars his crusade against the inherent injustices of imperial rule led to several terms of imprisonment. Though he left the Congress Party in 1934—not all its members agreed with his beliefs—he retained a controlling influence on it. In 1940 he briefly resumed its leadership before Congress, seeing an opportunity to obtain immediate independence if it supported the British, temporarily rejected his policies. However, when the negotiations failed the party again embraced him and Gandhi then organized a selective satyagraha which had resulted, by the end of 1941, in more than 23,000 arrests. But Gandhi was always pro-Allied, spoke out against the Axis, and tried to minimize any inconvenience to the British war effort.

This confrontation was halted when Japan entered the war. Gandhi fervently believed that India would remain unscathed by the conflict if only the British would relinquish power. But Congress again favoured negotiations with them and once more it abandoned Gandhi's non-violent stance. In March 1942 a mission headed by Stafford Cripps arrived in India with an offer of post-war independence. When this failed to find a solution Gandhi began his ‘quit India’ movement. However, even Nehru, one of his most faithful followers, could not stomach his assertion that if the Japanese did invade they must only be confronted by total non-co-operation not by force.

By August 1942 a full-scale civil disobedience campaign seemed imminent, Congress leaders were imprisoned, and Gandhi was interned. The communal violence which followed was blamed on him, an accusation Gandhi rejected by starting a three-week fast, his preferred form of personal protest. He just survived it and was eventually released from internment in May 1944 having spent a total of 2,089 days in Indian prisons and another 249 in South African ones. He was assassinated while attempting to halt, by fasting, the communal violence that had followed India's independence.

Gandhi was one of the most remarkable men of his age whose power over his people transcended politics, and whose saintliness and simplicity of purpose brought him the adoration of the masses and the bewildered respect of those who ruled his country.

Bibliography

Brown, J. , Gandhi. Prisoner of Hope (New Haven, 1989).
Fischer, L. , The Life of Mahatma Gandhi (London, 1951).
Gandhi, M. K. , An Autobiography. The Story of My Experiments with Truth (London, 1949).