Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in 1869. His philosophy of peaceful resistance helped force a peaceful end to British Rule of India in 1947. When in South Africa, he employed non-violent civil disobedience to agitate for Indians’ rights. On his return to India, the slavery of his own countrymen at the hands of the British disturbed him. What began then became an iconic fight between a country and its rulers and has gone down in history as perhaps the only non-violent struggle for independence in world history. His 400 km Dandi Salt March to protest against British-imposed salt-tax, and a call to British to Quit India drew mass participation. He was assassinated on 30 January 1948.

Gandhi led a modest life wearing a hand spun dhoti and shawl and eating a simple vegetarian meal. Though we celebrate Gandhi Jayanti and have his image on our stamps, currency notes, statues etc, what we sincerely need to do is to follow his policies of nonviolence and protest against any injustice in peaceful manner. It is not for nothing that he is called a ‘Mahatma’ which means ‘A Great Soul’, a title bestowed upon him by Rabindranath Tagore.