Gandhi why was he important

Gandhi strongly opposed Partition, but he agreed to it in hopes that after independence Hindus and Muslims could achieve peace internally.

Amid the massive riots that followed Partition, Gandhi urged Hindus and Muslims to live peacefully together, and undertook a hunger strike until riots in Calcutta ceased. In January , Gandhi carried out yet another fast, this time to bring about peace in the city of Delhi. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!

Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. During the march, thousands of Indians followed Gandhi from his religious retreat near Ahmedabad to the Arabian Sea Although faced with the challenge of uniting a vast population diverse in culture, language and religion, he The Taj Mahal is an enormous mausoleum complex commissioned in by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to house the remains of his beloved wife.

Constructed over a year period on the southern bank of the Yamuna River in Agra, India, the famed complex is one of the most Today, with about million followers, Hinduism is the third-largest religion behind Christianity and Islam. Gandhi was a teenage newlywed. It was an arranged marriage, and Gandhi had The Portuguese nobleman Vasco da Gama sailed from Lisbon in on a mission to reach India and open a sea route from Europe to the East.

Though the government successfully repressed the protest through its harsh methods, the impact of this protest forced the government to initiate for a compromise with Gandhi. Gandhi's idea of non-violence and truth developed during this period.

Gandhi's Satyagraha started from Champaran and kheda, where the condition of farmers was worsened by landlords mostly British by imposing taxes and leaving them in an abject poverty. T he peasants were forced to grow cash crops instead of food crops necessary for their survival, and this led to a situation of famine there.

To end that devastating famine and poverty Gandhi organized detailed survey and study, based upon which he began leading the cleaning of the villages, building of schools and hospitals, encouraging villagers to condemn and combat many social evils including pardah and untouchability. Gandhi organized protests and strikes against the landlords that resulted in to the cancellation of the revenue hikes and collection of taxes until the famine ended.

Gandhi employed non-cooperation, non-violence and peaceful resistance as the most effective weapons against the British rule. It was the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the violence that followed, after which Gandhi felt an immediate need of a selfcontrolled government and total control over all Indian government institutions. T he concept of Swaraj or complete individual, spiritual and political freedom evolved after this.

Gandhi urged the people to boycott foreign made goods, cloths, to resign from government employment and to forsake British titles and honors. He encouraged people to wear khadi clothes instead of foreign made clothes. Gandhi himself wore a traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, made with yarn he himself spun on a Charkha.

T he campaign was a big success nationwide and people from all sectors, including women of India participated in it. T he movement ended in Feb , when a violent clash in broke in Chauri chaura, Uttar Pradesh. Gandhi was arrested in March, tried for sedition and was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment. India finally gained its independence in August But Gandhi only saw it for a few months; a Hindu extremist assassinated him on January 30, Over 1.

Ascetic and unflinching, Gandhi changed the face of civil disobedience around the world. Martin Luther King, Jr. But though his legacy still resonates, others wonder whether Gandhi should be revered. Among some Indian Hindus, he remains controversial for his embrace of Muslims. Others question whether he did enough to challenge the Indian caste system.

He has also been criticized for supporting racial segregation between black and white South Africans and making derogatory remarks about black people.

Mohandas Gandhi the man was complex and flawed. However, Mahatma Gandhi the public figure left an indelible mark on the history of India and on the exercise of civil disobedience worldwide. If each puts the cause first and himself last, the vacuum will to a large extent be filled.

All rights reserved. Culture Explainer. How Mahatma Gandhi changed political protest His non-violent resistance helped end British rule in India and has influenced modern civil disobedience movements across the globe. Widely referred to as Mahatma, meaning great soul or saint in Sanskrit, Gandhi helped India reach independence through a philosophy of non-violent non-cooperation. Editor's Note: This story originally misstated how long Gandhi lived after India gained its independence.

He died a few months later. Returning to India in , he carried over his desire to improve the station of the lower classes. Gandhi quickly became a leader within the Indian National Congress, a growing political party supporting independence, and traveled widely with the party to learn about the local struggles of various Indian communities.

Finding extreme poverty and famine in his own Gujarat province, Gandhi led an initiative to clean up the area, install new schools and build hospitals. He was ultimately arrested by British-appointed landlords for causing unrest, but talked his way out of jail and negotiated better conditions for the Indian farmers. When news about this sneaky feat spread through India, he earned the nickname "Bapu" — or Father.

Indeed, Gandhi was known as much for his wit and intelligence as for his piety.