Basically I’m asking what contributions did Ghandi do and what else helped India become Independent. This may be about what was happening with the British at the time or if any other foreign countries were implicated in it, etc.
Thanks.
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Tags: British, DECISION., extent, Ghandi, grant, Independence, India, result, work
#1 written by Charles K April 26th, 2010 at 07:11
-Gandhi Jayanti is a National Holiday celebrated in India to mark the occasion of the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, the “Father of the Nation”. He was born on October 2, 1869. Hence Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated every year on the 2nd of October. It is one of the three official declared National Holidays of India and is observed in all Indian states and union territories. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhi_Jayanti Gandhi first employed non-violent civil disobedience while an expatriate lawyer in South Africa, during the resident Indian community’s struggle for civil rights. After his return to India in 1915, he organized protests by peasants, farmers, and urban labourers concerning excessive land-tax and discrimination. After assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns to ease poverty, expand women’s rights, build religious and ethnic amity, end untouchability, and increase economic self-reliance. Above all, he aimed to achieve Swaraj or the independence of India from foreign domination. Gandhi famously led his followers in the Non-cooperation movement that protested the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km (240 mi) Dandi Salt March in 1930. Later, in 1942, he launched the Quit India civil disobedience movement demanding immediate independence for India. Gandhi spent a number of years in jail in both South Africa and India.
As a practitioner of ahimsa, he swore to speak the truth and advocated that others do the same. Gandhi lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn he had hand spun on a charkha. He ate simple vegetarian food, eventually adopting a fruitarian diet, and also undertook long fasts as a means of both self-purification as well as social protest.
Gandhi favoured offering “non-violent moral support” to the British effort, but other Congressional leaders were offended by the unilateral inclusion of India in the war, without consultation of the people’s representatives. All Congressmen resigned from office. After long deliberations, Gandhi declared that India could not be party to a war ostensibly being fought for democratic freedom, while that freedom was denied to India itself. As the war progressed, Gandhi intensified his demand for independence, drafting a resolution calling for the British to Quit India. This was Gandhi’s and the Congress Party’s most definitive revolt aimed at securing the British exit from India.
Gandhi’s handwriting, on a note preserved at Sabarmati AshramGandhi was criticized by some Congress party members and other Indian political groups, both pro-British and anti-British. Some felt that not supporting Britain more in its life or death struggle against the evil of Nazism was unethical. Others felt that Gandhi’s refusal for India to participate in the war was insufficient and more direct opposition should be taken, while Britain fought against Nazism yet continued to contradict itself by refusing to grant India Independence. Quit India became the most forceful movement in the history of the struggle, with mass arrests and violence on an unprecedented scale. Thousands of freedom fighters were killed or injured by police gunfire, and hundreds of thousands were arrested. Gandhi and his supporters made it clear they would not support the war effort unless India were granted immediate independence. He even clarified that this time the movement would not be stopped if individual acts of violence were committed, saying that the “ordered anarchy” around him was “worse than real anarchy.” He called on all Congressmen and Indians to maintain discipline via ahimsa, and Karo Ya Maro (“Do or Die”) in the cause of ultimate freedom.
Gandhi and the entire Congress Working Committee were arrested in Bombay by the British on 9 August 1942. Gandhi was held for two years in the Aga Khan Palace in Pune. It was here that Gandhi suffered two terrible blows in his personal life. His 50-year old secretary Mahadev Desai died of a heart attack 6 days later and his wife Kasturba died after 18 months imprisonment in 22 February 1944; six weeks later Gandhi suffered a severe malaria attack. He was released before the end of the war on 6 May 1944 because of his failing health and necessary surgery; the Raj did not want him to die in prison and enrage the nation. Although the Quit India movement had moderate success in its objective, the ruthless suppression of the movement brought order to India by the end of 1943. At the end of the war, the British gave clear indications that power would be transferred to Indian hands. At this point Gandhi called off the struggle, and around 100,000 political prisoners were released, including the Congress’s leadership.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi
#2 written by BODHISATTVA April 26th, 2010 at 07:32
TO START WITH, A CORRECTION: THE BRITISH DIDNT “GRANT” INDEPENDENCE TO INDIA, THEY WERE FORCED TO LEAVE INDIA BY THE NON-VOLIENCE MOVEMENT OF GANDHI!
THE BRITISH DIDNT JUST WALK OUT OF INDIA….WHICH THEY CALLED THE “JEWEL” ON THEIR CROWN!
THE BRITISH PROMISED INDIA INDEPENDENCE IF THEY WERE TO FIGHT FOR ENGLAND IN WW2 AND THE INDIANS AGREED, BUT WHEN THE WAR WAS OVER THE BRITISH DIDNT KEEP THEIR WORD AND THAT MOBILISED MORE INDIANS TO OPPOSE BRITISH RULE.
THE BRITISH WERENT ELECTED BY THE INDIANS AS RULERS THEY TOOK CONTROL OF INDIA BY FORCE. ERGO WEAPONS!
READ: http://ashishthakare.blogspot.com/2005/10/colonial-exploitation-of-indian.html
FOR BRITISH CONTRIBUTIONS IN INDIA.
THE QUESTION SHOULD BE: WHY DID THE BRITISH GO TO INDIA?
TO HELP THE POOR INDIANS?
OR
TO MAKE PROFIT?
EDUCATION, RAILWAYS ETC WERE BYPRODUCTS AND NOT INTENDED TO HELP INDIA…
EDUCATION: TO RAISE A ENGLISH SPEAKING INDIAN GENERATION FOR ADMINISTRATIVE WORKS UNDER THE BRITISH OR CIVIL SERVANTS.
RAILWAYS: TO TRANSPORT GOOD EFFECTIVELY OUT OF INDIA.
TO CALL THEM “POSITIVE EFFECTS” IS BASELESS.
BEFORE THE COLONIAL ERA INDIA WAS ONE OF THE MAJOR ECONOMIES IN THE WORLD.
INDIA AND CHINA ACOUNTED FOR ABOUT 50% OF WORLDS GDP!
(REMEMBER: COLUMBUS FOUND AMERICA IN SEARCH OF INDIA! MOTIVATED BY ITS RICHES… HENCE THE NATIVES WERE CALLED INDIANS!)
WHEN THE BRITISH LEFT INDIA POVERTY WAS OVER 50%..NOW ITS DOWN BY ROUND 25%…
FURTHER THE FAMINES DURING BRITISH RULE, MASSACRE OF JALIAN WALA BAGH ETC… (JUST GOGGLE!)
DURING THE COLONIAL ERA OVER 40 MILLION INDIANS LOST THEIR LIVES… AS MANY AS DURING WW2…
THE CRIMES OF COLONIAL EXPLOITATION IS A DARK TRUTH IN HISTROY THAT WE SHOULD ACCEPT AND NOT IGNORE OR DENY.
INDIA WOULDNT NEED ALL THOSE “AID” FROM ENGLAND OR OTHER NATIONS IF THE BRITISH WERE TO GIVE BACK THE RICHES THE STOLE IN INDIA DURING THE COLONIAL ERA… MAYBE START WITH THE KOHI-NOOR DIAMOND ON THE QUEENS CROWN!?!
IN CHINA THEY ALMOST MADE THE NATION OPIUM ADDICTED!
IN AFRICA THEY TOOK NATIVES AS SLAVES TO BRAZIL ETC!
WHAT SORT OF HELP OR DEVELOPMENT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?
YEAH… EVERYTHING GREAT FOR THE QUEENS AND ENGLAND.