Vannanilavan biography of mahatma gandhi
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On August 29, 1931 Gandhiji sailed to London to attend Round Table Conference to have a discussion with the British. According to the revenue code if the yield was less than one-fourth of the normal produced the farmers for entitled to remission. He led a non-violent mass movement against the British rule of India which ultimately resulted in Indian independence.
Mahatma Gandhi is revered in India as the Father of the Nation.
The early life of Mahatma Gandhi: Birth and Family
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2nd October 1869, in Porbandar in the princely state of Kathiawar in Gujarat.
His father was Karamchand Uttamchand Gandhi who served as a dewan of Porbandar state.
By the 1890s, the children of the ex-indentured labourers had settled down in South Africa making up the third group.
Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa
1893: Mohandas Gandhi witnessed extreme apartheid or racial discrimination against Asians in South Africa. The governance of colonial regions (Natal and Cape) was controlled by the minority white population which enforced segregation between government-defined races in all spheres.
This created three societies- whites (British and Dutch or Boer ancestry), Blacks and Coloureds (mixed race) which included ethnic Asians (Indians, Malayans, Filipinos, and Chinese).
Indian immigration to South Africa began in the 1860s, when whites recruited indentured Indian labour (Girmityas), especially from south India, to work on sugar plantations.
He undertook a recruitment campaign in Kaira district, Gujarat.
He again believed that support from Indians will make the British government look at their plight sympathetically after the war.
Early movements by Gandhiji
Champaran Satyagraha, Kheda Satyagraha, and Ahmedabad Mill Strike were the early movements of Gandhi before he was elevated into the role of a national mass leader.
1917: Champaran Satyagraha
Champaran Satyagraha of 1917 was the first civil disobedience movement organized by Gandhiji.
In 1919, Gandhi launched an organized campaign of passive resistance in response to Parliament’s passage of the Rowlatt Acts, which gave colonial authorities emergency powers to suppress subversive activities. He had two brothers and a sister.
At age of 13, Mohandas was married to 14-year-old Kastubai Makhanji Kapadia as was the custom at that time.
His father passed away in 1885, and the same year he and his wife lost their first child.
He founded Indian Opinion, his first journal, in 1904 to promote the interests of Indians in South Africa. Finally, under pressure from the British and Indian governments, the government of South Africa accepted a compromise negotiated by Gandhi and General Jan Christian Smuts, which included important concessions such as the recognition of Indian marriages and the abolition of the existing poll tax for Indians.
In July 1914, Gandhi left South Africa to return to India.
He realized that people had to be trained for non violent agitation.
His mother, Putlibai, was a very religious lady and left a deep impression on Gandhiji's mind. The movement against the law invalidating marriages not conducted according to Christian rites brought out many Indian women onto the movement.
Gandhi launched a final mass movement of over 2000 men, women, and children.
This led to the government conceding to most of the Indians’ demands.
Gandhiji’s return to India: 1915
1915: On the request of Gokhale, conveyed by CF Andrews (Deenbandhu), Gandhi Ji returned to India to help with the Indian struggle for independence.
The last phase of the Indian National movement is known as the Gandhian era.
Mahatma Gandhi became the undisputed leader of the National Movement.
The magistrate postponed the trial and released him without bail and the case against him was withdrawn. He suggested the formation of an association to look after the Indian settlers and offered his free time and services.
During his stay in South Africa, Gandhiji's life underwent a change and he developed most of his political ideas.
Now after year’s travel, Gandhiji moved his ashram on the banks of Sabarmati River near Ahmedabad and called it Satyagraha Ashram.
His first Satyagraha in India was at Champaran, Bihar in 1917 for the rights of peasants on indigo plantations. Viceroy Chelmsford had invited various Indian leaders to attend a war conference.
Mahatma Gandhi popularly known as Father of Nation played a stellar role in India's freedom struggle.
The last words on the lips of Gandhiji were Hey Ram.
completed his Law degree in 1891 and returned to India. His grandfather had risen to be the Dewan or Prime Minister of Porbandar and was succeeded by his father Karamchand Gandhiji .His mother Putlibai, a religious person, had a major contribution in moulding the character of young Mohan.
He studied initially at an elementary school in Porbandar and then at primary and high schools in Rajkot, one of the important cities of Gujarat.
These were important issues in his agenda of constructive work – essential programmes to go with Satyagraha.
On March 12 1930, Gandhiji set out with 78 volunteers on historic Salt March from Sabarmati Ashram; Ahmedabad to Dandi, a village on the sea coast .This was an important non violent movement of Indian freedom struggle.