Mahatma Gandhi - Father of the Nation

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi(Oct 2,1869 - Jan 30,1948) was the preeminent leader of  Indian Nationalism in British Ruled India who employed Non-violent Civil Obedience and led India to independence and inspired movements for non-violence, civil rights and freedom across the world.

Gandhi's Personal Life

Mohandas Karamchand Gandh was born in in Porbandar, a coastal town which was then part of the Bombay Presidency,British India.

Gandhi's father,Karamchand Gandhi(1822-85) belonged to the Hindu Modh Community,served as the Diwan of Porbandar State,a small Princely State in the Kathiawar Agency of British India.





In May 1883, the 13-year-old Gandhi was married to 14-year-old Kasturbai Makhanji in an arranged child marriage , according to the custom of the region.


In 1885, when Gandhi was 15, the couple's first child was born, but survived only a few days.
Gandhi and Kasturba had 4 more children, all sons -

• Harilal born in 1888
• Manilal born in 1892
• Ramdas born in 1897 and
• Devdas born in 1900

Gandhi Studied Law in London,U K
In 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 (one of the four (professional associations for Barristers and Judges in London)

Gandhi's attempts at establishing a law practice in Bombay failed because he was too shy to speak up in court. He returned to Rajkot to make a modest living drafting petitions for litigants but was forced to close it when he ran afoul of a British officer.

Gandhi in South Africa

In 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.

Mahatma Gandhi (sitting in centre), who was practing as an attorney in South Africa, with H.S.L. Polak (left), then Gandhi's clerk, Schlesin (right), a Russian, and two office clerks behind

Gandhi spent 21 years in South Africa, where he developed his political views, ethics and political leadership skills.

 In South Africa, Gandhi faced the discrimination directed at all coloured people. He was thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg  Railway Station after refusing to move from the first-class. He protested and was allowed on first class the next day.

Pietermaritzburg Station in South Africa where whre he was foced out a white only compartment - turning point of his life

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 and shaped his social activism and awakened him to social injustice.

Gandhi Returns to India
In 1915, Gandhi returned to India permanently. He brought an international reputation as a leading Indian nationalist, theorist and organizer. He joined the Indian National Congress(INC) and was introduced to Indian issues, politics and the Indian people primarily by Gopala Krishna Gokhale.

Gandhi's first major achievements came in 1918 with the  'Champaran and Kheda Agitations of Bihar and Gujarat. The Champaran agitation pitted the local peasantry against their largely British landlords who were backed by the local administration.

In 1919 Gandhi became 'Khilafat Movement's' most prominent spokesman and attracted a strong base of Muslim support with local chapters in all Muslim centers in India .

Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress(INC) in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women's rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, increasing economic self-reliance, and above all for achieving Swaraj —the independence of India from British Rule.

In Dec 1929 Lahore session of INC adopts the goal of complete independece-poorna Swaraj for India

Gandhi led Indians in protesting the national salt tax with the 400 km (250 mi) 'Dabdi March' March 12 to April 5, 1930

 In March 1931 Gandhi Irwin Pact Signed and Civil Dosobedience Movement Suspended.


Gandhi demanded the British to immediately 'Quit India'  in 1942

 In Sep 1942 Subhas Chandra Bose establish the Indian National army (Azad Hind Fauz)

In Oct 1943 Subhash Chandra bose proclaims the formation of Provisional Government of free India

In Dec 1943 Karachi Session of Muslim League adopts the slogan Divide and Quit.

In Feb 1947 Bfritish Prime Minister Clement Atlee declared that the British would leave India by not later than June 1948  

In 1946, Mahatma Gandhi seen sitting next to a spinning wheel, a device used to make yarn or thread; the now-famous image came to symbolize the notion of Indian self-sufficiency — and thus independence from British rule

 

In  1948, Mahatma Gandhi is seen ending his last fast, which was intended to persuade Hindus and Muslims to work towards peace

 

Death - Jan 30,1948

Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, was shot at 5-12 p.m. and he died fifteen minutes later. Gandhiji left his room in Birla House for the prayer meeting a few minutes after the conclusion of his talk with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. He passed through the garden leaning on the shoulders of Ava Gandhi and Manu Gandhi, grand daughter-in-law and grand niece.

As he walked up the four steps leading to the prayer mandap, a young man, aged about 35, came before Gandhiji and, bending his body forward at a distance of less than two yards, offered pranam. Gandhiji returned the salute, when the young man remarked “You are late to-day for the prayer.” Gandhiji smiled and replied, “Yes, I am”; but just at that moment, the young man pulled out his revolver and rang out three shots from point-blank range, the bullets piercing the frail body of the great leader just below the heart and stomach. Immediately, Gandhiji collapsed; but Ava Gandhi and Manu Gandhi stuck to their place by his side and held him firmly. But that was the last of the Nation’s Father. It was then 5.12 p.m.

The last act Gandhiji did was to lift both his hands as a sign of prayer in the direction of the large gathering which had assembled for the prayer. Thereafter, he was speechless and the loss of blood, at his age and so soon after his fast, made death inevitable. He was beyond medical aid even from the start when shock had its effect. Lord Mountbatten and Cabinet Ministers, including Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and others soon arrived. The Ministers present held consultations among themselves as to the future course of action.

The assassin, soon after he fired the shots, was seized by the people who had come to attend the prayer. His revolver — a six-chambered one — and some cash were recovered. It appears he was beaten by the crowd and was slightly injured. The police have taken him into custody and investigation is proceeding. It is learnt that the name of the assassin is Nathuram Vinayak Godse (aged 36), a Mahratta. He described himself as the Editor of a daily paper called Hindu Rashtra published in Laxmipet, Poona.


Mahatma Gandhi's five-hour funeral procession stretched over five and a half miles through the streets of Old and New Delhi, and included some 4,000 troops and more than a million mourners

Mahatma Gandhi Statues Across the World

1)In 1956 Kenya was the 1st country to have/unveil Gandhi Statue in Royal Technology College in Nairobi,Kenya

2)In 1968 England was the 2nd country to have/unveil  Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Tavistock Square Garden London,England

3)In 1984 Denmark have/unveil Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Copenhagen (Denmark)
4)In 1986 USA have/unveil Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Union Square Park, New York City,USA
5)In 1988 USA have/unveil Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Ferry Building, San Francico,USA
6)In 1990 USA have/unveil Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Kapiolani Park, Honolulu, Hawaii,USA
7)In 1993 South Africa have/unveil Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Church Street, Pietermaritzburg 
8)In 1998 USA have/unveil Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site in Atlanta, Georgia (USA)
9)In 1998 Argentina have/unveil Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Plaza Sicilia, Buenos Aires
10)In 1999 Uganda have/unveil Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Memorial Garden, Jinga
11)In 2003 USA have/unveil Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Houston Garden Center, Hermann Park, Houston, Texas,USA
12)In 2003 South Africa have/unveil Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Johannesburg
13)In 2004 USA have/unveil Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Heritage Park, Skokie, Illinois,USA
14)In 2005 USA have/unveil Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Inn Plaza, Riverside, California,USA
15)In 2006 USA have/unveil Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Indian Cultural Garden, Rockefeller Park, Cleveland, Ohio,USA
16)In 2007 Switzerland have/unveil Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Ariana Park, Geneva,Switzerland
17)In 2008 USA have/unveil Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Toledo Area Sculptors Guild,Gibsonburg, Ohio
18)In 2009 England have/unveil Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Belgrave Road, Leicester,England
19)In 2009 USA have/unveil Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Gandhi Park, Old County Courthouse, Trade & Alexander Streets, Charlotte, North Carolina (USA)

Mahatma Gandhi remembered on 143rd birth anniversary - Monday Oct 2,2012

 President Pranab Mukherjee , Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and senior BJP leader L K Advani were among the prominent people who visited Gandhi's memorial at Rajghat to offer floral tributes. 

An all-religion prayer was conducted during the remembrance ceremony. The favourite hymns of Gandhi were also played at the function. 

In Parliament House, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar led MPs in offering floral tributes at the portraits of Gandhi and former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in the Central Hall 



President Pranab Mukherjee pays floral tributes to the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary in New Delhi on Oct 2,2012

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pays floral tributes to the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary in New Delhi on Oct 2,2012

 Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi paying tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on the occasion of his 143rd birth anniversary in Gandhinagar

Sand Sculpture of Mahatma Gandhi by Deepak Mouthattil at the Shankumughom Beach in Trivandrum

Children take part in a Human Chain Against Alcohol in Salem,Tamil Nadu on Gandhi Jayanti day

Students of Bishop Heber College during the mass reading of Gandhiji's 'Sathiya Sothanai' (Tamil translation of 'My experiment with truth') in Tiruchi,Tamil Nadu