Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869–1948), known as Mahatma ('Great Soul'), was the leader of the Indian independence movement who developed and practiced nonviolent resistance (satyagraha) as a strategy for political change. His methods and philosophy influenced civil rights and liberation movements around the world for generations after his death.

Gandhi's political awakening came in South Africa, where he spent 21 years fighting discrimination against the Indian community. Returning to India in 1915, he transformed the Indian National Congress from an elite debating society into a mass movement. His genius lay in his ability to translate complex political demands into simple, symbolic actions that ordinary people could participate in — spinning khadi cloth to boycott British textiles, making salt to defy the British salt tax.

Gandhi's vision extended beyond political independence to social transformation: the abolition of untouchability, Hindu-Muslim unity, village self-sufficiency, and the moral regeneration of Indian society. His assassination on January 30, 1948, by a Hindu extremist who opposed his conciliatory stance toward Muslims, came just months after independence. Gandhi's legacy is complex — he was criticized for his positions on caste and race, and his economic vision was never fully realized — but his demonstration that moral courage could defeat imperial power remains one of the most inspiring achievements of the 20th century.