Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869, into a Gujrathi Modh Bania family in the princely state of Porbandar of the Kathiawar Agency of the British Raj.

Born to the diwan of Porbandar, Gandhi would go on to study law in England. He left India on September 4, 1888, and would later attend the University College, London to acquire a degree in law.

Having being called to the bar in 1891 and on successfully completing his degree Gandhi returned to India. While his attempts to establish a successful law practice in Bombay failed, Gandhi accepted a one-year offer to Colony of Natal, South Africa.

The clime and the circumstances that he inured on his stay in South Africa tempered his political affiliations and moulded his ethics and politics.

Having witnessed the rampant discrimination and prejudice of the British Raj, Gandhi championed the cause of Indians in South Africa. Gandhi’s disenchantment with the British rule in South Africa amplified manifold on his return to India in 1915.

Gandhi joined the Indian National Congress on his return to India and carefully nurtured a policy of peaceful resistance against the British Raj.

Gandhiji spearheaded the Satyagraha at Champaran district of Bihar, India in 1917, in what is considered a pivotal moment in his crusade for an independent India.  

The farmers of Champaran, Bihar protested against the growing of indigo for minimal payments. 

Champaran has been accorded the status of the first satyagraha movement, it was started on 17th April 1917. Having persuaded to travel to Champaran by Raj Kumar Shukla and Sant Raut, Gandhi arrived at the location along with his team of lawyers. 

Gandhi established schools in the district with the sole motive of eradicating illiteracy and creating a class of enlightened citizens. He also enthused villagers to adopt cleanliness and also tried to eradicate the purdah system and untouchability.  

Gandhi, however, was accused of fomenting trouble and was arrested by the police who ensured his exit from the province. 

Through Gandhi’s non-violent resistance the people of Champaran organised protests against the landlords and secured a major victory. The government was forced to cancel its previous order of compelling farmers to grow indigo on 3/20th of their land. Gandhi was appointed as part of a committee of inquiry which ultimately led to the reduction of suffering of the peasant class and Gandhiji secured his first major victory against the British empire.

In 1918, when crops failed in the district of Kheda, Gujarat but the government refused to remit land revenue, Gandhi pledged his support to the peasants, this later came to be known as the Kheda Satyagraha of 1918. Gandhi advised farmers to withhold payment of revenue until demands for remission were met. The struggle was lifted when the government issued instructions to recover payments only from those capable of paying.

Gandhi also launched a Satyagraha in February 1919, to protest the Rowlatt Act. He founded the Satyagraha Sabha whose members pledged to disobey the Act and thus court arrest and imprisonment albeit in a peaceful manner. Gandhi spearheaded the movement urging Indians to boycott foreign schools and clothes. Likewise, Indians were asked to refuse cooperation with the government. March and April of 1919 witnessed hartals, strikes, processions and demonstration against the maleficent British regime. Gandhi earned the support of peasants, artisans and the urban poor and the country witnessed ‘a remarkable political awakening’ according to historian Bipan Chandra.

Gandhi also spear-headed the Non-cooperation movement against the British from August 1920. The movement was launched with the aim of procuring self-rule and full independence. People were asked to boycott government educational institutions, law courts, legislatures. Indians were also urged to give up on foreign clothes and surrender officially conferred honorary titles. The movement would later incorporate mass resignations from government services, mass civil disobedience and refusal to pay taxes. The movement was however withdrawn through the Bardoli resolution after an incident on February 5, 1922, led to the death of 22 policemen.

The Civil Disobedience Movement was also started by Gandhiji on 12 March 1930 with his famous Dandi march or the Salt Satyagraha. Along with 78 chosen followers, Gandhi walked nearly 375 kilometres to Dandi, a village on the Gujarat sea-coast. On April 6, Gandhi reached his destination and broke the salt law which marked an epochal moment under the British rule. It served as a symbol of protest and of India’s refusal to live under British-made laws. Gandhiji declared, “The British rule in India has brought about moral, material, cultural and spiritual ruination of his country.” He added, “I regard this rule as a curse and I am out to destroy this system of governance.” This movement of violation of salt laws spread across India like wildfire and soon there was defiance against forest laws in Maharashtra and mutiny against the chaukidari tax in eastern India. The civil disobedience movement led to the Gandhi Irwin pact and the Second Round Table Conference where the British government refused to concede to demands of Purna Swaraj.

The Quit India movement was launched by the All India Congress Committee under the guidance of Gandhiji. In a speech to Congress delegates on 8 August, Gandhi for the first time propounded the mantra of ‘Do or Die” and added, “I, therefore want freedom, immediately, this very night, before dawn, if it can be had.”

The Mahatma who spearheaded the nation’s struggle for independence was shot dead by Hindu Mahasabha and RSS member Naturam Godse on 30th January 1948.