Etienne sauret biography of mahatma gandhi
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At Dandi Gandhiji picked up handful of salt thus technically ‘producing’ the salt. He first lost his trusted secretary and companion Mahadev Desai on 15th August 1942. Today, Gandhi is remembered as a global historical figure and a symbol of peace and nonviolent resistance. He asked the Indians to boycott foreign cloth and promote hand spun khadi thus creating work for the villagers.
This belief guided his actions and leadership throughout India's struggle for independence from British rule. That train journey served as a turning point for Gandhi, and he soon began developing and teaching the concept of satyagraha (“truth and firmness”), or passive resistance, as a way of non-cooperation with authorities.
The Birth of Passive Resistance
In 1906, after the Transvaal government passed an ordinance regarding the registration of its Indian population, Gandhi led a campaign of civil disobedience that would last for the next eight years.
Destiny gave another cruel blow to Gandhiji, when Kasturbai, his wife and companion for 62 years, died on 22 February 1944.
Gandhiji was released from prison as his health was on decline. Mahatma Gandhi's Satyagraha was based on true principles and non-violence.
"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. In 1915, Gandhi returned to India and quickly became involved in political activism, advocating for the rights of Indians and promoting social justice.
It was during his time in South Africa that Gandhi experienced firsthand the discrimination and oppression faced by Indians and became determined to fight for their rights.
Gandhi saw nonviolent resistance as a way to resist oppression without resorting to violence, and believed that it could ultimately lead to the transformation of both the oppressor and the oppressed.
Putting nonviolent resistance into practice:
Gandhi famously used nonviolent resistance during India's independence movement against British colonial rule.We can still derive inspiration from the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi who wanted us to remember the age old saying, “In spite of death, life persists, and in spite of hatred, love persists.” Rabindranath Tagore addressed him as ‘Mahatma’ and the latter called the poet “Gurudev’. At the end of 3 days both the parties agreed on arbitration.
Upon returning to India, he struggled to find work as a lawyer and eventually accepted a position in South Africa. His teachings have also had a lasting impact on social reform, particularly in the areas of human rights, peace, and environmentalism. Again in 1908, he mobilsed Indian community in South Africa against the discriminatory law requiring Asians to apply for the registration by burning 2000 official certificates of domicile at a public meeting at Johannesburg and courting jail.
There he had a first-hand experience of racial discrimination when he was thrown out of the first-class apartment of the train despite holding the first-class ticket because it was reserved for white people only and no Indian or black was allowed to travel in the first class. He further observed that this type of incident was quite common against his fellow Indians who were derogatorily referred to as coolies.
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On 22 May 1894 Gandhi established the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) and worked hard to improve the rights of Indians in South Africa.
Same year in 1918, Gandhiji led a Satyagraha for the peasants of Kheda in Gujarat.
In 1919, he called for Civil Disobedience against Rowlatt Bill. On a train voyage to Pretoria, he was thrown out of a first-class railway compartment and beaten up by a white stagecoach driver after refusing to give up his seat for a European passenger.
Gandhiji fasted in support of workers. He founded Indian Opinion, his first journal, in 1904 to promote the interests of Indians in South Africa.
Arrested upon his return by a newly aggressive colonial government, Gandhi began a series of hunger strikes in protest of the treatment of India’s so-called “untouchables” (the poorer classes), whom he renamed Harijans, or “children of God.” The fasting caused an uproar among his followers and resulted in swift reforms by the Hindu community and the government.
In 1934, Gandhi announced his retirement from politics in, as well as his resignation from the Congress Party, in order to concentrate his efforts on working within rural communities.