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Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

(1869 - 1948)

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was one of the founding fathers of the modern Indian state and an influential advocate of pacifism as a means of revolution.

Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869, in Gujarat, India. He was the son of a local official and trained as a lawyer in London. He went to South Africa to practise law in 1893 and began his political career by lobbying against laws discriminating against Indians in South Africa.

During World War I, Gandhi returned to India, where he campaigned for Indians to join British Indian Army. After the war, he became involved with the Indian National Congress and the movement for independence. He gained worldwide publicity through his policy of civil disobedience and the use of fasting as a form of protest, and was repeatedly imprisoned by the British authorities. One of his most striking actions was the salt march that started on March 12, 1930 and ending on April 5, when he led thousands of people to the sea to collect their own salt rather than pay the salt tax. On May 8, 1933 Gandhi began a fast that would last 21 days to protest British oppression in India. In Bombay, on March 3, 1939 Gandhi fasted again in protest of the autocratic rule in India.

Gandhi became even more vocal in his demand for independence during World War II, drafting a resolution calling for the British to Quit India, which soon sparked the largest movement for Indian independence ever, with mass arrests and violence on an unprecedented scale. During this time, he even hinted an end for his otherwise unwavering support of non-violence, saying that the 'ordered anarchy' around him was 'worse than real anarchy'.

The news of Gandhi's assassination hits the streets. A stunned crowd gathers in Calcutta

Gandhi was vehemently opposed to any plan which partitioned India into two separate countries (as the plan which was eventually adopted did--creating a Hindu-dominated India, and a Muslim-dominated Pakistan). On the day of power transfer, Gandhi did not celebrate independence with the rest of India, but mourned partition alone in Calcutta instead. He was assassinated by Naturam Godse, a Hindu radical who held him responsible for Partition, in New Delhi on January 30, 1948.

Richard Attenborough directed the film 'Gandhi'. Ben Kingsley played the title role.