Mahatma Gandhi : Father of
the Nation
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in the town of Porbander in the state
of Gujarat on 2 October 1869. He studied law at University College, London.
In 1891, after having been admitted to the British bar, Gandhi returned to
India and attempted to establish a law practice in Bombay, with little
success. He went to South Africa to wrork but found himself treated very
shabbily and like someone of inferior race.
This realization changed the face of Indian dependence and freedom
struggle.
Political Awakening
Gandhi emerged as the leader of the Indian community, and it is in South
Africa that he first coined the term satyagraha to signify his theory and
practice of non-violent resistance. Gandhi returned to India in early 1915
ver the next few years, he was to become involved in numerous local
struggles all over the country. Gandhi became the international symbol of a
free India. He lived a spiritual and ascetic life of prayer, fasting, and
meditation.
In 1921 the Indian National Congress, the group that spearheaded the
movement for nationhood, gave Gandhi complete executive authority, with the
right of naming his own successor.
The British government again seized and imprisoned him in 1922 for the
failure of the civil disobedience movement.
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
disturbances ceased. On January 13, 1948, he undertook another
successful fast in New Delhi to bring about peace, but on January 30, 12
days after the termination of that fast, as he was on his way to his
evening prayer meeting, he was assassinated by a fanatic Hindu. 