Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in 1869 in coastal Gujarat, India. He trained as a lawyer in London and then practiced law in South Africa, where he developed his philosophy and strategy of non-violent civil disobedience. He fought against racial discrimination and led Indians living in South Africa in resisting unfair laws. Returning to India in 1915, he organized peasants, Muslims, women and others to protest excessive taxes and other injustices through non-cooperation. As the leader of the Indian independence movement, he advocated for religious and ethnic harmony. Gandhi led several non-violent campaigns including the Salt March of 1930 and the Quit India movement of 1942, while being imprisoned numerous times by

1. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Born 2 October 1869
Porbandar, Kathiawar Agency,British
Indian Empire[1]
Died 30 January 1948 (aged 78)
New Delhi, Dominion of India
Cause of Assassination by shooting
death
Resting Cremated at Rajghat, Delhi.
place 28.6415°N 77.2483°E
Nationality Indian
Other Mahatma Gandhi, Bapu, Gandhiji
names
Ethnicity Indo-Aryan (Gujarati)

2. Alma mater Alfred High School, Rajkot,
Samaldas College, Bhavnagar,
Inner Temple, London
Known for Prominent figure of Indian
independence movement,
propounding the philosophy
ofSatyagraha and Ahimsa
advocating non-violence,
pacifism
Religion Hinduism, with Jain influences
Spouse(s) Kasturba Gandhi
Children Harilal
Manilal
Ramdas
Devdas
Parents Putlibai Gandhi (Mother)
Karamchand Gandhi (Father)
Signature
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 1869[1] – 30 January 1948), commonly known
as Mahatma Gandhi, was the preeminent leader of Indian Nationalism in British-Ruled India.
Employing non-violentcivil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired
movements for non-violence, civil rights and freedom across the world.
The son of a senior government official, Gandhi was born and raised in a Hindu
Bania community in coastal Gujarat, and trained in law in London. Gandhi became famous by
fighting for the civil rights of Muslim and Hindu Indians in South Africa, using new techniques of

3. non-violent civil disobedience that he developed. Returning to India in 1915, he set about
organising peasants to protest excessive land-taxes. A lifelong opponent of "comunalism"
basing politics on religion) he reached out widely to all religious groups. He became a leader of
Muslims protesting the declining status of the Caliphate. Assuming leadership of the Indian
National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding
women's rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, increasing economic
self-reliance, and above all for achieving Swaraj—the independence of India from British
domination.
Gandhi led Indians in protesting the national salt tax with the 400 km (250 mi) Dandi Salt
March in 1930, and later in demanding the British to immediately Quit India in 1942,
during World War II. He was imprisoned for that and for numerous other political offenses over
the years. Gandhi sought to practice non-violence and truth in all situations, and advocated that
others do the same. He saw the villages as the core of the true India and promoted self-
sufficiency; he did not support the industrialization programs of his disciple Jawaharlal Nehru.
He 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 charka. His chief political
enemy in Britain was Winston Churchill who ridiculed him as a "half-naked fakir. He was a
dedicated vegetarian, and undertook long fasts as means of both self-purification and political
mobilization.
In his last year, unhappy at the partition of India. Gandhi worked to stop the carnage between
Muslims and Hindus and Sikhs that raged in the border area between India and Pakistan. He
was assassinated on 30 January 1948 by a Hindu nationalist who thought Gandhi was too
sympathetic to India's Muslims. 30 January is observed as Martyrs Day in India. The
honorific ―Mahatma ("Great Soul"), was applied to him by 1914. In India he was also
called Bapu ("Father"). He is known in India as the Father of The Nation, his birthday, 2
October, is commemorated there as Gandhi Jayanti, anational holiday, and world-wide as
the International Day of Non-Violence. Gandhi's philosophy was not theoretical but one of
pragmatism, that is, practicing his principles in real time. Asked to give a message to the
people, he would respond, "My life is my message.‖

4. Early life and background
Gandhi in his earliest known photo, aged 7, c. 1876
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar, a coastal
town which was then part of the Bombay Presidency, British India. He was born in his
ancestral home, now known as Kirti Mandir. His father, Karamchand Gandhi (1822–
1885), who belonged to the Hindu Modh community, served as the diwan (a high
official) of Porbander State, a small princely state in the Kathiawar Agency of
British India. His grandfather was Uttamchand Gandhi, also called Utta Gandhi. His
mother, Putlibai, who came from the Pranami Vaishnava community, was
Karamchand's fourth wife, the first three wives having apparently died in childbirth.
The Indian classics, especially the stories of Shravana and king Harish Chandra, had
a great impact on Gandhi in his childhood. In his autobiography, he admits that they left
an indelible impression on his mind. He writes: "It haunted me and I must have acted
Harishchandra to myself times without number." Gandhi's early self-identification with
truth and love as supreme values is traceable to these epic characters.
In May 1883, the 13-year-old Mohandas was married to 14-year-old Kasturbai
Makhanji (her first name was usually shortened to "Kasturba", and affectionately to
"Ba") in an arranged child marriage, according to the custom of the region. In the

5. process, he lost a year at school. Recalling the day of their marriage, he once said, "As
we didn't know much about marriage, for us it meant only wearing new clothes, eating
sweets and playing with relatives." However, as was prevailing tradition, the adolescent
bride was to spend much time at her parents' house, and away from her husband. In
1885, when Gandhi was 15, the couple's first child was born, but survived only a few
days. Gandhi's father, Karamchand Gandhi, had also died earlier that year.
Mohandas and Kasturba had four more children, all sons: Harilal, born in 1888; Manilal
born in 1892; Ramdas, born in 1897; and Devdas, born in 1900. At his middle school in
Porbandar and high school in Rajkot, Gandhi remained a mediocre student. He shone
neither in the classroom nor on the playing field. One of the terminal reports rated him
as "good at English, fair in Arithmetic and weak in Geography; conduct very good, bad
handwriting." He passed the matriculation exam at Samaldas College in Bhavnagar,
Gujarat, with some difficulty. Gandhi's family wanted him to be a barrister as it would
increase the prospects of succeeding to his father's post.
English barrister
Gandhi and his wife Kasturba (1902)
In 1888, Gandhi travelled to London, England, to study law at University College
London, where he studied Indian law and jurisprudence and to train as a barrister at
the Inner Temple. His time in London was influenced by a vow he had made to his
mother upon leaving India, in the presence of a Jain monk, to observe the Hindu
precepts of abstinence from meat and alcohol as well as of promiscuity. [21] Gandhi tried
to adopt "English" customs, including taking dancing lessons for example. However, he
could not appreciate the bland vegetarian food offered by his landlady and was
frequently hungry until he found one of London's few vegetarian restaurants. Influenced

6. by Henry Salt's writing, he joined the Vegetarian Society, was elected to its executive
committee,[22] and started a local Bayswater chapter.[13] Some of the vegetarians he met
were members of the Theosophical Society, which had been founded in 1875 to further
universal brotherhood, and which was devoted to the study
of Buddhist andHindu literature. They encouraged Gandhi to join them in reading
the Bhagavad Gita both in translation as well as in the original.[22] Not having shown
interest in religion before, he became interested in religious thought.
Gandhi was called to the bar in June 1891 and then left London for India, where he
learned that his mother had died while he was in London and that his family had kept
the news from him.[22] His attempts at establishing a law practice in Bombay failed
because he was too shy to speak up in court. He returned to Rajkot to make a modest
living drafting petitions for litigants, but he was forced to close it when he ran afoul of a
British officer.[13][22] In 1893, he accepted a year-long contract from Dada Abdulla & Co.,
an Indian firm, to a post in the Colony of Natal, South Africa, then part of the British
Empire.[13]
Civil rights movement in South Africa (1893–1914)
Purported photograph of Gandhi in South Africa (1895)
Gandhi was 24 when he arrived in South Africa[23] to work as a legal representative for
the Muslim Indian Traders based in the city of Pretoria.[24]He spent 21 years in South
Africa, where he developed his political views, ethics and political leadership skills.
Indians in South Africa were led by wealthy Muslims, who employed Gandhi as a
lawyer, and by impoverished Hindu indentured laborers with very limited rights. Gandhi
considered them all to be Indians, taking a lifetime view that "Indianness" transcended

7. religion and caste. He believed he could bridge historic differences, especially regarding
religion, and he took that belief back to India where he tried to implement it. The South
African experience exposed handicaps to Gandhi that he had not known about. He
realised he was out of contact with the enormous complexities of religious and cultural
life in India, and believed he understood India by getting to know and leading Indians in
South Africa.[25]
In South Africa, Gandhi faced the discrimination directed at all coloured people. He was
thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg after refusing to move from the first-class. He
protested and was allowed on first class the next day.[26] Travelling farther on by
stagecoach, he was beaten by a driver for refusing to move to make room for a
European passenger.[27] He suffered other hardships on the journey as well, including
being barred from several hotels. In another incident, the magistrate of a Durban court
ordered Gandhi to remove his turban, which he refused to do.[28]
These events were a turning point in Gandhi's life and shaped his social activism and
awakened him to social injustice. After witnessing racism,prejudice and injustice against
Indians in South Africa, Gandhi began to question his place in society and his people's
standing in the British Empire.[29]
Gandhi extended his original period of stay in South Africa to assist Indians in opposing
a bill to deny them the right to vote. In regards to this bill Gandhi sent out a memorial to
Joseph Chamberlin, British Colonial Secretary, asking him to reconsider his position on
this bill.[24] Though unable to halt the bill's passage, his campaign was successful in
drawing attention to the grievances of Indians in South Africa. He helped found
the Natal Indian Congress in 1894,[13][26] and through this organisation, he moulded the
Indian community of South Africa into a unified political force. In January 1897, when
Gandhi landed in Durban, a mob of white settlers attacked him[30] and he escaped only
through the efforts of the wife of the police superintendent. He, however, refused to
press charges against any member of the mob, stating it was one of his principles not to
seek redress for a personal wrong in a court of law.[13]
In 1906, the Transvaal government promulgated a new Act compelling registration of
the colony's Indian population. At a mass protest meeting held in Johannesburg on 11
September that year, Gandhi adopted his still evolving methodology
of Satyagraha (devotion to the truth), or non-violent protest, for the first time.[31] He
urged Indians to defy the new law and to suffer the punishments for doing so. The
community adopted this plan, and during the ensuing seven-year struggle, thousands of

8. Indians were jailed, flogged, or shot for striking, refusing to register, for burning their
registration cards or engaging in other forms of non-violent resistance. The government
successfully repressed the Indian protesters, but the public outcry over the harsh
treatment of peaceful Indian protesters by the South African government forced South
African leader Jan Christiaan Smuts, himself a philosopher, to negotiate a compromise
with Gandhi. Gandhi's ideas took shape, and the concept of Satyagraha matured during
this struggle.
Gandhi and the Africans
Gandhi in South Africa (1909)
Gandhi focused his attention on Indians while in South Africa and opposed the idea that
Indians should be treated at the same level as native Africans while in South
Africa.[32][33][34] After several treatments he received from Whites in South Africa, Gandhi
began to change his thinking and apparently increased his interest in politics.[35] White
rule enforced strict segregation among all races and generated conflict between these
communities. Bhana and Vahed argue that Gandhi, at first, shared racial notions
prevalent of the times and that his experiences in jail sensitized him to the plight of
blacks.
In 1906, the British declared war against the Zulu Kingdom in Natal, Gandhi encouraged
the British to recruit Indians.[36] He argued that Indians should support the war efforts in
order to legitimise their claims to full citizenship.[36] The British accepted Gandhi's offer
to let a detachment of 20 Indians volunteer as a stretcher-bearer corps to treat wounded
British soldiers. This corps was commanded by Gandhi and operated for less than two
months.[37] The experience taught him it was hopeless to directly challenge the

9. overwhelming military power of the British army—he decided it could only be resisted in
non-violent fashion by the pure of heart.[38]
After the black majority came to power in South Africa, Gandhi was proclaimed a
national hero with numerous monuments.[39]
Struggle for Indian Independence (1915–47)
See also: Indian independence movement
In 1915, Gandhi returned to India permanently. He brought an international reputation
as a leading Indian nationalist, theorist and organizer. He joined the Indian National
Congress and was introduced to Indian issues, politics and the Indian people primarily
by Gopal Krishna Gokhale. Gokhale was a key leader of the Congress Party best
known for his restraint and moderation, and his insistence on working inside the system.
Gandhi took Gokhale's liberal approach based on British Whiggish traditions and
transformed it to make it look wholly Indian.[40]
Gandhi took leadership of Congress in 1920 and began a steady escalation of demands
(with Intermittent compromises or pauses) until on 26 January 1930 the Indian National
Congress declared the independence of India. The British did not recognize that and
more negotiations ensued, with Congress taking a role in provincial government in the
late 1930s. Gandhi and Congress withdrew their support of the Raj when the Viceroy
declared war on Germany in September 1939 without consulting anyone. Tensions
escalated until Gandhi demanded immediate independence in 1942 and the British
responded by imprisoning him and tens of thousands of Congress leaders for the
duration. Meanwhile the Muslim League did cooperate with Britain and moved, against
Gandhi's strong opposition, to demands for a totally separate Muslim state of Pakistan.
In August 1947 the British partitioned the land, with India and Pakistan each achieving
independence on terms Gandhi disapproved.[41]
Role in World War I
See also: The role of India in World War I
In April 1918, during the latter part of World War I, the Viceroy invited Gandhi to a War
Conference in Delhi.[42] Perhaps to show his support for the Empire and help his case
for India's independence,[43] Gandhi agreed to actively recruit Indians for the war
effort.[44] In contrast to the Zulu War of 1906 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914,
when he recruited volunteers for the Ambulance Corps, this time Gandhi attempted to

10. recruit combatants. In a June 1918 leaflet entitled "Appeal for Enlistment", Gandhi wrote
"To bring about such a state of things we should have the ability to defend ourselves,
that is, the ability to bear arms and to use them...If we want to learn the use of arms with
the greatest possible despatch, it is our duty to enlist ourselves in the army."[45] He did,
however, stipulate in a letter to the Viceroy's private secretary that he "personally will
not kill or injure anybody, friend or foe."[46]
Gandhi's war recruitment campaign brought into question his consistency on
nonviolence as his friend Charlie Andrews confirms, "Personally I have never been able
to reconcile this with his own conduct in other respects, and it is one of the points where
I have found myself in painful disagreement."[47] Gandhi's private secretary also had
acknowledged that "The question of the consistency between his creed of 'Ahimsa'
(non-violence) and his recruiting campaign was raised not only then but has been
discussed ever since."[44]
Champaran and Kheda
Main article: Champaran and Kheda Satyagraha
Gandhi in 1918, at the time of the Kheda and Champaran Satyagrahas
Gandhi's first major achievements came in 1918 with the Champaran and Kheda
agitations of Bihar and Gujarat. The Champaran agitation pitted the local peasantry
against their largely British landlords who were backed by the local administration. The
peasantry was forced to grow Indigo, a cash crop whose demand had been declining

11. over two decades, and were forced to sell their crops to the planters at a fixed price.
Unhappy wIth this, the peasantry appealed to Gandhi at his ashram in Ahmedabad.
Pursuing a strategy of non-violent protest, Gandhi took the administration by surprise
and won concessions from the authorities.[48]
In 1918, Kheda was hit by floods and famine and the peasantry was demanding relief
from taxes. Gandhi moved his headquarters to Nadiad,[49] organising scores of
supporters and fresh volunteers from the region, the most notable being Vallabhbhai
Patel.[50] Using non-cooperation as a technique, Gandhi initiated a signature campaign
where peasants pledged non-payment of revenue even under the threat of confiscation
of land. A social boycott of mamlatdars and talatdars(revenue officials within the district)
accompanied the agitation. Gandhi worked hard to win public support for the agitation
across the country. For five months, the administration refused but finally in end-May
1918, the Government gave way on important provisions and relaxed the conditions of
payment of revenue tax until the famine ended. In Kheda, Vallabhbhai Patel
represented the farmers in negotiations with the British, who suspended revenue
collection and released all the prisoners.[51]
Khilafat movement
In 1919 Gandhi, with his weak position in Congress, decided to broaden his base by
increasing his appeal to Muslims. The opportunity came from the Khilafat movement, a
worldwide protest by Muslims against the collapsing status of the Caliph, the leader of
their religion. The Ottoman Empire had lost the World War and was dismembered, as
Muslims feared for the safety of the holy places and the prestige of their
religion.[52] Although Gandhi did not originate the All-India Muslim Conference,[53] which
directed the movement in India, he soon became its most prominent spokesman and
attracted a strong base of Muslim support with local chapters in all Muslim centers in
India.[54] His success made him India's first national leader with a multicultural base and
facilitated his rise to power within Congress, which had previously been unable to reach
many Muslims. In 1920 Gandhi became a major leader in Congress.[55][56] By the end of
1922 the Khilafat movement had collapsed.[57]
Gandhi always fought against "communalism", which pitted Muslims against Hindus in
politics, but he could not reverse the rapid growth of communalism after 1922. Deadly
religious riots broke out in numerous cities, including 91 in U.P. (Uttar Pradesh)
alone.[58][59] At the leadership level, the proportion of Muslims among delegates to
Congress fell sharply, from 11% in 1921 to under 4% in 1923.[60]

12. Non-cooperation
Main article: Non-cooperation movement
Mahatma Gandhi spinning yarn, in the late 1920s
With Congress now behind him in 1920, Gandhi had the base to employ non-
cooperation, non-violence and peaceful resistance as his "weapons" in the struggle
against the British Raj. His wide popularity among both Hindus and Muslims made his
leadership possible; he even convinced the extreme faction of Muslims to support
peaceful non-cooperation.[61] The spark that ignited a national protest was
overwhelming anger at the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (or Amritsar massacre) of
hundreds of peaceful civilians by British troops in Punjab. Many Britons celebrated the
action as needed to prevent another Mutiny like 1857, an attitude that caused many
Indian leaders to decide the Raj was controlled by their enemies, and was more an
obstacle than a pathway. Gandhi criticised both the actions of the British Raj and the
retaliatory violence of Indians. He authored the resolution offering condolences to British
civilian victims and condemning the riots which, after initial opposition in the party, was
accepted following Gandhi's emotional speech advocating his principle that all violence
was evil and could not be justified.[62]
After the massacre and subsequent violence, Gandhi began to focus on winning
complete self-government and control of all Indian government institutions, maturing
soon into Swaraj or complete individual, spiritual, political independence.[63] During this
period, Gandhi claimed to be a "highly orthodox Hindu" and in January 1921 during a
speech at a temple in Vadtal, he spoke of the relevance of non-cooperation to Hindu
Dharma, "At this holy place, I declare, if you want to protect your 'Hindu Dharma', non-
cooperation is first as well as the last lesson you must learn up.".[64]

13. Sabarmati Ashram, Gandhi's home in Gujarat
In December 1921, Gandhi was invested with executive authority on behalf of the Indian
National Congress. Under his leadership, the Congress was reorganised with a new
constitution, with the goal of Swaraj. Membership in the party was opened to anyone
prepared to pay a token fee. A hierarchy of committees was set up to improve
discipline, transforming the party from an elite organisation to one of mass national
appeal. Gandhi expanded his non-violence platform to include the swadeshi policy—the
boycott of foreign-made goods, especially British goods. Linked to this was his
advocacy thatkhadi (homespun cloth) be worn by all Indians instead of British-made
textiles. Gandhi exhorted Indian men and women, rich or poor, to spend time each day
spinning khadi in support of the independence movement.[65]
Gandhi even invented a small, portable spinning wheel that could be folded into the size
of a small typewriter.[66] This was a strategy to inculcate discipline and dedication to
weeding out the unwilling and ambitious and to include women in the movement at a
time when many thought that such activities were not respectable activities for women.
In addition to boycotting British products, Gandhi urged the people to boycott British
educational institutions and law courts, to resign from government employment, and to
forsake British titles and honours.[67]
"Non-cooperation" enjoyed widespread appeal and success, increasing excitement and
participation from all strata of Indian society. Yet, just as the movement reached its
apex, it ended abruptly as a result of a violent clash in the town of Chauri Chaura, Uttar
Pradesh, in February 1922. Fearing that the movement was about to take a turn
towards violence, and convinced that this would be the undoing of all his work, Gandhi

14. called off the campaign of mass civil disobedience.[68] This was the third time that
Gandhi had called off a major campaign.[69] Gandhi was arrested on 10 March 1922,
tried for sedition, and sentenced to six years' imprisonment. He began his sentence on
18 March 1922. He was released in February 1924 for an appendicitisoperation, having
served only 2 years.[70]
Without Gandhi's unifying personality, the Indian National Congress began to splinter
during his years in prison, splitting into two factions, one led by Chitta Ranjan
Das and Motilal Nehru favouring party participation in the legislatures, and the other led
by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, opposing this move.
Furthermore, cooperation among Hindus and Muslims, which had been strong at the
height of the non-violence campaign, was breaking down. Gandhi attempted to bridge
these differences through many means, including a three-week fast in the autumn of
1924, but with limited success.[71] In this year, Gandhi was persuaded to preside over
the Congress session to be held in Belgaum. Gandhi agreed to become president of the
session on one condition that Congressmen should take to wearing khadi (made of
homespun cloth). In his long political career, this was the only time when he presided
over a Congress session.[72]
Salt Satyagraha (Salt March)
Main article: Salt Satyagraha
Original footage of Gandhi and his followers marching to Dandi in the Salt Satyagraha
Gandhi stayed out of active politics and, as such, the limelight for most of the 1920s. He
focused instead on resolving the wedge between the Swaraj Party and the Indian
National Congress, and expanding initiatives against untouchability, alcoholism,
ignorance and poverty. He returned to the fore in 1928. In the preceding year, the
British government had appointed a new constitutional reform commission under Sir

15. John Simon, which did not include any Indian as its member. The result was a boycott
of the commission by Indian political parties. Gandhi pushed through a resolution at the
Calcutta Congress in December 1928 calling on the British government to grant
India dominion status or face a new campaign of non-cooperation with complete
independence for the country as its goal. Gandhi had not only moderated the views of
younger men like Subhas Chandra Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru, who sought a demand
for immediate independence, but also reduced his own call to a one year wait, instead
of two.[73]
The British did not respond. On 31 December 1929, the flag of India was unfurled
in Lahore. 26 January 1930 was celebrated as India's Independence Day by the Indian
National Congress meeting in Lahore. This day was commemorated by almost every
other Indian organisation. Gandhi then launched a new Satyagraha against the tax on
salt in March 1930. This was highlighted by the famous Salt March to Dandi from 12
March to 6 April, where he marched 388 kilometres (241 mi) from Ahmedabad to Dandi,
Gujarat to make salt himself. Thousands of Indians joined him on this march to the sea.
This campaign was one of his most successful at upsetting British hold on India; Britain
responded by imprisoning over 60,000 people.[74]
Women
Salt as a household necessity was of special interest to women. Gandhi strongly
favoured the emancipation of women, and he went so far as to say that "the women
have come to look upon me as one of themselves." He opposed purdah, child
marriage, untouchability, and the extreme oppression of Hindu widows, up to and
including sati. He especially recruited women to participate in the salt tax campaigns
and the boycott of foreign products.[75] Sarma concludes that Gandhi's success in
enlisting women in his campaigns, including the salt tax campaign, anti-untouchability
campaign and the peasant movement, gave many women a new self-confidence and
dignity in the mainstream of Indian public life.[76]
Gandhi as folk hero
Congress in the 1920s appealed to peasants by portraying Gandhi as a sort of messiah
(the long-awaited savior of an entire people), a strategy that succeeded in incorporating
radical forces within the peasantry into the nonviolent resistance movement. In
thousands of villages plays were performed that presented Gandhi as the reincarnation
of earlier Indian nationalist leaders, or even as a demigod. The plays built support
among illiterate peasants steeped in traditional Hindu culture. Similar messianic imagery

16. appeared in popular songs and poems, and in Congress-sponsored religious pageants
and celebrations. The result was that Gandhi became not only a folk hero but the
Congress was widely seen in the villages as his sacred instrument.[77]
Negotiations
Mahadev Desai (left) reading out a letter to Gandhi from the viceroy at Birla House, Bombay, 7 April
1939
The government, represented by Lord Edward Irwin, decided to negotiate with Gandhi.
The Gandhi–Irwin Pact was signed in March 1931. The British Government agreed to
free all political prisoners, in return for the suspension of the civil disobedience
movement. Also as a result of the pact, Gandhi was invited to attend the Round Table
Conference in London as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress. The
conference was a disappointment to Gandhi and the nationalists, because it focused on
the Indian princes and Indian minorities rather than on a transfer of power. Lord Irwin's
successor, Lord Willingdon, taking a hard line against nationalism, began a new
campaign of controlling and subduing the nationalist movement. Gandhi was again
arrested, and the government tried and failed to negate his influence by completely
isolating him from his followers

17. Struggle for Indian Independence (1915–47)
See also: Indian independence movement
In 1915, Gandhi returned to India permanently. He brought an international reputation
as a leading Indian nationalist, theorist and organizer. He joined the Indian National
Congress and was introduced to Indian issues, politics and the Indian people primarily
by Gopal Krishna Gokhale. Gokhale was a key leader of the Congress Party best
known for his restraint and moderation, and his insistence on working inside the system.
Gandhi took Gokhale's liberal approach based on British Whiggish traditions and
transformed it to make it look wholly Indian.[40]
Gandhi took leadership of Congress in 1920 and began a steady escalation of demands
(with Intermittent compromises or pauses) until on 26 January 1930 the Indian National
Congress declared the independence of India. The British did not recognize that and
more negotiations ensued, with Congress taking a role in provincial government in the
late 1930s. Gandhi and Congress withdrew their support of the Raj when the Viceroy
declared war on Germany in September 1939 without consulting anyone. Tensions
escalated until Gandhi demanded immediate independence in 1942 and the British
responded by imprisoning him and tens of thousands of Congress leaders for the
duration. Meanwhile the Muslim League did cooperate with Britain and moved, against
Gandhi's strong opposition, to demands for a totally separate Muslim state of Pakistan.
In August 1947 the British partitioned the land, with India and Pakistan each achieving
independence on terms Gandhi disapproved.[41]
Role in World War I
See also: The role of India in World War I
In April 1918, during the latter part of World War I, the Viceroy invited Gandhi to a War
Conference in Delhi.[42] Perhaps to show his support for the Empire and help his case
for India's independence,[43] Gandhi agreed to actively recruit Indians for the war
effort.[44] In contrast to the Zulu War of 1906 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914,
when he recruited volunteers for the Ambulance Corps, this time Gandhi attempted to
recruit combatants. In a June 1918 leaflet entitled "Appeal for Enlistment", Gandhi wrote
"To bring about such a state of things we should have the ability to defend ourselves,
that is, the ability to bear arms and to use them...If we want to learn the use of arms with
the greatest possible despatch, it is our duty to enlist ourselves in the army."[45] He did,

18. however, stipulate in a letter to the Viceroy's private secretary that he "personally will
not kill or injure anybody, friend or foe."[46]
Gandhi's war recruitment campaign brought into question his consistency on
nonviolence as his friend Charlie Andrews confirms, "Personally I have never been able
to reconcile this with his own conduct in other respects, and it is one of the points where
I have found myself in painful disagreement."[47] Gandhi's private secretary also had
acknowledged that "The question of the consistency between his creed of 'Ahimsa'
(non-violence) and his recruiting campaign was raised not only then but has been
discussed ever since.