Modern Indian History

Gandhiji was born on 2nd October 1869 at Porabandar in Gujarat state. His father was Karama Chanda Gandhi, mother was Puthalibai. He got his primary education from Porbandar and his law degree from England. In 1891, he returned to India and involved in his lawyer profession in Rajkot and Mumbai. Later on as per the invitation of Dada Abdullah Company he went to South Africa as legal adviser. While in South Africa, Gandhiji was shocked to see Indians as they were living in lower level. White government racial policy was condemned by him.

Mahatma Gandhi gave the title 'Deen Bandhu' (Friend of the Poor) to C.F. Andrews, a Christian missionary and social reformer.

Harijan Sevak Sangh was a non-profit organisation founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1932 to eradicate untouchability in India. It was born out of the historic Poona Pact between Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar. Mahatma Gandhi objected to the provision of separate electorates for the Scheduled Castes granted in the Communal Award of 1932, which in his view separated them from the whole Hindu community. 

The Satyagraha Sabha was formed in Bombay in 1919 to organize opposition to the Rowlatt Act.

Satyagraha was a concept introduced in the early 20th century by Mahatma Gandhi to designate a determined but nonviolent resistance to evil. The Gandhian philosophy of satyagraha is a natural outcome of the supreme concept of truth. The satyagrahi must adhere to nonviolence. should be absolutely fearless and firm in his resolve.

The Bardoli Satyagraha was a peasants’ movement against the British government’s decision to raise land revenue. It was led by Vallabhbhai Patel, and its success gave rise to Patel becoming one of the main leaders of the independence movement. In this struggle, Vallabhbhai Patel got the title of “Sardar” by local farmers of Bardoli.

Gandhi returned his war medals and the Kaiser-I-Hind title in August 1920 to express his solidarity with the Khilafat movement and protest British policy.

Gandhiji popularised the word “Harijan”‘ meaning “the people of God”. He spent a year for their welfare in 1926. he preached that all human beings are equal and hence the Harijans too have a right for social life along with other caste groups. He went and stayed with them in their colonies, shared meals and performed all the tasks of cleaning along with them.

The Khudai Khidmatgars (“Servants of God”) was a movement led by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. It was non violently mobilized to oppose the British in India’s Northwest Frontier Province. The main goal of the Khudai Khidmatgar was to win Indian independence and reform the social, religious, political, and economic life of the Pashtuns.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale was the political guru of Mahatma Gandhi.  Gokhale was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress and founder of the Servants of India Society. On his suggestion, Gandhi had embarked on a tour of the country to observe and understand the life and miseries of ordinary Indians after his return from South Africa.

Gandhi first propagated the philosophy of Satyagraha  and propelled the country towards a no class discrimination society. The campaigners went on peaceful marches and presented themselves for arrest in protest against unjust laws. This form of action later became one of the great political tools of the 20th century.

Mahatma Gandhi was never the President of the Indian National Congress; he served as the president only once in 1924 at the Belgaum session.

The Indian Opinion was a newspaper established by Mahatma Gandhi. He decided in 1903 to launch the newspaper in response to the growing need in South Africa to voice effectively the feelings of Indians against racial intolerance of the white regime.