October 2, 1869 saw the birth of
a famous Indian personality, lovingly called, the Father of the Nation.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born to the Diwan of Porbandar, in the state
of Kathewar in Gujarat. His mother, Putlibai, was a very religious lady
and brought up her son with stories from the scriptures and mythology.
Little Gandhi grew up to be an honest, upright student.
At the tender age of 13 he was married
to a beautiful damsel named Kasturba. At 19, much to his mother's chagrin,
he was sent to England to study law. He promised his mother that he would
keep away from wine, women and non-vegetarianism - and he managed to stick
to his word.
A Mission in South
Africa
He returned to India as a barrister
in 1891 and started his own practice at Bombay and Rajkot. In 1893 he went
to S. Africa to fight a case. It was there that his life's mission was
determined - to fight against injustice. Gandhiji could not tolerate the
oppression of the Indians by the whites. So he stayed on in Africa for
12 years and established the Natal Indian Congress to improve the conditions
of the Indians there, through peaceful, non-violent methods.
Struggle for Swadeshi
In 1914, Gandhiji returned to India
and established the Satyagraha Ashram near Ahmedabad. Inspired by
G.K.Gokhale and Lokmanya Tilak, Gandhiji toured the country listening to
the woes of the common man. Gandhiji was touched by the plight of his countrymen
and so entered the political arena.
He launched 3 significant movements
with one goal - freedom from the British rule. The first one was the Non-Cooperation
Movement, the objective of which was 'the attainment of swaraj by peaceful
and legitimate means'. The method was to boycott foreign goods and official
durbars, British courts and schools, give up honours and titles and go
back to the use of swadeshi goods.
The second was the Civil Disobedience
Movement. Launched on April 6, 1930, it began with the historic Dandi March
or the 'Salt Satyagraha'. In order to oppose the British Salt Law, Gandhiji
marched to Dandi along with his followers to make their own salt.
Quit India
The third one was the Quit India
Movement of 1942, which resulted in the 'Quit India' resolution on August
8, 1942 urging the British to leave India. Finally India gained independence
on 15th August 1947. Thanks to the efforts of Gandhiji.
On January 30, 1948, the Mahatma
was shot dead by a misguided communalist. As Pandit Nehru put it,
'the light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere'.
