Assassination of Mahatama Gandhi

BY ABDUR-RAHMIN, FATIMAH / AKOBARDIYA, LIANAKHAN, IMRAN / PASQUAROSA, NICHOLAS

Early Life and background

• Gandhi was born October 2nd, 1869.

• At the young age of 13, Gandhi was married to Kasturba Gandhi in an arranged marriage, with whom he had four sons.

• During this time, Gandhi was only a decent student.

Time in Britain

• Gandhi went to London, England to study Indian law in 1888.

• Despite receiving a good legal education, Gandhi became very interested in philosophy and religion.

• He read and studied Hindu and Buddhist religious texts with fellow vegetarians he had met in London.

Gandhi in South Africa

• From 1893 until 1914, Gandhi traveled South Africa.

• Gandhi experienced racism first hand there as a colored man.

• The colonial occupation of South Africa was very similar to the British colonialism in India.

• There, for the first time, Gandhi began to organize Indian people in order to practice non-violent protest

Return to India

• Gandhi returned to India permanently in 1915, now armed with his legal education, spiritual study, and new views on the Indian peope.

• In 1921, after WWI ended, Gandhi began to implement the tactics of non-cooperation and non-violence to fight against the British ruling elite in India.

Gandhi leading a non-violent march

Indeed, this quote is still applicable today. For example. The Occupy Wall Street movement was first ignored by the media, then mocked for their ridiculous demands, and are approaching the “fight” stage.

After WWI

• Gandhi spent the time between WWI and WWII trying to and succeeding in unifying the Indian Congress.

• By this point, Britain recognized Gandhi as a powerful political figure and invited him on various occasions to conferences in Britain. However, Gandhi’s political participation began to wane by the late 1930’s.

• Gandhi also tried and failed to reconcile problems between Indian Muslims and Hindus.

WWII and the Final Years

• Gandhi led the Indian people in giving moral support to the British WWII effort, although war violated Gandhi’s religious beliefs.

• After the war ended, Gandhi actively campaigned to end all British occupation of India, and sought to improve Muslim-Hindu relations.

• There was much violence during the mid and late 1940’s in India.

Death

• Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindi nationalist extremist, Nathuram Godse.

• Godse believed that, despite all of the good work that Gandhi had done in liberating India, that his relations with Muslims were not in Hindu Indian’s best interest, and that Gandhi’s strong influence would be too persuasive.

Death Aftermath

• Gandhi’s death deeply saddened India and the international community at large.

• His funeral procession was 5 miles long.• The government made sure that there was no

backlash against Muslims, as despite that fact that a Muslim did not carry out the assassination, they were still blamed.

Legacy

• Gandhi’s concept of “Swaraj,” or self-rule, is a concept that Conservatives and Libertarians who don’t want “Big Government” identify with.

• His use of non-violent tactics and Civil Disobedience was the inspiration for Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement that occurred in the 1960’s in America.

Thank you