The Rise of Mahatma Gandhi

Woman Weaves Handspun Cotton Under Gandhi's Bust. People from all walks of life followed Gandhi's ideals

Mohandas Gandhi's taking helm of INC was a turning point in its history due to his enormous following, his spiritual powers and his non-violent means of fighting. Gandhi introduced the concept of Satyagraha (roughly translated as rightful demand : see Gandhi's comments on Satyagraha) which appealed to the common Indians who were largely pious and religious.

Gandhi adhered to a strictly non-violent protest. Every time a disturbing incident broke out, he suspended his actions, fasted and prayed for peace. and every time he was successful.

Mohandas Gandhi: Biography

In South Africa

Educated in India and in London, he was admitted to the English bar in 1889 and practiced law unsuccessfully in India for two years. In 1893 he went to South Africa, where he was later joined by his wife and children. There he became a successful lawyer and leader of the Indian community and involved himself in the fight to end discrimination against the country's Indian minority. In South Africa he read widely, drawing inspiration from such sources as the Bhagavad-Gita, John Ruskin, Leo Tolstoy, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau, and his personal philosophy underwent significant changes. He abandoned (c.1905) Western ways and thereafter lived abstemiously (including celibacy); this became symbolized in his eschewal of material possessions and his dress of loincloth and shawl. While in South Africa he organized (1907) his first satyagraha [holding to the truth], a campaign of civil disobedience expressed in nonviolent resistance to what he regarded as unjust laws. So successful were his activities that he secured (1914) an agreement from the South African government that promised the alleviation of anti-Indian discrimination.

Return to India

He returned (1915) to India with a stature equal to that of the nationalist leaders Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Gandhi actively supported the British in World War I in the hope of hastening India's freedom, but he also led agrarian and labor reform demonstrations that embarrassed the British. The Amritsar massacre of 1919 stirred Indian nationalist consciousness, and Gandhi organized several satyagraha campaigns. He discontinued them when, against his wishes, violent disorder ensued.

His program included a free, united India; the revival of cottage industries, especially of spinning and the production of handwoven cloth (khaddar); and the abolition of untouchability (see caste). These ideas were widely and vigorously espoused, although they also met considerable opposition from some Indians. The title Mahatma [great soul] reflected personal prestige so high that he could unify the diverse elements of the organization of the nationalist movement, the Indian National Congress, which he dominated from the early 1920s.

In 1930, in protest against the government's salt tax, he led the famous 200-mi (320-km) march to extract salt from the sea. For this he was imprisoned but was released in 1931 to attend the London Round Table Conference on India as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress. When the Congress refused to embrace his program in its entirety, Gandhi withdrew (1934), but his influence was such that Jawaharlal Nehru, his protégé, was named leader of the organization.

Indian Independence

In 1942, after rejection of his offer to cooperate with Great Britain in World War II if the British would grant immediate independence to India, Gandhi called for satyagraha and launched the Quit India movement. He was then interned until 1944. Gandhi was a major figure in the postwar conferences with the viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, and Muslim League leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah that led to India's independence and the carving out of a separate Muslim state (Pakistan), although Gandhi vigorously opposed the partition.

When violence broke out between Hindus and Muslims, Gandhi resorted to fasts and tours of disturbed areas to check it. On Jan. 30, 1948, while holding a prayer and pacification meeting at New Delhi, he was fatally shot by a Hindu fanatic who was angered by Gandhi's solicitude for the Muslims. After his death his methods of nonviolent civil disobedience were adopted by protagonists of civil rights in the United States and by many protest movements throughout the world.

Bibliography

See his autobiography (tr. 1927, repr. 1966); his collected works (50 vol., 1958–72); selected writings, ed. by R. Duncan (1972); R. N. Iyer, ed., The Moral and Political Writings of Mahatma Gandhi (3 vol., 1986–87) and The Essential Writings of Mahatma Gandhi (1991) ; biographies by D. G. Tendulkar (8 vol., 1951–54), B. R. Nanda (1958, repr. 1989), L. Fisher (1959), G. Ashe (1969), and S. Wolpert (2001); studies by J. V. Bondurant (rev. ed. 1965), E. Erikson (1969), and J. M. Brown (1972).

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Quite a Memorable Year for Indian Community

It has been quite an exhilerating ride for the Indian community in Cleveland. In October, a magnificent statue of Mahatma Gandhi was dedicated at the India Cultural Garden in Rockefeller Park. Considering the influence of Mahatma Gandhi on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement, it is interesting that the statue is located off Martin Luther King Boulevard.

The 10-ft bronze statue, by world famous sculptor Gautam Pal of Kolkatta (formerly known as Calcutta) is the first Gandhi statue in Ohio. Mr. Ronen Sen, India's ambassador to the U.S., Rev. Dr. Otis Moss, Jr, pastor of the Olivet Institutional Baptist Church, U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Cleveland City Council Majority Leader Sabra Pierce Scott unveiled the statue, capping an emotional day for the Indian community.

The dedication was held as part of One World Day, the annual celebration of Cleveland's ethnic diversity. The India garden hosted the event to highlight the significance of adding Mahatma Gandhi, the icon of peace to the landscape of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens, whose motto is: "Peace Through Mutual Understanding".

Earlier in the day, soil from India was added to a crypt at the American Legion garden that contains soil from the other countries represented in the Cleveland Cultural Gardens. This was the first time the ceremony, symbolic of the unity of cultures, had been performed in almost 50 years. Soil from the Gandhi Museum in Madurai, and the Gandhi Ashram in Sabarmati, India had been brought to Cleveland for the ceremony, which was conducted by Ambassador Ronen Sen.

In December, Indian born entreprenuer Monte Ahuja, Chairman and CEO of Transtar Industries and his wife, Usha Ahuja announced a $30 million gift to University Hospitals of Cleveland, the largest single gift in the hospital's 140-year history. In recognition of the gift, the soon to be built 200 bed hospital in Beachwood will be named the Ahuja Medical Center. The Ahujas are major supporters of the Indian community-- Mr. Ahuja is a past president of the Federation of India Community Associations, better known as FICA, and Mrs. Ahuja served as the Chair of the Board of Trustees.

Later in December, Dr. Mohan Reddy, Professor of Technology Management at Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management, was appointed as the Dean of the school. He had been serving as the interim dean since August. Dr. Reddy, a graduate of the University of Mysore, India joined CWRU in 1985, and has been the recipient of multiple teaching excellence awards. He also serves as a director of several local companies.

Highlighting the contributions of the large number of Indian physicians in the Cleveland area, Dr. Arun Singh, director of Ophthalmic Oncology at the Cole Eye Institute at the Cleveland Clinic was appointed as the editor of the British Journal of Ophthalmology, an international peer-reviewed publication for clinical and laboratory investigations. Dr. Singh received his medical degree from Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research in Pondicherry, India.

The pride of the community was evident at the annual celebration of India's Republic Day, which attracted a large number of attendees on a cold, snowy night in January. Former Congressman Louis Stokes, who was the featured speaker, spoke of the progress that India has made in recent years and the buzz that it has created. To those in attendance, the momentum of the past few months was unmistakable....

Mahatma Gandhi on list of 100 greatest South Africans

Mahatma Gandhi on list of 100 greatest South Africans
Mahatma Gandhi is up against a pioneering surgeon, a golfer, a cleric and President Thabo Mbeki on a shortlist of nine people to find the second greatest South African of all time.

Former president Nelson Mandela was voted the top man by an overwhelming margin when the list of the greatest 100 South Africans was announced by the South African Broadcasting Corporation's SABC3 channel on Sunday.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the lawyer who was destined to become the Mahatma, was the only nominee in the top 100 who was not born in South Africa.

The role that Gandhi played in the freedom struggle in South Africa was highlighted by his selection as a finalist in the top ten. He also got more votes than other great South African leaders and contemporaries of Mandela like Walter Sisulu and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Chief Albert Luthuli.

The other contenders are: Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, former wife of Nelson Mandela; former state president FW de Klerk; golfing legend Gary Player; former Archbishop Desmond Tutu and deceased nominees Chris Barnard, who performed the world's first heart transplant, Xolani Nkosi Johnson, a young lad who won millions of hearts with his public appearances speaking about fighting HIV/AIDS before succumbing to it and former prime minister Jan Smuts.