That’s what Albert Einstein said about the famous political leader Mohandas Gandhi. If you don’t know who Gandhi was, he was the most famous political leader of India. And he is often honored as ‘the father of the nation.’ In this writing we will tell you very much about this honorable hero

Living in Innocence

Mohandas Gandhi was born in Porbander, Western India on 2 October 1869. His father Karamchand Gandhi was the Prime Minister of the small Porbander state. Mohandas’s mother, Putlibai, was Karamchand’s fourth wife, as the other three wives had died while giving birth. Mohandas grew up with his mother and father in Porbander.

But, in May 1883, the thirteen year old Mohandas got married to a fourteen year old girl named Kasturbai Makhanji. This marriage was arranged as a child marriage, according to the custom of the region. In 1885, when Gandhi was only 15 years old, this couple had their first child. But the child only survived a few days. Mohandas and Kasturbai had four more children: Harilal, Manilal, Ramdas and Devdas.

Academically, Gandhi was an average student. He passed the matriculation exam for Samaldas College, Gujarat, with some difficulty. On 1888, when he was only 19, Gandhi traveled to London, England, to study law at University College London and to train as a Barrister. But he returned to India a few years later after being called to the bar of England and Wales by the Inner Temple but was unsuccessful in establishing a law practice in Mumbai. Later, when he applied then got turned down for a job as a part-time High School teacher, Gandhi returned to Rajkot to make a modest living drafting petitions for litigants. But he was forced to close this business when he ran afoul of a British officer. It was at that time in 1893, when Gandhi accepted a year- long contract from an Indian firm to a post in Natal, South Africa, then part of the British Empire. 

The Call to Action

In South Africa, Gandhi faced unfairness directed at Indians. For example, He was thrown off a train in Pietermaritzburg after refusing to move from the first class to third class coach while holding a first class ticket. And once he was also beaten by a driver for refusing to travel on the foot board to make room for a European passenger. He faced many other incidents like these. And these incidents were a turning point in his life, as he realized about the social injustice that goes on everywhere around him. It was through witnessing firsthand the racism, prejudice and injustice against Indians in South Africa that Gandhi started to question his people’s status within the British Empire, and his own place in the society.

Initiation

Gandhi faced many obstacles in his life while trying to fight for the Indian people. Some of the main obstacles he had to overcome are listed below:

• In South Africa, when Gandhi was trying to fight against the racism that occurred against Indian people, Gandhi had to face many obstacles that the government plotted against him. Like, placing acts against him, putting him in jail, etc.
• When Gandhi came to India and began to try to end poverty in villages and try to get Indian people in his side, the British government forced him to move from the province he tried to clean up.
• When Gandhi told the British to quit India and got many Indian people to protest for it, Gandhi was placed in jail along with many of his other supporters by the Brutish Government.

Allies

Although Gandhi faced many obstacles, he had many allies who helped him to overcome these obstacles. While in South Africa, when Gandhi tried to stand up against the racism that occurred there, the whole Indian community supported him and helped him. He also created a group named ‘Natal Indian Congress’ in 1894. And by creating this group, he molded the Indian Community in South Africa into a strong political force.

And when Gandhi returned to India, he was one of the leaders of the ‘Indian National Congress.’ And most of the Indian people supported him while he tried to solve many problems in India and when he urged the British government to give India its freedom.

Image via Wikipedia

Breakthrough

Gandhi achieved many things in his life. Some of his main achievements are listed below:

• He stood up against racism in South Africa and was able to gather all Indian people living in South Africa in his side. He was also able to get some attention from the government to the Indian people in South Africa. And he was able to force the government to cancel the acts that were created against the Indian people.
• He came to India and he was able to clean-up many villages where the British had lowered the life-style of the villagers by increasing taxes and taking money from the village people and leaving them in extreme poverty. Gandhi cleaned up many of these kinds of villages by organizing his supporters and many volunteers from the region to help build schools, hospitals, etc.
• He was able to free India from Britain by asking the government to quit India in the middle of World War II, when Britain was passing a hard time. And after he was able to force the government to free India by protesting with all his supporters about this issue.

Celebration and Return

After crossing many obstacles and accomplishing many things Gandhi finally made India an independent country. And after making India an independent country, Gandhi also took part in solving the Hindu-Muslim issues in India.

But on 30 January, 1948, Gandhi was shot and killed while having his nightly public walk. The assassin was later found and executed in 1949. Gandhi’s memorial in New Delhi bears the epigraph ‘He Ram’, which can be translated into ‘Oh God.’ After burning Gandhi’s body, which occurred according to the Hindu tradition, Gandhi’s ashes were poured into urns which were sent across India for memorial services. Gandhi is still remembered and honored in India and in the world. He is officially honored in India as ‘The Father of the Nation.’ And Gandhi’s birthday, 2 October, is celebrated in India as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and worldwide as the International Day of Non-Violence.

Conclusion

Mohandas Gandhi was a great hero who fought against racism and for people’s rights. If he wasn’t here, there would still be much racism going on in this world.  And I believe that if he was alive today he would still fight for people. He also contained many heroic qualities, like, honesty, peacemaking, simplicity, courage, not giving up, etc. So, we should remember him and take his life as a role model to us.