Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Early life and backgroundMohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar, a
coastal town which was then part of the Bombay Presidency, British
India. He was born in his ancestral home, now known as Kirti Mandir,
Porbandar. His father, Karamchand Gandhi (1822–1885), who belonged to
the Hindu Modh community, served as the
diwan (a high official) of Porbander state, a small princely state in the
Kathiawar Agency of British India. His grandfather was Uttamchand
Gandhi, fondly called Utta Gandhi. His mother, Putlibai, who came from
the Hindu Pranami Vaishnava community, was Karamchand's fourth wife, the first three wives having apparently died in childbirth.
[6] Growing up with a devout mother and the Jain
traditions of the region, the young Mohandas absorbed early the
influences that would play an important role in his adult life; these
included compassion for sentient beings, vegetarianism, fasting for
self-purification, and mutual tolerance among individuals of different
creeds.
[7] The Indian classics, especially the stories of Shravana and Maharaja Harishchandra,
had a great impact on Gandhi in his childhood. In his autobiography, he
admits that it left an indelible impression on his mind. He writes: "It
haunted me and I must have acted Harishchandra to myself times without
number." Gandhi's early self-identification with Truth and Love as
supreme values is traceable to these epic characters.
[8][9] In May 1883, the 13-year-old Mohandas was married to 14-year-old Kasturbai Makhanji (her first name was usually shortened to "Kasturba", and affectionately to "Ba") in an arranged child marriage, according to the custom of the region.
[10] Recalling the day of their marriage, he once said, "As we didn't know
much about marriage, for us it meant only wearing new clothes, eating
sweets and playing with relatives." However, as was also the custom of
the region, the adolescent bride was to spend much time at her parents'
house, and away from her husband.
In 1885, when Gandhi was 15, the couple's first child was born, but
survived only a few days, and Gandhi's father, Karamchand Gandhi, had
died earlier that year. Mohandas and Kasturba had four more children, all sons: Harilal, born in 1888; Manilal, born in 1892; Ramdas, born in 1897; and Devdas, born in 1900. At his middle school in Porbandar and high school in Rajkot, Gandhi remained an average student. He passed the matriculation exam for Samaldas College at Bhavnagar, Gujarat, with some difficulty. While there, he was unhappy, in part because his family wanted him to become a barrister.
Gandhi and his wife Kasturba (1902)
On 4 September 1888, Gandhi travelled to London, England, to study law at University College London where he studied Indian law and jurisprudence and to train as a barrister at the Inner Temple.
His time in London, the Imperial capital, was influenced by a vow he
had made to his mother in the presence of the Jain monk Becharji, upon
leaving India, to observe the Hindu precepts of abstinence from meat,
alcohol, and promiscuity.
Although Gandhi experimented with adopting "English" customs – taking
dancing lessons for example – he could not stomach the bland vegetarian
food offered by his landlady, and he was always hungry until he found
one of London's few vegetarian restaurants. Influenced by Salt's book, he joined the Vegetarian Society,
was elected to its executive committee, and started a local Bayswater
chapter. Some of the vegetarians he met were members of the Theosophical Society, which had been founded in 1875 to further universal brotherhood, and which was devoted to the study of Buddhist and Hindu literature. They encouraged Gandhi to join them in reading the
Bhagavad Gita both in translation as well as in the original. Not having shown
interest in religion before, he became interested in religious thought
and began to read both Hindu and Christian scriptures.
Gandhi was called to the bar on 10 June 1891. Two days later, he
left London for India, where he learned that his mother had died while
he was in London and that his family had kept the news from him. His
attempts at establishing a law practice in Bombay failed and, later, after applying and being turned down for a part-time job as a high school teacher, he ended up returning to Rajkot
to make a modest living drafting petitions for litigants, a business he
was forced to close when he ran foul of a British officer. In his
autobiography, Gandhi refers to this incident as an unsuccessful attempt
to lobby on behalf of his older brother.
It was in this climate that, in April 1893, he accepted a year-long
contract from Dada Abdulla & Co., an Indian firm, to a post in the Colony of Natal, South Africa, then part of the British Empire.
Civil rights movement in South Africa (1893–1914) Main article: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in South Africa
Gandhi in South Africa (1895)
In South Africa, Gandhi faced the discrimination directed at Indians. He was thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg
after refusing to move from the first-class to a third-class coach
while holding a valid first-class ticket. Travelling farther on by
stagecoach, he was beaten by a driver for refusing to move to make room
for a European passenger.
He suffered other hardships on the journey as well, including being
barred from several hotels. In another incident, the magistrate of a Durban court ordered Gandhi to remove his turban, which he refused to do.
These events were a turning point in Gandhi's life: they shaped his
social activism and awakened him to social injustice. After witnessing
racism, prejudice and injustice against Indians in South Africa, Gandhi began to question his place in society and his people's standing in the British Empire.
M.K. Gandhi while serving in the Ambulance Corps during the Boer War (1899) Gandhi extended his original period of stay in South Africa to assist
Indians in opposing a bill to deny them the right to vote. Though
unable to halt the bill's passage, his campaign was successful in
drawing attention to the grievances of Indians in South Africa. He
helped found the Natal Indian Congress in 1894,
and through this organisation, he moulded the Indian community of South
Africa into a unified political force. In January 1897, when Gandhi
landed in Durban, a mob of white settlers attacked him and he escaped
only through the efforts of the wife of the police superintendent. He,
however, refused to press charges against any member of the mob, stating
it was one of his principles not to seek redress for a personal wrong
in a court of law.
In 1906, the Transvaal
government promulgated a new Act compelling registration of the
colony's Indian population. At a mass protest meeting held in
Johannesburg on 11 September that year, Gandhi adopted his still
evolving methodology of
satyagraha (devotion to the truth), or non-violent protest, for the first time. He
urged Indians to defy the new law and to suffer the punishments for
doing so. The community adopted this plan, and during the ensuing
seven-year struggle, thousands of Indians were jailed, flogged, or shot
for striking, refusing to register, for burning their registration cards
or engaging in other forms of non-violent resistance. The government
successfully repressed the Indian protesters, but the public outcry over
the harsh treatment of peaceful Indian protesters by the South African
government forced South African General Jan Christiaan Smuts to negotiate a compromise with Gandhi. Gandhi's ideas took shape, and the concept of
satyagraha matured during this struggle.
Accusations of racism Some of Gandhi's South African articles are controversial. On 7 March 1908, Gandhi wrote in the
Indian Opinion of his time in a South African prison: "Kaffirs
are as a rule uncivilised—the convicts even more so. They are
troublesome, very dirty and live almost like animals... The kaffirs'
sole ambition is to collect a certain number of cattle to buy a wife
with and then pass his life in indolence and nakedness. They're
loafers... a species of humanity almost unknown among the Indians."
Writing on the subject of immigration in 1903, Gandhi commented: "We
believe as much in the purity of race as we think they do... We believe
also that the white race in South Africa should be the predominating
race."
During his time in South Africa, Gandhi protested repeatedly about the
social classification of blacks with Indians, whom he described as
"undoubtedly infinitely superior to the Kaffirs". Remarks such as these have led many South Africans to accuse Gandhi of racism.
Two professors of history who specialise in South Africa, Surendra
Bhana and Goolam Vahed, examined this controversy in their text,
The Making of a Political Reformer: Gandhi in South Africa, 1893–1914. (New Delhi: Manohar, 2005). They focus in Chapter 1, "Gandhi, Africans
and Indians in Colonial Natal" on the relationship between the African
and Indian communities under "White rule" and policies which enforced
segregation (and, they argue, led to inevitable conflict between these
communities). Of this relationship, they state that, "the young Gandhi
was influenced by segregationist notions prevalent in the 1890s."
At the same time, they state, "Gandhi's experiences in jail seemed to
make him more sensitive to their plight...the later Gandhi mellowed; he
seemed much less categorical in his expression of prejudice against
Africans, and much more open to seeing points of common cause. His
negative views in the Johannesburg jail were reserved for hardened
African prisoners rather than Africans generally." However, when plans to unveil a statue of Gandhi in Johannesburg were announced, a movement unsuccessfully tried to block it because of Gandhi's racist statements.
Role in Zulu War of 1906 Main article: Bambatha Rebellion
In 1906, after the British introduced a new poll-tax in South Africa, Zulus killed two British officers. In response, the British declared war against the Zulu kingdom.
Gandhi actively encouraged the British to recruit Indians. He argued
that Indians should support the war efforts in order to legitimise their
claims to full citizenship. The British, however, refused to commission
Indians as army officers. Nonetheless, they accepted Gandhi's offer to
let a detachment of Indians volunteer as a stretcher-bearer corps to
treat wounded British soldiers. This corps was commanded by Gandhi. On
21 July 1906, Gandhi wrote in
Indian Opinion:
"The corps had been formed at the instance of the Natal Government by
way of experiment, in connection with the operations against the Natives
consists of twenty three Indians". Gandhi urged the Indian population in South Africa to join the war through his columns in
Indian Opinion:
“If the Government only realised what reserve force is being wasted,
they would make use of it and give Indians the opportunity of a thorough
training for actual warfare.”
In Gandhi's opinion, the Draft Ordinance of 1906 brought the status
of Indians below the level of Natives. He therefore urged Indians to
resist the Ordinance along the lines of
satyagraha by taking the example of "Kaffirs".
In his words, "Even the half-castes and kaffirs, who are less advanced
than we, have resisted the government. The pass law applies to them as
well, but they do not take out passes."
In 1927, Gandhi wrote of the event: "The Boer War
had not brought home to me the horrors of war with anything like the
vividness that the [Zulu] 'rebellion' did. This was no war but a
man-hunt, not only in my opinion, but also in that of many Englishmen
with whom I had occasion to talk."
Struggle for Indian Independence (1915–45) See also: Indian independence movement
In 1915, Gandhi returned from South Africa to live in India. He spoke at the conventions of the Indian National Congress, but was introduced to Indian issues, politics and the Indian people primarily by Gopal Krishna Gokhale, a respected leader of the Congress Party at the time.
Role in World War I In April 1918, during the latter part of World War I, the Viceroy
invited Gandhi to a War Conference in Delhi Perhaps to show his support
for the Empire and help his case for India's independence, Gandhi agreed
to actively recruit Indians for the war effort.
In contrast to the Zulu War of 1906 and the outbreak of World War I in
1914, when he recruited volunteers for the Ambulance Corps, this time
Gandhi attempted to recruit combatants. In a June 1918 leaflet entitled
"Appeal for Enlistment", Gandhi wrote "To bring about such a state of
things we should have the ability to defend ourselves, that is, the
ability to bear arms and to use them...If we want to learn the use of
arms with the greatest possible despatch, it is our duty to enlist
ourselves in the army." He did, however, stipulate in a letter to the Viceroy's private secretary that he "personally will not kill or injure anybody, friend or foe."
[33] Gandhi's war recruitment campaign brought into question his consistency on nonviolence as his friend Charlie Andrews
confirms, "Personally I have never been able to reconcile this with his
own conduct in other respects, and it is one of the points where I have
found myself in painful disagreement."
[34] Gandhi's private secretary
also acknowledges that "The question of the consistency between his
creed of 'Ahimsa' (non-violence) and his recruiting campaign was raised
not only then but has been discussed ever since."
Champaran and Kheda Main article: Champaran and Kheda Satyagraha
Gandhi in 1918, at the time of the Kheda and Champaran satyagrahas Gandhi's first major achievements came in 1918 with the Champaran agitation and
Kheda Satyagraha, although in the latter it was indigo
and other cash crops instead of the food crops necessary for their
survival. Suppressed by the militias of the landlords (mostly British),
they were given measly compensation, leaving them mired in extreme
poverty. The villages were kept extremely dirty and unhygienic; and
alcoholism was rampant. Now in the throes of a devastating famine, the
British levied a tax which they insisted on increasing. The situation
was desperate. In Kheda in Gujarat, the problem was the same. Gandhi established an ashram
there, organising scores of his veteran supporters and fresh volunteers
from the region. He organised a detailed study and survey of the
villages, accounting for the atrocities and terrible episodes of
suffering, including the general state of degenerate living. Building on
the confidence of villagers, he began leading the clean-up of villages,
building of schools and hospitals and encouraging the village
leadership to undo and condemn many social evils such as untouchability
and alcoholism.
His most important impact came when he was arrested by police on the
charge of creating unrest and was ordered to leave the province.
Hundreds of thousands of people protested and rallied outside the jail,
police stations and courts demanding his release, which the court
reluctantly granted. Gandhi led organised protests and strikes against
the landlords. With the guidance of the British government, these
landlords agreed to suspend revenue hikes until the famine ended and to
grant the poor farmers of the region increased compensation and control
over farming. It was during this agitation that Gandhi was addressed by
the people as
Bapu (Father) and
Mahatma (Great Soul). In Kheda, Sardar Patel
represented the farmers in negotiations with the British, who suspended
revenue collection and released all the prisoners. As a result, Gandhi
became well known in India.
Non-cooperation Main article: Non-cooperation movement
Gandhi employed non-cooperation, non-violence and peaceful resistance as his "weapons" in the struggle against the British Raj. In Punjab, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of civilians by British troops (also known as the Amritsar Massacre)
caused deep trauma to the nation, leading to increased public anger and
acts of violence. Gandhi criticised both the actions of the British Raj
and the retaliatory violence of Indians. He authored the resolution
offering condolences to British civilian victims and condemning the
riots which, after initial opposition in the party, was accepted
following Gandhi's emotional speech advocating his principle that all
violence was evil and could not be justified.
After the massacre and subsequent violence, Gandhi began to focus on
winning complete self-government and control of all Indian government
institutions, maturing soon into
Swaraj or complete individual, spiritual, political independence.
Mahatma Gandhi's room at Sabarmati Ashram
Sabarmati Ashram, Gandhi's home in Gujarat In December 1921, Gandhi was invested with executive authority on behalf of the Indian National Congress. Under his leadership, the Congress was reorganised with a new constitution, with the goal of
Swaraj.
Membership in the party was opened to anyone prepared to pay a token
fee. A hierarchy of committees was set up to improve discipline,
transforming the party from an elite organisation to one of mass
national appeal. Gandhi expanded his non-violence platform to include
the
swadeshi policy – the boycott of foreign-made goods, especially British goods. Linked to this was his advocacy that
khadi (homespun cloth) be worn by all Indians instead of British-made
textiles. Gandhi exhorted Indian men and women, rich or poor, to spend
time each day spinning
khadi in support of the independence movement.
[36] Gandhi even invented a small, portable spinning wheel that could be folded into the size of a small typewriter.
[37] This was a strategy to inculcate discipline and dedication to weeding
out the unwilling and ambitious and to include women in the movement at a
time when many thought that such activities were not respectable
activities for women. In addition to boycotting British products, Gandhi
urged the people to boycott British educational institutions and law
courts, to resign from government employment, and to forsake British titles and honours.
An example demonstrates popularity of Gandhi, importance of
participation of people in the freedom movement and Gandhi's words on
worth of sacrifice. While he was popularising Khadi in rural Orissa,
an aged poor woman who was listening to a speech by Gandhi fought her
way to where he was, touched his feet and put a one-paise copper coin in
front of him. Gandhi accepted the coin and thanked her. He said to Jamnalal Bajaj about it as:
"This coin was perhaps all that the poor woman possessed. She gave
me all she had. That was very generous of her. What a great sacrifice
she made. That is why I value this copper coin more than a crore of
rupees."
"Non-cooperation" enjoyed widespread appeal and success, increasing
excitement and participation from all strata of Indian society. Yet,
just as the movement reached its apex, it ended abruptly as a result of a
violent clash in the town of Chauri Chaura,
Uttar Pradesh, in February 1922. Fearing that the movement was about to
take a turn towards violence, and convinced that this would be the
undoing of all his work, Gandhi called off the campaign of mass civil
disobedience. According to Andrew Roberts,
this was the third time that Gandhi had called off a major campaign,
"leaving in the lurch more than 15,000 supporters who were jailed for
the cause".
Gandhi was arrested on 10 March 1922, tried for sedition, and sentenced
to six years' imprisonment. He began his sentence on 18 March 1922. He
was released in February 1924 for an appendicitis operation, having served only 2 years.
Without Gandhi's unifying personality, the Indian National Congress
began to splinter during his years in prison, splitting into two
factions, one led by Chitta Ranjan Das and Motilal Nehru favouring party participation in the legislatures, and the other led by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel,
opposing this move. Furthermore, cooperation among Hindus and Muslims,
which had been strong at the height of the non-violence campaign, was
breaking down. Gandhi attempted to bridge these differences through many
means, including a three-week fast in the autumn of 1924, but with
limited success.
[41] This may have been due to Gandhi's "uncanny ability to irritate and frustrate" India's Muslim leadership.
[40] Salt Satyagraha (Salt March) Main article: Salt Satyagraha
Gandhi at Dandi, 5 April 1930, at the end of the Salt March Gandhi stayed out of active politics and, as such, the limelight for
most of the 1920s. He focused instead on resolving the wedge between the
Swaraj Party and the Indian National Congress, and expanding
initiatives against untouchability, alcoholism, ignorance and poverty.
He returned to the fore in 1928. In the preceding year, the British
government had appointed a new constitutional reform commission under
Sir John Simon, which did not include any Indian as its member. The
result was a boycott of the commission by Indian political parties.
Gandhi pushed through a resolution at the Calcutta Congress in December
1928 calling on the British government to grant India dominion status or
face a new campaign of non-cooperation with complete independence for
the country as its goal. Gandhi had not only moderated the views of
younger men like Subhas Chandra Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru, who sought a
demand for immediate independence, but also reduced his own call to a
one year wait, instead of two. The British did not respond. On 31
December 1929, the flag of India was unfurled in Lahore.
26 January 1930 was celebrated as India's Independence Day by the
Indian National Congress meeting in Lahore. This day was commemorated by
almost every other Indian organisation. Gandhi then launched a new
satyagraha against the tax on salt in March 1930. This was highlighted
by the famous Salt March to Dandi from 12 March to 6 April, where he
marched 388 kilometres (241 mi) from Ahmedabad to Dandi, Gujarat to make
salt himself. Thousands of Indians joined him on this march to the sea.
This campaign was one of his most successful at upsetting British hold
on India; Britain responded by imprisoning over 60,000 people.
The government, represented by Lord Edward Irwin, decided to negotiate with Gandhi. The Gandhi–Irwin Pact
was signed in March 1931. The British Government agreed to free all
political prisoners, in return for the suspension of the civil
disobedience movement. Also as a result of the pact, Gandhi was invited
to attend the Round Table Conference in London as the sole
representative of the Indian National Congress. The conference was a
disappointment to Gandhi and the nationalists, because it focused on the
Indian princes and Indian minorities rather than on a transfer of
power. Furthermore, Lord Irwin's successor, Lord Willingdon,
began a new campaign of controlling and subduing the nationalist
movement. Gandhi was again arrested, and the government tried to negate
his influence by completely isolating him from his followers. But this
tactic failed.
Mahadev Desai (left) reading out a letter to Gandhi from the viceroy at Birla House, Bombay, 7 April 1939 In 1932, through the campaigning of the Dalit leader B. R. Ambedkar,
the government granted untouchables separate electorates under the new
constitution. In protest, Gandhi embarked on a six-day fast in September
1932. The resulting public outcry successfully forced the government to
adopt an equitable arrangement through negotiations mediated by Palwankar Baloo.
This was the start of a new campaign by Gandhi to improve the lives of
the untouchables, whom he named Harijans, the children of God.
On 8 May 1933, Gandhi began a 21-day fast of self-purification to
help the Harijan movement. This new campaign was not universally
embraced within the Dalit community, as prominent leader B. R. Ambedkar condemned Gandhi's use of the term
Harijans as saying that Dalits were socially immature, and that privileged caste
Indians played a paternalistic role. Ambedkar and his allies also felt
Gandhi was undermining Dalit political rights. Gandhi had also refused
to support the untouchables in 1924–25 when they were campaigning for
the right to pray in temples. Because of Gandhi's actions, Ambedkar
described him as "devious and untrustworthy". Gandhi, although born into the Vaishya caste, insisted that he was able to speak on behalf of Dalits, despite the presence of Dalit activists such as Ambedkar.
In the summer of 1934, three unsuccessful attempts were made on Gandhi's life.
When the Congress Party chose to contest elections and accept power
under the Federation scheme, Gandhi resigned from party membership. He
did not disagree with the party's move, but felt that if he resigned,
his popularity with Indians would cease to stifle the party's
membership, which actually varied, including communists, socialists,
trade unionists, students, religious conservatives, and those with
pro-business convictions, and that these various voices would get a
chance to make themselves heard. Gandhi also wanted to avoid being a
target for Raj propaganda by leading a party that had temporarily
accepted political accommodation with the Raj.
[44] Gandhi returned to active politics again in 1936, with the Nehru
presidency and the Lucknow session of the Congress. Although Gandhi
wanted a total focus on the task of winning independence and not
speculation about India's future, he did not restrain the Congress from
adopting socialism as its goal. Gandhi had a clash with Subhas Bose, who had been elected president in 1938. Their main points of contention were Bose's lack of commitment to democracy
[citation needed] and lack of faith in non-violence. Bose won his second term despite
Gandhi's criticism, but left the Congress when the All-India leaders
resigned en masse in protest of his abandonment of the principles
introduced by Gandhi.
World War II and Quit India Main article: Quit India Movement
Jawaharlal Nehru sitting next to Gandhi at the AICC General Session, 1942 World War II broke out in 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland.
Initially, Gandhi favoured offering "non-violent moral support" to the
British effort, but other Congressional leaders were offended by the
unilateral inclusion of India in the war, without consultation of the
people's representatives. All Congressmen resigned from office.
After long deliberations, Gandhi declared that India could not be party
to a war ostensibly being fought for democratic freedom, while that
freedom was denied to India itself. As the war progressed, Gandhi
intensified his demand for independence, drafting a resolution calling
for the British to
Quit India. This was Gandhi's and the Congress Party's most definitive revolt aimed at securing the British exit from India.
Gandhi was criticised by some Congress party members and other Indian
political groups, both pro-British and anti-British. Some felt that not
supporting Britain more in its struggle against Nazi Germany was
unethical. Others felt that Gandhi's refusal for India to participate in
the war was insufficient and more direct opposition should be taken,
while Britain fought against Nazism yet continued to contradict itself
by refusing to grant India Independence.
Quit India became the most forceful movement in the history of the struggle, with mass arrests and violence on an unprecedented scale.
Thousands of freedom fighters were killed or injured by police gunfire,
and hundreds of thousands were arrested. Gandhi and his supporters made
it clear they would not support the war effort unless India were
granted immediate independence. He even clarified that this time the
movement would not be stopped if individual acts of violence were
committed, saying that the
"ordered anarchy" around him was
"worse than real anarchy." He called on all Congressmen and Indians to maintain discipline via ahimsa, and
Karo Ya Maro ("Do or Die") in the cause of ultimate freedom.
"I want world sympathy in this battle of right against might" – Dandi 5 April 1930
Gandhi and the entire Congress Working Committee were arrested in Bombay by the British on 9 August 1942. Gandhi was held for two years in the Aga Khan Palace in Pune. It was here that Gandhi suffered two terrible blows in his personal life. His 50-year old secretary Mahadev Desai
died of a heart attack 6 days later and his wife Kasturba died after 18
months imprisonment on 22 February 1944; six weeks later Gandhi
suffered a severe malaria
attack. He was released before the end of the war on 6 May 1944 because
of his failing health and necessary surgery; the Raj did not want him
to die in prison and enrage the nation. He came out of detention to an
altered political scene – the Muslim League for example, which a few years earlier had appeared marginal, "now occupied the centre of the political stage"
and the topic of Jinnah's campaign for Pakistan was a major talking
point. Gandhi met Jinnah in September 1944 in Bombay but Jinnah
rejected, on the grounds that it fell short of a fully independent
Pakistan, his proposal of the right of Muslim provinces to opt out of
substantial parts of the forthcoming political union.
Although the Quit India movement had moderate success in its objective, the ruthless suppression of the movement
[clarification needed] brought order to India by the end of 1943. At the end of the war, the
British gave clear indications that power would be transferred to Indian
hands. At this point Gandhi called off the struggle, and around 100,000
political prisoners were released, including the Congress's leadership.
Partition of India See also: Partition of India
While the Indian National Congress and Gandhi called for the British to quit India, the Muslim League passed a resolution for them to divide and quit, in 1943.
[50] Gandhi is believed to have been opposed to the partition during
independence and suggested an agreement which required the Congress and
Muslim League to cooperate and attain independence under a provisional
government, thereafter, the question of partition could be resolved by a
plebiscite in the districts with a Muslim majority.
[51] When Jinnah called for Direct Action,
on 16 August 1946, Gandhi was infuriated and visited the most riot
prone areas to stop the massacres, personally. He made strong efforts to
unite the Indian Hindus, Muslims and Christians and struggled for the
emancipation of the "untouchables" in Hindu society.
On the 14 and 15 August 1947 the Indian Independence Act was invoked and the following carnage witnessed a displacement of up to 12.5 million people in the former British Indian Empire with an estimated loss of life varying from several hundred thousand to a million.
But for his teachings, the efforts of his followers, and his own
presence, there would have been much more bloodshed during the
partition, according to prominent Norwegian historian, Jens Arup Seip.
Stanley Wolpert's words sum up Gandhi's role and views on the partition perfectly:
Assassination See also: Assassination of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Raj Ghat, Delhi is a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi that marks the spot of his cremation 
Gandhi's ashes at Aga Khan Palace (Pune, India) On 30 January 1948, Gandhi was shot while he was walking to a
platform from which he was to address a prayer meeting. The assassin, Nathuram Godse, was a Hindu nationalist with links to the extremist Hindu Mahasabha, who held Gandhi responsible for weakening India by insisting upon a payment to Pakistan.
[56] Godse and his co-conspirator Narayan Apte were later tried and convicted; they were executed on 15 November 1949. Gandhi's memorial (or
Samādhi) at Rāj Ghāt, New Delhi, bears the epigraph "Hē Ram", (Devanagari:
हे ! राम or,
He Rām),
which may be translated as "Oh God". These are widely believed to be
Gandhi's last words after he was shot, though the veracity of this
statement has been disputed.
[57] Jawaharlal Nehru addressed the nation through radio:
[58]
"Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives, and there
is darkness everywhere, and I do not quite know what to tell you or how
to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the father of the
nation, is no more. Perhaps I am wrong to say that; nevertheless, we
will not see him again, as we have seen him for these many years, we
will not run to him for advice or seek solace from him, and that is a
terrible blow, not only for me, but for millions and millions in this
country." – Jawaharlal Nehru's address to Gandhi
Gandhi's ashes were poured into urns which were sent across India for memorial services. Most were immersed at the Sangam at Allahabad on 12 February 1948, but some were secretly taken away.
[59] In 1997, Tushar Gandhi immersed the contents of one urn, found in a bank vault and reclaimed through the courts, at the Sangam at Allahabad.
[59][60] Some of Gandhi's ashes were scattered at the source of the Nile River
near Jinja, Uganda, and a memorial plaque marks the event. On 30 January
2008, the contents of another urn were immersed at Girgaum Chowpatty by the family after a Dubai-based businessman had sent it to a Mumbai museum.
[59] Another urn has ended up in a palace of the Aga Khan in Pune
[59] (where he had been imprisoned from 1942 to 1944) and another in the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine in Los Angeles.
[61] The family is aware that these enshrined ashes could be misused for
political purposes, but does not want to have them removed because it
would entail breaking the shrines.
[59]
الرئيسية 
موضوع: projet Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi 
