History of Mohandas Gandhi

During the occupation of India by the British, Mohandas Gandhi was seen as a spiritual leader and a key political figure. When Gandhi first worked in South Africa, he observed that many innocent people faced discrimination and prejudice from the British. When he returned to India, he was determined to help in the struggle to gain independence for India. Gandhi felt that it was his responsibility to fight for his people, but by exercising compromise and non-violence. He lived his life by negotiation and cooperation, while the British government used aggressive forces and racism against him and his followers. He decided to become the organizer of the Indian National Congress, whose goal was to gain India's freedom from foreign control (Tammita-Delgoda 184-5). Gandhi was a strong believer in finding the truth in everything, and he opposed the efforts of prominent troops trying to control the Indians. When Gandhi applied the principles of nonviolence to foreign dominance, he helped India reclaimed its faith and courage to defy the power and strength of the British. Gandhi was essential to India obtaining independence from Britain.

Mohandas Gandhi started his life in India and studied there and in London where he became a lawyer. He put his skills to use when he went to South Africa and became the leader of the Indian community who faced discrimination due to their minority status (Metcalf 167). Gandhi spent a total of twenty years in South Africa pursuing his vision of a new society (Metcalf 170). In 1893, Gandhi was thrown off the train heading towards Pretoria where he was in a compartment where only white people could travel and his first-class ticket was held against him (Gandhi 130). The effects of this event led Gandhi to help Indians against discrimination. From 1893-1914, Gandhi spent his time in South Africa promoted his beliefs of complete transformation within the society to gain true independence from the British (Metcalf 171). But Gandhi sought after a moral transformation, rather than a political one. He utilized the ideas of ‘satyagraha,' which translates to truth-force, and also used the approach of ‘passive resistance' which he felt would ensure self-rule for the Indians (Metcalf 171). This was just the beginning of the Indian nationalist movement and the measures Gandhi took to help liberate the Indians from their plight.

Upon Gandhi's return to India in 1915, the independence movement took full effect. Although the Indian National Congress was formed in 1885, it was a vital aspect in the liberation of the Indians (Tammita-Delgoda 184). This organization became the main instrument of the independence movement according to Sinharaja Tammita-Delgoda, author of A Traveller's History of India. This group of people, including Gandhi, wanted limited reform so that they could have a say in important decisions that would directly affect their lives (Tammita-Delgoda 185). The founding members of