Special on Gandhi Jayanti 2023

Special on Gandhi Jayanti 2023

Why In News?

The 154th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi was celebrated on October 2, 2023.
Along with Mahatma Gandhi, tribute was also paid to former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on this day.

Important point:

Mahatma Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 in Porbandar (Gujarat).
He was a famous lawyer, politician, social worker and writer, who played an important role in India’s nationalist movement against British rule.
In South Africa (1893-1915) he established a new method of mass movement i.e. ‘Satyagraha’ and successfully fought the racist regime with it.
Under the idea of ’Satyagraha’, the need for ‘power of truth’ and ‘pursuit of truth with non-violence’ was emphasized.
‘International Day of Non-Violence’ is organized all over the world on 02 October on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.
The ‘Gandhi Peace Prize’ is awarded annually for bringing about social, economic and political change through non-violence and other Gandhian methods.
Gandhiji returned to India from South Africa on January 9, 1915. ‘Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas’ is organized every year on 9 January to mark the contribution of the overseas Indian community in the development of India.

Satyagraha movement in India under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi:

In the year 1917, he traveled to Champaran in Bihar to inspire the farmers to struggle against the oppressive system of indigo cultivation.
In the year 1917, he organized a Satyagraha to support the farmers of Kheda district of Gujarat. Farmers of Kheda, affected by crop failure and plague epidemic, could not pay the revenue and were demanding some relaxation in revenue collection.
In the year 1918, he went to Ahmedabad for Satyagraha movement among cotton mill workers.
In the year 1919 he decided to launch a nationwide Satyagraha against the ‘Proposed Rowlatt Act’ (1919).
Under this Act, the government was given high powers to suppress political activities and was allowed to detain political prisoners without trial for up to two years.
The infamous Jallianwala Bagh incident took place on April 13, 1919. Seeing the violence spreading, Mahatma Gandhi called off the movement (April 18, 1919).

Non-cooperation Movement (1920-22):

At the Calcutta session of the Congress in September, 1920 he convinced other leaders of the need to launch a non-cooperation movement in support of Khilafat and Swaraj.
The non-cooperation program was adopted in the Congress session in Nagpur in December 1920.
After the Chauri-Chaura incident in February, 1922, Mahatma Gandhi decided to withdraw the non-cooperation movement.

Civil disobedience movement:

In 1930, Gandhiji announced that he would lead a march to break the salt law.
They marched from the Sabarmati Ashram to the coastal city of Dandi in Gujarat, where they broke government law by collecting natural salt found on the seashore and boiling the sea water to produce salt.
This incident marks the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement.
In 1931, Gandhiji accepted a ceasefire (Gandhi-Irwin Pact) and ended civil disobedience and agreed to attend the second ‘Round Table Conference’ in London as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress.

Quit India Movement:

The nationalist struggle in India entered its last significant phase with the outbreak of the Second World War (1939–45).
The failure of the ‘Cripps’ Mission (March 1942), the British reluctance to transfer power to the Indians and the encouragement given by high British officials to conservative and communal forces promoting discord between Hindus and Muslims, led Gandhiji to immediately appeal to the British in 1942. Encouraged to demand withdrawal, which later became known as ‘Quit India Movement’.

Books: Hind Swaraj, My Experiments with Truth (Autobiography).

Death: Shot dead by Nathuram Godse on January 30, 1948.