Gandhi and the Indian Struggle for Freedom
At the time of his return to India, Gandhi was already a well-known name in international political circlse, having led successful political movements on the behalf of the Indians settled in South Africa. His first duty in India was to make a nation wide tour following the advice of his political mentor and Indian National Congress leader, Sri Gopal Krishna Gokhale. The tour re-affirmed in Gandhi's mind his faith in satyagraha, as he found India to be economically weak and morally emasculated for any form of revolution against the mighty British army. He understood that the greatest strength that India had was its spiritual and moral strength and it is with such spiritual force alone that India could challenge the oppressive colonial regime. Gandhi's first direct involvement in Indian politics was when he lead the revolution of the indigo farmers at Champaran in 1918 and then the peasant revolutions at Ahmedabad and Kheda in Gujarat. He met with success at both the places and was immediately hailed as the new guiding light in Indian politics. Although his methods of picketing and passive resistance were first rejected by the extremist among the Congress ranks, there was no one in the party at that time to rival his leadership skills. There was something about Gandhi that immediately instilled faith among his followers. Gandhi worked hard to take the revolution to the masses in the villages of India, which he believed to be the greatest repositories of strength in the country. Being elected as the president of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi immediately started to bring about rapid changes in the party hierarchy and methods, in a bid to take the revolution to the masses. He changed the Congress from an elite platform to a party of the Indian masses. The Rowlatt Act of 1920 infuriated the Indians, and Gandhiji immediately launched the non-cooperation movement against it, based on his ideals of non-violence and satyagraha. The movement was received with unprecedented enthusiasm across the nation and the Indian national movement took on a dimension that it never had before. However, unfortunate incidents of violence at Cauri Chaura forced him to call off the revolution when at its height. This did not go down well many Congress leaders but Gandhiji knew that any armed form of revolution would never make it possible for India to gain freedom.
In the mean time, Gandhi created his ashram at Sabarmati, based on his ideals of satyagraha. Gandhi believed political activism to be an extension of spiritual strength, and a morally weak individual, or nation by extension, will never be able to stand for the right. His primary objective was to strengthen the people of his country, who would be courageous enough to tread on the stormy path of satyagraha. Gandhi started his second major political activism, the Civil Disobedience movement against the Simon Commission and the Amritsar massacre, from the Sabarmati ashram by violating the British Salt laws. It created widespread agitation throughout the country, and the British government was forced to initiate the first round table conference leading to the Gandhi-Irwin pact. According to the terms laid down by this pact, Gandhi traveled to England in 1931 as the sole Congress representative to attend the second round table conference. It was a failure and Gandhi returned empty-handed.
Gandhi kept himself aloof from direct involvement in the Indian political scenario for some time. During this time he worked diligently, with his base at Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat, to bring about reforms in every sphere of Indian life and to eradicate social evils like untouchability and discrimination against women. Gandhi's one last shot at the Indian Nationalist movement was the Quit India movement, following the same ideals of secularism and non-violence. Picketing and resistance to government rules were rampant. Independence finally came in August, 1947, but at the cost of partition, making separate nations for Hindus and Muslims, much to Gandhi's dismay.
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