Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi By Nicole Sharma

Gandhi’s Belief of Non-Violence “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind”, Mahatma Gandhi. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on October 2, his actions inspired the great Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore to call him "Mahatma" ("great soul"). Nationalist leader, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi not only led his own country to independence but also influenced political activists of many different beliefs throughout the world with his methods and philosophy of nonviolent confrontation, or civil disobedience. Gandhi sought ought to practice non-violence and truth in all situations, and advocated that others do the same. He is known to Indians as the Father of their Nation.

Mahatma Gandhi  Gandhi was one of the foremost spiritual and political leaders of the 1900s.  He helped free India from British control by a unique method of nonviolent resistance and is honored by the people of India.  Gandhi was slight in build, but had limitless physical and moral strength.  He was assassinated by an Indian who resented his program of tolerance for all creeds and religions.

Gandhi’s Protests Mahatma Gandhi worked in South Africa. During those years Gandhi's humiliating experiences of racial discrimination made him distress and anxious for change, on behalf of the Indian community in South Africa. He assumed leadership of protest campaigns and gradually developed his techniques and beliefs of nonviolent resistance known as Satyagraha. In the movie “Gandhi”, there is a scene where it shows that Indians had to carry passes, like ID badges and that infuriated Gandhi. Therefore, he torched his badge and those who followed him did the same. When Gandhi did this the police officer beat him in public but Gandhi would not stop until he was he was physically incapable of anymore. Gandhi returned to India in January The Jallianwala Bagh massacre of Amritsar (1919), in which troops fired on and killed hundreds of innocent nationalist demonstrators, including women and children, pushed him to direct political protest. He launched on a policy of noncooperation with the British. He continued civil disobedience, organizing protests and marches against unpopular British measures, such as the salt tax, and promoted boycotts on British goods.

Independence and Division of India and Pakistan Gandhi was repeatedly imprisoned by the British and resorted to hunger strikes as a part of his civil disobedience. His final imprisonment came in , after he had demanded total withdrawal of the British (the "Quit India" movement) during World War II. Gandhi was also tireless in trying to forge closer bonds between the Hindu and the Muslims. In August 1947 Indian had gained its independence and had been divided into two countries, India and Pakistan. This sadden Gandhi. He wanted one country united with all religions. The Hindus and Muslims were killing each other. Gandhi worked very hard to forge closer bonds between the Hindu and Muslims. But all his hard work eventually led to his assassination.

Gandhi’s Independence Campaigns  Gandhi led many campaigns for Indian rights in South Africa and edited a newspaper called Indian Opinion.  Gandhi began a program of hand spinning and weaving about He believed the program helped the fight for independence in three ways:  1- It aided economic freedom by making India self-sufficient in cloth.  2- It promoted social freedom through the dignity of labor. 3- it advanced political freedom by challenging the British textile industry and by preparing Indians for self-government.

 In 1930, Gandhi led hundreds of followers on a 200 mile march to the sea, where they made salt from seawater. This was a protest against the Salt Acts, which made it a crime to possess salt not bought from the government.  During WWII, Gandhi continued his struggle for India’s freedom through nonviolent disobedience to British rule.  He was jailed for the last time in Altogether, he spend seven years in prison for political activity. He believed that it is honorable to go to jail for a good cause. Independence Campaigns (continued)

Mahatma Gandhi’s Death The assassination took place on January 30th In point blank range, Nathuram Godse shot and killed Mahatma Gandhi as he was walking to his prayer meeting. Many people were unhappy of the division of India and Pakistan including Mahatma Gandhi but some blamed Gandhi for the division. In the movie, it shows that there was a group of Hindu extremists who did not like Mahatma Gandhi because Nathuram Godse was a Hindu fanatic and believed that Gandhi was more lenient to the Muslims then Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League, was to the Hindus.

Nathuram’s Views of Gandhi Nathuram Godse did not like Gandhi’s philosophy of unity among all religions, especially not with the Muslims. Jinnah wanted all Hindus to leave Pakistan, whereas, Gandhi welcomed the Muslims to stay in India. Nathuram Godse said that Gandhi was a “political and ethical impostor”, and the “curse of India, a force of evil”. Nathuram Godse tried to rationalize his wrong doing because he was against Gandhi’s belief that Muslims and Hindus should be united and that there should be an end to the caste system.

Misconceptions The media we chose for this project was a movie, and articles. There seemed to be misconceptions about why Nathuram Godse killed Mahatma Gandhi. One of the misconceptions was that Nathuram Godse did not like the partition of India and Pakistan and he felt that Gandhi was responsible for their division. The other misconception was that he killed Gandhi, because Gandhi believed that Muslims and Hindus should live in harmony and be united. Gandhi promoted that Hindus and Muslims be treated equally. Nathuram was also angry because Gandhi was more lenient to the Muslims than Jinnah was to the Hindus. Nathuram Godse believed that Gandhi betrayed the Hindu cause. Although Nathuram Godse without a doubt committed a heinous act, there were many other people that shared the same ideas as Nathuram Godse.

Interpretation of Media Sources There were many different media sources that spoke about the death of Mahatma Gandhi, which had their respectable and unscrupulous effects. Nathuram Godse’s statement, that he made before the judge during his trial, saying why he killed Mahatma Gandhi was never made public so there are many misconpcetions as to why he killed Mahatma Gandhi. Ultimately, the end result was that the world lost a truly inspirational figure and a great leader. The assassination of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is considered to be one of the most tragic assassinations in history.

 Mahatma Gandhi’s devotion to truth and nonviolence had influenced leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela.  The great scientist Albert Einstein said of Gandhi: “Generations to come will scarcely believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood.” Gandhi’s beliefs continue to be studied and analyzed today. Influences of Gandhi