what do you think about the sudden appearance of Mahatma Gandhi in Indian freedom struggle
Answers
Introduction
Mahatma Gandhi was born Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi on
2nd October at Porbandar located in Gujarat. He went off to
South Africa after marriage and worked as barrister there for
twenty years. In South Africa, he had his first brush with
apartheid. Once while he was traveling in a train, he was
thrown out of the first class compartment despite having a
ticket. This made him swear that he would do his best to erase
apartheid from the face of his world. He went back to India
only to find that his own country was being ruled by the
British and his fellow citizens were being treated harshly by
the British.
Some of the major movements and freedom struggles led by
him are discussed below.
Civil Disobedience Movement
Gandhi again took off with another nonviolent movement
known as the civil disobedience movement. This movement
was more active than the non-cooperation movement and
brought about a revolution of sorts. This movement aimed at
bringing the British administration to a stop by withdrawing
support from everything. There was agitation against land
revenue, abolition of salt tax, cutting down military
expenditure, levying duty on foreign cloth, etc. A very
important movement was that of Salt Satyagraha where
Gandhi undertook the Dandi march as a protest against the
Salt tax.
Quit India Movement
The Quit India Movement was launched under the leadership
of Mahatma Gandhi in August 1942. The main aim for
launching this movement was to bring the British to negotiate
with the Indian leaders. It was a call for immediate
independence of India and the slogan of "Do or Die" was
adopted for the same. However the leaders were arrested soon
after Gandhi's speech and were put in jail by British officials.
Gandhi went on a fast for 21 days demanding the release of
the leaders despite his failing health. The British had to secure
the release of the leaders.
General Dyer, the military commander of Amritsar decided to
teanwala Bagh was a large open space which was enclosed
on three sides by buildings and had only one exit. He
surrounded the Bagh with his army unit, closed the exit with
his troops, and then ordered his men to shoot into the trapped
crowd with rifles and machine-guns. Thousands were killed
and wounded. After this massacre, martial law was
proclaimed throughout the Punjab and the people were
submitted to the most uncivilized atrocities. Popular shock
was expressed by Rabindranath Tagore who renounced his
knighthood in protest.