Today, the 2nd Oct., the 150th birth ceremony of Mahatma Gandhi is being observed in India and abroad. It wouldn’t be difficult for anyone to identify the great yet humble personality who faced on the world’s biggest superpowers, the British Raj with daunting courage and perserverance through his principle of non-violence, a force to recon with. On this day we pay homage to our beloved Bapu, an instrument in giving us an independent Bharat. His struggles, his genius, his sacrifices, his teachings of truth and non-violence has made him immortal. He was in reality an extraordinary soul in an ordinary mortal’s body. Thatis why he was called ‘Mahatma’. He preached only the cult of love and left everything in the hands of God. Many persons raised many doubts about his cult of non-violence, but he never wavered, when he said- ‘I love England and the British people, but I hate the British rule in India’. He loved even those who were against him. He set an example of non-violent struggle and its success before the world by winning freedom for the people of Bharat. The whole country rose as one man against the Britist rule. Gandhiji is known as the ‘Father of the Nation’ because it is to him that we really owe our independence.
The unique thing about him was that he was convinced that there was no other God than Truth. He believed that true independence can only be gained by the complete realisation of ‘Ahimsa’ or ‘Non-violence’principle. He firmly believed that violence give birth to violence only. His weapons of struggle were truth and non-violence. He attracted the masses by his simple ways and lifestyle. Most of the time he was clad only in Loincloth and went about barefooted. His whole life was devoted to the upliftment of the downtrodden, depressed and for the rights of women. He gave a clarion call to every Indian household to use the ‘Chakra’ and make Khadi cloth. He wanted people to use Indian-made goods, swadeshi, rather than British goods. He believed in the policy of decentralisation. The spinning of wheel was the symbol of decentralised economy and the Gram Panchayat stood decentralised political power.
After becoming barrister from England he came back to India and set up as a lawyer in Bombay, but he could not establish himself as a successful lawyer because of his shyness. Moreover, even for the sake of his profession he was not ready to take up a false case, or coach the witness. Later on, in his autobiography he had written, “ I had no intension of earning position or money by lying”.
Gandhiji went to South Africa to defend an Indian client there. The miserable state of Indian settlers there touch his heart. He put up a strong protest against the South African Government and succeeded in improving the position of the Indians there and the black people of Africa, who were treated as ‘Coloured Trash’.
Albert Einstein, the world famous scientist, paid his tribute to Gandhiji by saying : A leader of his people unsupported by any outward authority, but simply on the convincing power of his personality, who has always scorned the abuse of force, a man who has confronted the brutality of Europe with the dignity of the simple human being, and thus all times risen superior.
1893 was a turning point in his career. He was thrown out of a first class train compartment in South Africa when the train reached Maritzburg, the capital of Natal. A white passenger who boarded the train strongly objected the presence of a coloured man and ordered him to shift to a third class compartment inspite of having proper ticket with him.
Even 149 years after his birth, Gandhiji is not dislodged by any other person in India. His predominance continues to grow for he alone can give the present generation new values, manners, virtues, freedom, dignity and power. It is this universal love that endears him to all the people of the world, irrespective of their religion or nationality. Gandhism is a philosophy now and the people of the world seek inspiration from it. Non-violence, truthfulness, peaceful struggle for achieving solemn goals are its essential ingredients. Now the people of the world seek guidelines from the writing of Mahatma Gandhi. Our generations will remain indebted to him for what he did for us. His noble name will be cherished with love and respect by the world at large.
