Gandhi and his passive Resistace to Great Britain in War I

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Mohandas Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, also known as mahatma Gandhi, was a Indian nationalist leader, who established his country's freedom through a nonviolent revolution. Gandhi became a leader in a difficult struggle, the Indian campaign for home rule. He believed and dedicated his life to demonstrating that both individuals and nations owe it to themselves to stay free, and to allow the same freedom to others. Gandhi was one of the gentlest of men, a devout and almost mystical Hindu, but he had and iron core of determination. Nothing could change his convictions. Some observers called him a master politician. Others believed him a saint.

Gandhi became a leader in a difficult struggle, the Indian campaign for home rule. He worked to reconcile all classes and religious sects. Gandhi meant not only technical self-government but also self-reliance. After World
War I, in which he played an active part in recruiting campaigns, he launched his movement of passive resistance to Great Britain. When the Britain government failed to make amends, Gandhi established an organized campaign of noncooperation. Through India, streets were blocked by squatting Indians who refused to rise even when beaten by the police. He declared he would go to jail even die before obeying anti-Asian Law. Gandhi was arrested, but the British were soon forced to release him. Economic independence for India, involving the complete boycott of British goods, was made a result of Gandhi's self-ruling movement. The economic aspects of the movement were serious, for the exploitation of Indian villagers by British industrialists has resulted in extreme poverty in the country and the virtual destruction of Indian home industries. As a solution for such poverty, Gandhi supported revival of cottage industries; he began to use a spinning wheel as a token of the return to the simple village life he preached, and of the renewal of native Indian
Industries.

Gandhi became the international symbol of a free India. He lived a spiritual and ascetic life of prayer, fasting, and meditation. He employed propaganda, agitation, demonstration, boycott, noncooperation, parallel government, and strikes. He refused earthly possessions, he wore the loincloth and shawl of the lowliest Ind...

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By 1944 the Indian struggle for Independence was in its final stages, the British government having agreed to independence on condition that the two contending nationalist groups, the Muslim league and the Congress party, should resolve their differences. Gandhi stood steadfastly against the partition of
India but ultimately had to agree, in the hope that internal peace would be achieved after the Muslims demand for separation had been satisfied. India and
Pakistan became separate states when the British granted India its independence in 1947. During the riots that followed the partition of India, Gandhi pleaded with Hindus and Muslims to live together peacefully. Riots engulfed Calcutta, one of the largest cities in India, and the Mahatma fasted until disturbance ceased. On January 13, 1948, he undertook another successful fast in New Delhi to bring about peace.

Religious violence soon declined in India and Pakistan, and the teachings of Gandhi came to inspire nonviolent movements elsewhere. Within fifty five years of his self awakening after being evicted from South Africa train compartment, Gandhi managed to evict the British Empire from India.

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