Role of Gandhi in India’s Freedom Struggle
The person who will head the list of people for their contribution to India it will be none other than Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Not just because he is the Father of the Nation but his immense contribution to the country not just in terms of struggle for freedom but his ideologies and thoughts which changed the map of our country. When he took the charge of Indian National Congress it was a turning point in its history due to his enormous following, his spiritual powers and his non-violent means of fighting.
Gandhi introduced the concept of Satyagraha. Which appealed to the common masses who were largely pious and religious. Gandhi adhered to a strictly non-violent protest. No matter what happened he never diverted from his ideologies and every time he was successful. Gandhiji always followed the path of non-violence or Ahimsa. His tactic of passive resistance or Satyagraha was his weapon to fight against the British rule.
Swaraj for Gandhi meant self-rule, as much a moral and personal ethic, the self-rule of an individual over his own impulses and weaknesses, as the political objective of a people struggling rightfully to be free – an ambiguity which Gandhi was repeatedly to exploit during his Non-cooperation and Civil Disobedience Movements.
Gandhiji and his ideologies were quite successful among the common masses. He planned to win leadership of those organizations, which fitted his grand purpose, the achievement of Swaraj.
Gandhiji made very valuable contribution, firstly, to frame the secular agenda within the parameters of the Indian cultural tradition, and subscribed to the dictum of Sarva dharma sambhava i. e. equal respect for all religions. Secondly, he gave an indigenous content to the concept of nationhood, arguing that it was the common heritage of a highly pluralistic, multicultural civilisation, which provided the necessary clue to hold the Indian people together, as against the Western concept of ‘nations’ being one race, one religion and one language. He always believed in the idea of ‘unity’ in diversity.
All his life he battled against the cult of violence and war; against cruelty of man to man; against industrialism and domination of man by machine; inequality and discrimination. His fight to give equal rights to each and every person of the society irrespective of which strata they belong made him immortal among us. He tried to attained moksha by service to mankind. Gandhiji portrays a multi-faceted moral and spiritual messiah. His tireless endeavor to make people understand the basic happiness of life is to be happy with whatever you have, thus showing the only way to save the world.
