Gandhi did not stop at the poor he went a caste lower to the untouchables, a caste that was thought to be less then human. He was able to uplift their status and slowly have them viewed as real people. Gandhi called them the Harijans meaning the children of god. By Gandhi helping the untouchables and preaching their worth others slowly began to accept them as Gandhi was. This brought unity within all of India because it meant that all could get along. There were no more civil fights within the country allowing for togetherness. With this new found unity it brought strength that was used to defeat the British.
Another group of people on Gandhi’s list were women. Women were never seen as important or of value. As with the untouchables and the poor Gandhi shot this idea aside. Gandhi said, “If women start contributing their share in every field of service which is safe for them, our capacity for work will be doubled (4).” He released women’s potential and put it to use. With both man and women helping to achieve independence Gandhi’s force doubled in numbers. With the greater numbers more was able to be done. The British would rarely arrest women, when most of the men had been the women were able to keep things running. By adding women into the equation India was able to work more efficiently and grow in numbers.
Perhaps Gandhi’s greatest accomplishment was his unification of the Hindu and Muslim population. Before these two cultures were unified it was almost as if India was split in two. The two cultures were constantly at war creating a dysfunctional nation. By unifying the two Gandhi was able to get the country functioning as a whole. Gandhi brought the two together by using fasts as threats and by traveling all over India preaching his ideas. The togetherness Gandhi created by bringing the two opposing cultures together was a big contributing factor in the liberation of India; it allowed the country to work as one. It should be noted that by the time India was granted its Independence the unity between these two cultures no longer existed despite Gandhi’s best efforts.
By unifying the untouchables, men and women and the Hindus and Muslims Gandhi was able to create a stronger whole. He harnessed the qualities and strengths of all to create an unstoppable force. This unification brought togetherness, efficiency, strength and the ability to work as one. Without all of the things that resulted in Gandhi’s unification of his people it is very possible that India would not have achieved independence.
Gandhi was able steer India in the direction of Indian independence by reforming the Indian National Congress to which he was elected in 1921. Before Gandhi was elected the Indian National congress had little appeal and was not able to accomplish much. Gandhi was able to breathe life into the Congress. When Gandhi was elected one of the first things he did was reach out to people living in remote areas. Gandhi had always thought that rural India was the backbone of the country and now he was able to fully utilize them (5). Gandhi opened new party branches in various areas. He made it easier for others to join by lowering the membership fee. Congress began to grow in popularity and membership multiplied. The party gained national dimension and a large following. From Gandhi’s position he was able to spread his word quickly, what he said was highly respected. By reforming the Indian National Congress Gandhi was able to hold more authority and have a platform for his ideas. This allowed for his words and ideas to be spread quickly all throughout of India. This meant that India was able to take fast action against the British with a large group of people.
Gandhi had now obtained a large following but there were still more problems within the Congress that needed to be addressed. Gandhi restructured the party hierarchy so that the Congress was able to run smoothly. He fostered new leaders in order to create a stronger whole and a promising future. The Indian National Congress was at the core of India and Gandhi was able to harness its power to use against the British.
Throughout Gandhi’s life he ran a vast number of protests ranging from small scale to large scale. Gandhi’s protests worked to hinder the British and make them fearful of India. All of Gandhi’s protests had certain things in common. None of them used violence and all used passive resistance, weapons were never and no one was meant to fight back. In 1919 Gandhi coined the phrase “non-cooperation” which he said was, “a tangible form of showing ones displeasure at the acts of ones government (6).” In 1920 this became the slogan for the Indian National Congress and it became a movement. People stopped paying taxes, they would take off their British clothes put them into piles and burn them. They were encouraged to wear khadi, home spun cloth. Children would no longer go to school and many people stopped going to work. The British needed the Indians and the work they did for them, without the Indians cooperating it made it hard to control them. Nothing they did worked to stop our contain the British.
One of Gandhi’s largest protests in particular was his Salt March which took place over 24 days. Gandhi’s Salt March was a reaction to the heavy salt taxes being imposed on the Indians. The main idea behind the March was to embarrass the British government and provide inspiration throughout India (7). On March 12 1930 Gandhi with 80 people from his ashram started walking towards the sea. Along the way they picked up more then 1000 people and by April 5th they arrived at the sea. The next morning 1000’s gathered round as Gandhi bent down to scoop up the first handful of salt. This action started nation wide disobedience as hundreds of thousands bent down to produce their own salt and then sell it. Close to 60 000 people were arrested but this did not matter because the goal of the salt march had been achieved. The Salt March had convinced Indians that they could win against the British and it convinced many British officers that they could not hold India down by force.
Another important protest was the Quit India act which occurred on July 14th 1942. This protest was not peaceful but had Gandhi not implemented it at the time he did it may have taken India a much longer time to achieve its independence. This protest worked in the beginning as Gandhi had intended it to but as it went on it became increasingly violent. The intention for this protest was the same as all the others but the people of India were tired of waiting for their independence. They had been fighting for 24 years and now they just wanted to see an end.
The British were left exhausted after the end of the war in Europe and they had little fight left. When violence broke out in India they were to weakened to handle it properly. Britain realized that the violence would not stop until independence was granted to India. On May 1945 the British government announced that their intention was to grant Indian independence as soon as possible. While this event can not be classified as peaceful it worked to brake down the British. It acted as the final straw in the fight for Indian Independence. Gandhi knew that the British were weakened. He knew that if a campaign was started the British would not be able to handle it to the best of their abilities and this is the brilliance behind the Quit India act.
The last of Gandhi’s protests were his fasts. Gandhi used his fasts as weapons against his own people. He used them to control his people and their actions. It was because Gandhi was so well respected by his people that his fasts had such big effects. When Gandhi fasted he asked for non violence towards the British as well as non violence between his people. Throughout Gandhi’s life he had three major fasts, one in autumn of 1924 to encourage nonviolence, one in September of 1932 for the conditions of the untouchables and one in September of 1947 to end Hindu Muslim violence. Each of Gandhi’s fasts were meet with great results. For example, when Gandhi fasted for the untouchables he was able to get a representative for both the untouchables and the higher castes to meet and work out an agreement. These fasts used as protests kept Gandhi’s people in line and in a state that was fit to fight the British.
Everything Gandhi did was highly calculated and well thought out. His masterful leadership brought about the unification of this countries people, the reformation Indian National Congress and the peaceful protests leading to the freedom of India. Gandhi restored self respect within India. He showed his county what it could accomplish. Gandhi brought out the courage and strength within his people. Gandhi was revered by his country until his death on January 30, 1948. In a public announcement on that day Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru spoke these words,
[Gandhi] represented the living truth, and the eternal man that was with us with his eternal truth reminding us of the right path, drawing us from error, taking this ancient country to freedom. (8)
