Destruction of redundant political structures and the emergence of new paradigms of power need not always be through bloody wars and violent revolutions as has been the norm throughout the course of history. During India’s nearly a century long struggle for independence, it was Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent approach by upholding the principles of Ahimsa as a mighty moral and spiritual weapon that eventually brought Great Britain, the most powerful coloniser of the modern world, down to its knees. A more balanced approach to history would also take into account the exploits of the Indian National Army, the belligerent Naval Mutiny and a weakened post-war Britain as among many other factors that finally freed India from British colonialism. However, …show more content…
She was shot dead by her own bodyguards on 31 October 1984, in retaliation for ordering the Indian Army to storm the Golden Temple at Amritsar (Wikipedia, “Assassination of Indira Gandhi” par. 1). In the tragic circumstances following Mrs. Gandhi’s assassination, her son Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister and in the ensuing general election, the electorate ratified the fresh faced and charismatic young leader’s elevation by bestowing upon him a brutal two-thirds majority in the Parliament. The charming young Rajiv, with a fresh face and winning smile, had caught the fancy of the entire nation as the antithesis of the typical Indian politician the average Indian voter had grown weary of. Six years later, he was blown to smithereens by a human bomb while campaigning for a second term in …show more content…
While the former is interested in tracing how power is sought and exercised by individuals, the latter examines the operation by groups. Adiga’s collection of stories centred on a small South Indian town, during the time span between the assassinations of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi, is aptly titled Between the Assassinations. Abbasi, the protagonist of Adiga’s story “Day 1 (Afternoon): The Bunder” in Between the Assassinations, mouths the author’s criticism when he expresses his disenchantment with Rajiv Gandhi from whom much had been expected by the people. On the other hand, the context of The White Tiger is informed by the decades following the swearing in of a new Congress government outside the Gandhi–Nehru dynasty. The tragic deaths of the mother and the son, within a short span of seven years, also brought structural changes in the politics of the country as the authoritarian leadership and one party rule gave way to the emergence of regional power centres and several decades of fragmented mandates leading to a succession of coalition
The mission of Gandhi’s life was to help the people of India free themselves from British rule. Many people have struggled for independence. They have fought bloody battles or used terrorism in an attempt to achieve their goals. Gandhi’s revolution was different. He succeeded as an independence leader with the use of nonviolent methods. The young Mohandas Gandhi did not seem as a boy that would become a great leader. He changed as he studied in Britain and practiced in South Africa. He fought for the rights of Indians in both South Africa and India. Gandhi believed that all people in the world are brothers and sisters. He didn’t hate the English. Actually, he saw a lot that was good about them. His nonviolent means of revolution was referred to as satyagraha, which is a combination of two Sanskrit words, satya, meaning truth and love, plus agraha, meaning firmness. Many people were influenced by satyagraha.
India gained independence from British rule in 1947. The Gandhian strategy is mainly comprised with: Satyagraha, Truth, Nonviolence, non-cooperation and peace and love. Satyagraha, a holistic approach toward life based on the ideals of truth and moral courage. Truth, the most powerful weapon. Gandhi believed "the truth is far more powerful than any weapon of mass destruction. Non-violence, was seen by Gandhi as "everlasting". Gandhi was influenced Jainism and Buddhism, both preached non-violence. Non-cooperation, aimed to resist British rule in India. Non-cooperation included the boycott of councils, courts and schools set up by British and of all foreign cloth. Peace and love, Gandhi stated " peace between countries must rest on the solid foundation of love between
When you are fight to get peace and fairness back to your government, does it involve nonviolent or violent acts to get what you want? When Gandhi came back to India after getting his law degree, Gandhi started a movement to bring peace and fairness back to their government. What made Gandhi’s nonviolent movement work? The reason Gandhi’s nonviolent movement worked was because he didn’t believe in segregation, didn’t follow the British’s rules for Indians, went to jail for his movement, and he was determined.
Not only did the inequality and separation of the Indian society frustrate the citizens of India, but the imperialism Britain had upon them as well. In the early 20th century, Indian nationalists wanted to take a stand against the British rule and make India independent. The British created unfair laws that created a nationalist movement in India to regain their freedom. He believed that there should not be a Caste System because of one’s birth.
Imperialism also had an everlasting positive effect on India through its modernization. For instance, British colonizers develope...
The British established a strong government over 500 million people and was able to keep India in it’s feet (Lalvani, Doc #3). During their rule, however, the government only served under the British and their needs and only 16% of the government was Indian. The British also established Indian armies and military academies for “protection” of India (Gandhi). However, these Indian armies were trained more to control India than to protect it and they were also were trained to kill their own people in cold blood without second thought. The power that the Indians let the British get ensured that the Indians were not going to be free in their own country for a long
Mohandas Gandhi began life as the fourth son in his family— hardly the child typically expected to bring about greatness, even though his father was the small state’s Diwan, or prime minister. He was born on October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, India. From an early age, he exhibited the gentleness and compassion that he would come to cherish later in life. One story about him says that he loved nature enough to climb a mango tree and bandage its branch. Like the vast majority of Indian families, Gandhi’s was a member of the Hindu religion and its associated culture. As was tradition for many at the time, he was wed at the age of thirteen to Kasturba, another child of the same age. A few years later, when he was sixteen, Gandhi’s father passed away. This left a deep impression on the boy, and he would always remember him with fondness, as we can see from his later ...
To begin, British Imperialism had many political effects on India’s people throughout the years. The forcefulness of Europe’s invasion brought plenty of fear and destruction among the government, which in the following years would become run completely by British officials. According to document two, “The Indians have no control whatsoever over their own taxation...The entire civil government is now carried on by men who live lives quite remote from the people they govern.” According to Dr. Lalvani in paragraph twelve, Imperialism brought Indians together. He states, “perhaps the most innovative of all was the bringing together of several different states into one unified India.” That may have been the result in sight, but the truth is, as shown in document one, when Gandhi states, “For a hundred years, you have done everything for us. You have given us no responsibility for our own
Aravind Adiga in his psycho-social thriller, The White Tiger, explores issues that modern day India faces, ranging from social mobility to globalization, and morality to corruption. Adiga’s use of an epistolary novel allows his first person narrator to not only provide a commentary on the socio-political and geopolitical problems that India face, but also reflect on the effects of these problems on his own life. Adiga exploits the corruption in India and uses it as device to develop Balram’s character, as he journeys from “the darkness” to “the light”. It is true that Balram becomes increasingly corrupted, and at some points the reader may sympathise with him, however at other points, his actions cannot be justified. Growing up, Balram is tainted
The year was 1986 and the people of the Philippines were being oppressed by their elected president turned Dictator Ferdinand Marcos for twenty years. And a four-day series of non-violent mass demonstrations toppled Marcos dictatorship. It was a series of popular non violent revolutions and prayerful mass street demonstrations in the Philippines that occurred in 1986, which marked the restoration of the country's democracy. Non violent resistance is the best method to peacefully attain social change in times of political oppression. Non violent resistance is just one teaching of Mahatma Gandhi that was used by the people of Philippine in their times of political oppression and is evident throughout the Philippine revolution of 1986 which helped the country restore democracy.
Aravind Adiga’s debut novel The White Tiger published in 2008, and a winner of Booker Prize examines the issues of religion, caste, loyalty, corruption, urbanization and poverty in India. The novel besides receiving critical acclaim was also lambasted by some in India for giving in to western prejudices and playing up to their image of a poverty stricken, slum governed country. Some even went to the extent of calling it a western conspiracy to deny the country’s economic progress. It seems ...
The decision to grant independence to India was not the logical culmination of errors in policy, neither was it as a consequence of a mass revolution forcing the British out of India, but rather, the decision was undertaken voluntarily. Patrick French argues that: “The British left India because they lost control over crucial areas of the administration, and lacked the will and the financial or military ability to recover that control”.
India has not been a free independent country for a long time. It had been under British rule from 1858-1947. India finally became independent on August 15, 1947 (Trueman). Many people credit India’s independence to Mahatma Gandhi because of the great role he played in helping India in its freedom struggle. Along with Mahatma Gandhi, Muhammed Jinnah and Jawaharlal Nehru assisted in making India an independent country. Gandhi’s main principle in India’s freedom struggle was based on non violence, which he called satyagraha, which means holding onto the truth, truth force, or soul force (Bondurant). Along with nonviolence Gandhi believe in passive resistance and swaraj or self rule. Gandhi thought that being violent would only get a bad response from the British, however passive resistance pushed the British to do something which would make them look bad To accomplish swaraj or self rule (Bondurant), Gandhi believed India needed 3 vital ingredients. The first thing India needed was to unify Indians with different religions, especially Hindus and Muslims. Second, India needed to remove its...
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi- 2 October 1869 - 30 January 194 was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement. He is also known as Mahatma which means “The Great Soul”. He was committed to pacifism, that there should be no violence.(1) He had three concepts to follow in his life for independence of India: Satyagraha, Ahimsa and Swaraj.
The British invasion formed into a historical development of British colonialism in India. Despite India under the British rule, Mahatma Gandhi played an important role in gaining Independence. He not only changed India but also strongly fought for India's independence, using various strategies. The British Empire ruled as long as they could to reform India both politically and socially.