(1) Mahatma Gandhi
born Oct. 2, 1869, Porbandar, India
died Jan. 30, 1948, Delhi
Preeminent leader of
Indian nationalism and prophet of nonviolence in the 20th century
Gandhi grew up in a
home steeped in religion, and he took for granted religious tolerance and the
doctrine of ahimsa (noninjury to all living beings). He studied law in England
but seemed too diffident to become a successful lawyer. He took a job with an Indian
firm in South Africa. There he became an effective advocate for Indian rights.
In 1906 he first put into action satyagraha, his technique of nonviolent
resistance. His success in South Africa gave him an international reputation,
and in 1915 he returned to India and within a few years became the leader of a
nationwide struggle for Indian home rule. By 1920 Gandhi commanded influence
hitherto unattained by any political leader in India. He refashioned the Indian
National Congress into an effective political instrument of Indian nationalism
and undertook major campaigns of nonviolent resistance in 1920–22, 1930–34
(including his momentous march to the sea to collect salt to protest a
government monopoly), and 1940–42. In the 1930s he also campaigned to end
discrimination against India's lower-caste “untouchables” (now called Dalits;
officially designated as Scheduled Castes) and concentrated on educating rural
India and promoting cottage industry. India achieved dominion status in 1947,
but the partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan was a great
disappointment to Gandhi, who had long worked for Hindu-Muslim unity. In
September 1947 he ended rioting in Calcutta (Kolkata) by fasting. Known as the
Mahatma (“Great-Souled”), Gandhi had won the affection and loyalty of millions.
In January 1948 he was shot and killed by a young Hindu fanatic.
(2)
Sardar Patel
born Oct. 31, 1875, Nadiad, Gujarat,
India
died Dec. 15, 1950, Bombay
Indian statesman.
Educated in India, he
set up his own law office in 1900 and later studied law in Britain; he did not
become involved in politics until 1917. Like Mohandas K. Gandhi (and unlike
Jawaharlal Nehru), he advocated dominion status within the British Commonwealth
rather than independence for India. He opposed armed struggle on practical
rather than moral grounds, and he was not interested in Hindu-Muslim unity.
Patel was repeatedly a candidate for the presidency of the Indian National
Congress, but his uncompromising attitude toward the Indian Muslims cost him
Gandhi's support and, ultimately, the presidency. After Indian independence
(1947), he held several cabinet positions. He is remembered for achieving the
peaceful integration of the princely Indian states into the Indian union and the
political unification of India.
(3)
Subhas Chandra bose
born Jan. 23, 1897, Cuttack, Orissa,
India
died Aug. 18, 1945, Taipei, Taiwan
[China]?
Indian revolutionary.
Preparing in Britain
for a career in the Indian civil service, he resigned his candidacy on hearing
of nationalist turmoil back home. Sent by Mohandas K. Gandhi to organize in
Bengal, he was deported and imprisoned several times. He favoured
industrialization, which put him at odds with Gandhi's economic thought, and,
though he was elected president of the Indian National Congress in 1938 and
1939, without Gandhi's support he felt bound to resign. He slipped out of India
in 1941 and carried on his struggle against the British from Nazi Germany and
later from Southeast Asia. In 1944 he invaded India from Burma (Myanmar) with a
small army of Indian nationals and Japanese, but his army was soon forced to
retreat. He fled Southeast Asia after the Japanese surrender in 1945 and died
of burns suffered in a plane crash.
(5)
Jawaharlal Nehru
born Nov. 14, 1889, Allahabad, India
died May 27, 1964, New Delhi
First prime minister
of independent India (1947–64).
Son of the
independence advocate Motilal Nehru (1861–1931), Nehru was educated at home and
in Britain and became a lawyer in 1912. More interested in politics than law,
he was impressed by Mohandas K. Gandhi's approach to Indian independence. His
close association with the Indian National Congress began in 1919; in 1929 he
became its president, presiding over the historic Lahore session that
proclaimed complete independence (rather than dominion status) as India's
political goal. He was imprisoned nine times between 1921 and 1945 for his
political activity. When India was granted limited self-government in 1935, the
Congress Party under Nehru refused to form coalition governments with the
Muslim League in some provinces; the hardening of relations between Hindus and
Muslims that followed ultimately led to the partition of India and the creation
of Pakistan. Shortly before Gandhi's assassination in 1948, Nehru became the
first prime minister of independent India. He attempted a foreign policy of
nonalignment during the Cold War, drawing harsh criticism if he appeared to
favour either camp. During his tenure, India clashed with Pakistan over the
Kashmir region and with China over the Brahmaputra River valley. He wrested Goa
from the Portuguese. Domestically, he promoted democracy, socialism,
secularism, and unity, adapting modern values to Indian conditions. His
daughter, Indira Gandhi, became prime minister two years after his death.
(6)
Indira Priyadarshini Nehru
born Nov. 19, 1917, Allahabad, India
died Oct. 31, 1984, New Delhi
Prime minister of
India (1966–77, 1980–84).
* Indira Gandhi
The only child of
Jawaharlal Nehru, she studied in India and at the University of Oxford. In 1942
she married Feroze Gandhi (d. 1960), a fellow member of the Indian National
Congress. In 1959 she was given the largely honorary position of party
president, and in 1966 she achieved actual power when she was made leader of
the Congress Party and, consequently, prime minister. She instituted major
reforms, including a strict population-control program. In 1971 she mobilized
Indian forces against Pakistan in the cause of East Bengal's secession. She
oversaw the incorporation of Sikkim in 1974. Convicted in 1975 of violating
election laws, she declared a state of emergency, jailing opponents and passing
many laws limiting personal freedoms. She was defeated in the following
election but returned to power in 1980. In 1984 she ordered the army to move
into the Golden Temple complex of the Sikhs at Amritsar, with the intent of
crushing the Sikh militants hiding inside the temple; some 450 Sikhs died in
the fighting. She was later shot and killed by her own Sikh bodyguards in
revenge.
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