In the Context of the Years 1784-1947, to What Extent Was the Leadership of Gandhi the Catalyst for the Success of the Indian Independence Movement?

IN THE CONTEXT OF THE YEARS 1784-1947, TO WHAT EXTENT WAS THE

LEADERSHIP OF GANDHI THE CATALYST FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE INDIAN INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT?

Independence in India is perhaps considered the first great mankind achievement in the 20th century. It was a prelude to the actual deliverance of a number of countries throughout the world. This achievement of freedom by India from the colonial British was a unique one in the sense that it was nonviolent and devoid of bloodshed. This grand achievement is attributed to a number of great Indian leaders who made sacrifices to let this happen, including Nehru, Gandhi, Pattabhi Sitaramayya, Balagangadhar Tilak, and Tanguturi Prakasam among others.

While the British gradually moved to widen the local self-rule along particular federal sections, British power met an increasing challenge by the rise of local movements that challenged the existing authority. The growth of a modern Indian nationalism started as a result of education among the Indian elites and Western culture influence. This led to the formation of liberation groups such as Indian National Congress and Arya Samaj. The Congress grew in popularity and transformed into a movement that led to campaigns for greater self-rule. Under the stewardship of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (who was later known as Mahatma to mean Great Soul), alongside other leaders, the Congress started attracting the masses in the 1930s. The strategies were considered successful as Gandhi and his team led non-cooperation, self-help, nonviolent struggle, development of cottage industries, and education campaigns. This document unearths the notion as to whether or not Gandhi catalysed the success of the struggle for independence in India.

Having studied law in India, he was unsuccessful as an attorney in Bombay. Having noticed his failures in India, he took up an assignment in South Africa. When he first boarded the train to South Africa, he was unaware of the racial intolerance that he would meet in the country. An incident on the train would later shape his thinking and activities as a human rights activist. Gandhi took up leadership of the protest campaigns by South Africans and with time, he developed his tenets and techniques of nonviolent resistance, which he termed satyagraha (steadfastness in truth). Though he recognised as being influenced by the works of Henry David Thoreau and Leo Tolstoy, he conceived that the strategy could go further. His core contribution to the contemporary social issues was his use of a new conflict paradigm that mixed the pacifist and warrior motifs. While the views and actions of Gandhi had a direct impact on how Indians in South Africa were treated, they had long-term repercussions across the world.

On his return to India in 1915, Gandhi became more involved in organising labour movements. The 1919 Amritsar massacre, where the British troops killed hundreds of demonstrators, turned Gandhi to a stronger political protestor. In a year, Gandhi was the dominant individual in the Indian National Congress (INC), in which he launched on the premise of non-cooperation with the British colonialists in 1920-1922. Despite the abolishment of non-cooperation as a strategy, Gandhi went ahead with civil disobedience, organising mass action against British measures considered unpopular, such as the Salt tax in 1930.