Analyse and explain the role of non-violence in the life of M.K. Gandhi.

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A.ii. Analyse and explain the role of non-violence in the life of M.K. Gandhi

“I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and Non-violence are as old as the hills. All I have done is to try experiments in both on as vast a scale as I could.” M.K. Gandhi

 

One of the first uses of a non-violent protest in the life of M.K. Gandhi was when he was living in South Africa. The government announced that all Indians living in South Africa had to carry identity cards. One of the first encounters that Gandhi had with racism and prejudice was when he was travelling first class on a train. Gandhi refused to move when asked to do so, until he was thrown off the train because he wasn’t sitting in the place that the Indians had been made to sit. This angered Gandhi a lot, it was because of this that made him want to gain equality among Indian citizens and therefore he encouraged Indians to burn their identity cards, for which he was beaten by the police officers that were watching then he was thrown in jail.

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 Gandhi was a perfect karma yogi, he believed in Ashram - which was a community where everyone lived as equals as he thought everyone deserved respect as they were all children of God. On this belief he renamed the ‘untouchables’ the Harijans, because he wanted them to be able to mix freely with society and go into temples.

 He said:

“I believe that if untouchability is really rooted out it with purge India of a terrible blot. My fight against untouchability is a fight against the impure in humanity…My fast is based on the cause of faith in the ...

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