Mahatma Gandhi Spiritual Leader to India
Was Gandhi a Saint to People of India or Did he Delay Independence
Sep 13, 2009
Gandhi’s experience of leading passive resistance campaigns and his successful amalgamation of disparate groups – Hindus, Muslims, Parsis, Christians, etc – in South Africa led to his speedy assumption of leadership of the Indian National Congress at a time when Indians were totally incensed by the terms of the Rowlatt Acts of 1919. The end of the war also marked the start of trade union movements in India and the start of many strikes (hartal) caused by economic hardships and discontent which showed that Indians were becoming increasingly more militant and politicised.
Establishment of the All India Movement by Gandhi
His deeply held beliefs regarding non-violence led Gandhi to establish the All India movement in 1921 and start the Non-Co-operation movement which initially proved extremely successful throughout India and seriously alarmed the British. However, he ended the movement abruptly after police violence at Chauri Chaura provoked the protestors into burning down the police station, killing 22 policemen. Many Congress members were deeply disappointed by the abrupt end to the movement, as it was obviously a success, which was snowballing as time went by. Certainly to Subhas Chandra Bose, radical member and potential leader of the Indian National Congress, “To sound the order of retreat just when public enthusiasm was reaching the boiling point was nothing short of a national calamity” . Once the Non-Co-operation movement ended, the British retaliated by jailing Gandhi and several other leading Indian National Congress members.
Start of Mass Civil Disobedience Campaign, India 1930
Gandhi’s next mass mobilisation of the Indian population was the Civil Disobedience campaign of 1930, where the exorbitant salt tax levied by the British was the central issue together with 11 points which clarified the national demand of India and grievances. On 12 March Gandhi, accompanied by 71 spiritual leaders from ashrams all over India, began the peaceful Dandi March to the sea. Gandhi also announced that the wholesale illegal manufacturing of salt and boycotting of foreign goods should begin.
The illegal manufacture of salt became prevalent in the Bombay Presidency, and also in many of the traditional salt manufacturing areas of coastal India, with salt marches (see Illustration) and forest satyagraha, conducted primarily by the peasant population, becoming prevalent. However, unlike the campaign in the early 1920s, which was remarkable for its common appeal to Hindu and Muslim alike, this campaign was marked by a distinct lack of action by the Muslim community.
Certainly if the Bengal civil disobedience campaign had been more active, the Muslim peasants would have probably been drawn in, however two rival civil disobedience organisations set up by Bose and Sengupta destroyed any opportunity of a successful campaign in Bengal.
Gandhi was not prepared to end this movement due to a descent into violence however, as he finally concluded that some violence had to accompany campaigns of this nature. Certainly by April three revolutionary events had occurred – Chittagong, Peshawar and Sholapur – and altogether 56 terrorist incidents were recorded in 1930 for Bengal alone. The government soon adopted a policy of brutality even towards peaceful campaigns, as witnessed in May 1930 when Webb Miller a foreign journalist watched horrified as “unresisting men were being methodically bashed into a bloody pulp".
Throughout 1930 metropolitan Bombay became the principal area of civil disobedience due to the high concentration of Gujurati office and business workers in the city. Gandhi followers were instantly recognisable by the flat hats they wore, the instance of marches and activists taking time off from work to participate in the marches became common.
Once again, it seemed that Gandhi capitulated to the British too soon by agreeing a pact with Irwin in February 1931, with very few concessions to the 11 points initially raised. Sumit Sarkar suggests in Modern India (referenced below) that this was due to pressures from the business community which was “contemplating a breach with him unless he adopt a reasonable attitude”. However the pact lasted less than a year as on 4 January 1932 the Government began a series of repressive measures leading to an almost total suppression of civil liberties which led Viceroy Willingdon to compare himself to an Indian Mussolini. Although Congress continued the Civil Disobedience campaign it was finally defeated in 1934.
Gandhi as Leader of Indian People, Was he a Saint or Misguided?
In conclusion, Gandhi was a popular and charismatic leader of the Indian people intent upon uniting Muslims and Hindus and halting the tide of communalism in India. Whilst in no way wishing to discredit the memory of Gandhi who was a saint to many people worldwide it could be stated retrospectively that he was a little misguided politically. Certainly, his campaigns could have had greater impact and, perhaps led to a more speedy adoption of Indian independence, if he had been less prepared to accept what appeared to be token agreements with the British and had not realised so late in his campaigning that some violence is a natural consequence of protest, however peaceful the initial motivation.
Sources
Sumit Sarkar, Modern India, 1885 – 1947, Macmillan Press, 1989
Bidyut Chakrabarty, Subhas Chandra Bose and Middle Class Radicalism, Delhi: Oxford University Press 1990
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