Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: His Later Years (1915-1948), Essay Example

The only thing Gandhi possessed when he returned to India in 1915 was his desire to serve his people. He spent his first year there in relative quiet as he worked to learn his native land and to reacclimatize himself after his many years away. He founded an ashram (a religious hermitage) near the geographical heart of his country where he and those who lived with him there took vows of peace, celibacy, and service. There, Gandhi and his followers carried out ideas and plans were by that influence India to this day (Guha, 2008).

Instances of social injustice from the British toward the Indian people pulled Gandhi into more activities of political reform. His ideas spread like wildfire, and thousands of Indians began to be arrested for their refusal to cooperate with existing British mandates that were placed upon them (Mehta, 2008). When things occurred that was of significant importance to the people, Gandhi would observe a fast as a way of calling attention to it. His primary interests were the unification of Hindu-Muslim identity, the equality of women, the removal of the untouchable caste system, and the resurgence of less dependence on foreign goods and services for the Indian economy (Brittlebank, 2009). Influencing India’s political decisions as a spiritual leader was a constant challenge as world events propelled India, as it did most countries, toward roles in World War II.

Feelings were strained. Not everyone agreed with his ideas or his methods of achieving social progress. Several attempts had been made on his life. In 1948, a group of Hindu Nationalists finally succeeded in ending Gandhi’s life. One of them shot Gandhi at point blank range.

References

Brittlebank, K. (2009). Clothing Gandhi’s nation: Homespun and modern India. Journal of Social History, 42(4), 1086-1087.

Guha, R. (2008). India after Gandhi: The history of the world’s largest democracy. Contemporary Review, 290(1689), 252.

Mehta, M. (2008). From Gandhi to gurus: The paradox of deliberative democracy in Gujarat, India. Conference Papers of the Midwestern Political Science Association- Annual Meeting, 1-35.