Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand

Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand (b. 2 Oct. 1869, d. 30 Jan. 1948). Indian national and spiritual leader Known in Hindu as mahatma (great soul), he was born at Porbanda (Gujarat) into a well-to-do family from a trader caste. He read for the Bar in London (1888–9), despite the lack of a university education. On his return to Bombay his first years as a lawyer were not blessed with unqualified success, and in 1893 he was sent to Natal (Southern Africa) to help in the case of an Indian client. Just before his intended return in 1894, he became involved in the protest movement against the disenfranchisement and the withdrawal of civil rights of the Asian immigrant community. A leader of the protests for the next two decades, it was here that he developed the basis of his political and philosophical consciousness.

At the heart of this was his belief in the ‘inner voice’ present within each individual, which was the voice of God. Truth could only be obtained by listening to the inner voice, and this was only possible through focusing on the self, and the denial of all corrupting outside influences. Personally, he began an austere life marked by chastity, simplicity, and hours spent on the spinning wheel, in an attempt to return to his Indian roots and defy Western, ‘alien’ industrially produced textiles. His faith in the inner voice also formed the basis of his political beliefs, which were founded upon religious tolerance, non-violence, and an intense cultural nationalism hostile to the imposition of values and cultures on foreign peoples. In 1904, he founded the Phoenix settlement, which aimed to realize these ideals in common life. Through his personality, his writings, and his political campaigns, he first united the disparate Indian community in South Africa. He then stepped up his campaign through a peaceful march into the Transvaal, and through other acts of defiance against the authorities. Finally, his campaign was successful, and the South African government backed down in 1914. He returned to India on 9 January 1915, and took part in a number of specific agitations. Through his non-violent protest (satyagraha, or ‘truth force’), he led all these to a successful conclusion. Based on this experience, on his reputation from South African and subsequent campaigns, and his sheer personality, in 1919–20 he was able to convince the Indian National Congress (INC) to start a campaign of non-cooperation. This was a reaction to the Rowlatt Act, the Amritsar Massacre, and Muslim concerns at the abolition of the Khilafat in the Ottoman Empire, with British compliance. The confirmation of the non-cooperation policy at the INC's Nagpur Session in 1920 was an unqualified personal triumph, and marked the beginning of Gandhi's hold over the INC and the Indian nationalist movement in general. The immediate campaign was called off on 24 February 1922 because of its escalation into violence. Gandhi was imprisoned, but released in 1924. In the following years he retreated somewhat, but even in times of withdrawal he remained the real leader of the INC, though his formal control was always minimal.

Gandhi's next burst of energy came in response to the establishment of the Simon Commission, which led to his demand of Dominion status for India. When this was ignored, he initiated another civil disobedience movement, choosing the symbolic issue of the Salt Law, which hit the poor particularly hard, as the focus of his campaign. He led the Salt March in 1930, which received enormous national attention and support. He was then sent to represent the INC at the second Round Table Conference in London in 1931. Against Ambedkar's opposition, he was hostile to its decision for separate political representation for the Depressed Classes as divisive for the Hindu community. He thus negotiated the Poona Pact of 1932, a compromise which reserved seats for the Depressed Classes, while maintaining a united electorate. Indeed, during the 1930s, Gandhi became increasingly concerned with the Depressed Classes and the untouchables, whom he called harijans (‘children of God’). In World War II, he opposed Bose's attempt to use Britain's weakness for the cause of independence, despite the unpopularity of his cause among the INC rank and file. He did, however, launch another wave of protests against the British involvement of India in the war without Indian consent, through his ‘Quit India’ campaign (1940–2). He was imprisoned again in 1942, and released in 1944.

After World War II, he was relegated to the political sidelines, while the negotiations for independence and separation were led by Nehru and Jinnah. The decline of his actual influence was partly due to his elevation to mythical status within his own lifetime. In the main part, however, it was because he was his own worst enemy as a practical politician. His strengths of charismatic leadership, wisdom, and integrity predestined him to unite and lead the nationalist movement when its main task was defiance. He was less suitable to develop and lead protracted, pragmatic policies, owing to his constant self-doubts, his reluctance to compromise on his ideals, and those very ideals of unity, harmony, and religious tolerance, which were increasingly out of harmony with the majority of the Indian population, or its leadership.

Deeply disturbed by the division of India and the communal violence that accompanied it, he withdrew to Delhi and on 11 January 1948 embarked upon a final fast to protest against the prosecution of Muslims in the city. Nehru's Cabinet quickly established better relations with Pakistan, while the violence in Delhi ended. Gandhi broke off his fast a week later, only to be assassinated soon afterwards by a young Hindu radical outraged by his benevolence towards Muslims. His importance was summed up by Nehru, who said that his death meant ‘the loss of India's soul’. On the night of the murder, Nehru declared that ‘The light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere’.