Contribution of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi - Essay Example

Topic: My Superhero My superhero is Gandhi. His full is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Hindu by religion). He was born on 2 October, 1869 in Porbandar, Gujrat in India. The prime ministry of principality was given to his father and his mother was a religious women. Therefore, the whole family including Gandhi was very religious. He was brought in an atmosphere where he was taught to be nonviolent. It was due to the specific branch of Hinduism where non-violence is heavily emphasized. He was a lawyer by profession and had been trained in London, U.K. The reasons I choose him to be my superhero are two. First, he fought for the civil rights of Indians who migrated from India in South Africa. Secondly, he also led the liberation movement in India against British Colonial rule till 1947 when British were forced to free India (Gandhi, 2006). Gandi was a lay man and his thinking after become the leader display his thinking about a peaceful society. I love his way to lead the society. He is educated lay man leader. His first act after returning from South Africa is to lead the movement against the government for the cause of having reduced land taxes upon the Indian citizens. He used the method of nonviolence and civil disobedience in the subcontinent against British rulers. It was the era when there two world wars were fought. Millions of people were killed in these two wars all over the world. Most of the nations were running through the lines of hatred, violence and war. In this situation, he was the one who developed the nonviolent technique to fight for rights. This thinking of nonviolence was the most loved and appreciated quality and his out of the box perspective towards an important movement. He did not do communalism i.e. religion basing upon religious beliefs. He did not discriminate people on the basis of caste, creed or religion. He even protested and led the movement against the weakening of the Caliphate system (Islamic System) in Turkey after the World War I (Pilisuk & Nagler, 2011). He was also elected as the leader of Indian National Congress in 1921 and became the leader of this movement from the Hindu side. He also led various campaigns all over India on the basis of increasing poverty, having more independence for women, unifying and generating peace between different ethnic and religious groups, elimination of the concept of untouchbility relieving million of people from the cruel behavior of the society, having more economic boom and self-sufficiency. All of his protests were seldom involved any violent perspective in order to achieve rights from the government (Herman, 2008). His foremost contribution for his people was to force British colonizers to make an independent India for Hindu community. This describes him as a change maker in the world. It was an attempt made for the betterment of India and refrain from the domination of British people in India. His plan was to fight for freedom but through a non-violent movement. It was his best self core values that eventually brought his nation independence in 1947 from the British colonial rule. This capability of Gandhi distinguishes him among all the freedom fighter around the world until the early 20th century. His non-violence behavior can be described by one of his sayings: “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”. He demonstrated violence as the most important problem in the world that is generating continuous problems for people. This can only be solved by its counter-part i.e. following the path of non-violence. This is the only mechanism, according to him, which can bring peace and harmony in the world. After his success as a leader of India, he became very popular all around the world and he was described as a nonviolent person fighting for his nation’s rights. Many leaders like Martin Luther king in U.S. and Yasir Arafat in Palestine followed the footsteps of Gandhi and tried to free their community from the slavery of another nation. There were many hurdles he had to face in his protests against the British government. The government imprisoned him several times and blamed him for political offenses. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at that time had ridiculed him by saying that he is half naked fakir (Beggar). He was sometimes also criticized from his own community for having a soft corner for other people of different religions such as Muslims and Sikhs. However, he stood up in all the situations. His determination for non-violence and truth never ended. He always advised others to do the same practice. His determination can be demonstrated by the protests of National salt tax where he and his companions went almost 400 kilometers in 1930. This protest is usually known as Dandi Salt March. He also used peaceful protests and demanded from the British authorities to stop the World War II. This protest is known as Quit India protest (Herman, 2008) (Richard Toye, 2010). His personal life was also very simple and modest. He does not wear expensive clothes rather he always used his traditional Indian dress i.e. Dhoti and Shawl. He was immensely impressed by the village traditions of India that endorsed self-sufficient behavior. He used to be self-sufficient in every matter of life and preached others to do the same. He was a man of principles and due to this, he sometimes argued with the decisions of his other party members. For example, once one of his disciples introduced the concept of industrialization programs in the villages of India but he disagreed to him publicly on the basis of self-sufficiency. According to him, industrialization is making people dependent upon another person, which will bring insecurity in the lives of people financially and socially. He also showed his concerns upon the issue of area of border at the time of partition and feared that it will lead to mass bloodshed (Herman, 2008). On 30 January 1948, he was killed by a Hindu extremist in India as extremists were thinking that Gandhi was more inclined towards Muslims and favoring them. His life is less theoretical but more practical, giving a perfect example of perfect personality. This day is now remembered as a Martyrs’ day and he is now known as the father of the nation (Allen, 2008). Bibliography DESAI, M. (1997). The story of my experiments with truth. Holy Books , 140. Read More