History Second Sem.docx

Dr. RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, LUCKNOW.

HISTORY TOPIC: EARLY CAREER AND ACTIVISM OF GANDHI

SUBMITTED TODr. VANDANA SINGH

SUBMITTED BYAYUSH PRATAP SINGH

ASSC.PROFFESOR OF HISTORY

ROLL NO- 042

DR. RML NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

BA-LLB SEM II

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am overwhelmed in all humbleness and gratefulness to acknowledge my depth to all those who have helped me to put these ideas, well above the level of simplicity and into something concrete. I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my teacher Dr. Vandana singh, who gave me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful project on the topic "EARLY

CAREER AND ACTIVISM OF GANDHI" , which also helped me in doing a lot of Research. I am really thankful to her.Any attempt at any level can't be satisfactorily completed without the support and guidance of my parents and friends.I would like to thank my parents who helped me a lot in gathering different information, collecting data and guiding me from time to time in making this project, despite of their busy schedules, they gave me different ideas in making this project unique.

CONTENTS             

EARLY LIFE AND BACKGROUND ENGLISH BARRISTER GANDHI JI’S ARRIVAL IN SOUTH AFRICA POLITICAL ACTIVITES INDIAN AMBULANCE CORPS INDIAN OPINION PHOENIX SETTLEMENT MEETING AT THEATRE IN JOHANNESBURG HIND SWARAJ OR INDIAN HOME RULE TOLSTOY FARM TRANSVAAL CONTROVERSY MARCH THAT MADE GANDHI A MAHATAMA GANDHI AND JAN SMUTS

EARLY LIFE AND BACKGROUND M. K. Gandhi was born in the princely state of Porbandar, which is located in modern-day Gujarat. He was born into a Hindu merchant caste family to Karamchand Gandhi, diwan of Porbandar and his fourth wife, Putlibai. Gandhi’s mother belonged to an affluent Pranami Vaishnava family. 1”As a child, Gandhi was a very naughty and mischievous kid. In fact, his sister Raliat had once revealed that hurting dogs by twisting their ears was among Maohandas’ favorite pastime. During the course of his childhood, Gandhi befriended Sheikh Mehtab, who was introduced to him by his older brother. Gandhi, who was raised by a vegetarian family, started eating meat. It is also said that a young Gandhi accompanied Sheikh to a brothel, but left the place after finding it uncomfortable. Gandhi, along with one of his relatives, also cultivated the habit of smoking after watching his uncle smoke. After smoking the leftover cigarettes, thrown away by his uncle, Gandhi started stealing copper coins from his servants in order to buy Indian cigarettes. When he could no longer steal, he even decided to commit suicide such was Gandhi’s addiction to cigarettes. At the age of fifteen, after stealing a bit of gold from his friend Sheikh’s armlet, Gandhi felt remorseful and confessed to his father about his stealing habit and vowed to him that he would never commit such mistakes again.” In his early years, Gandhi was deeply influenced by the stories of Shravana and Harishchandra that reflected the importance of truth. Through these stories and from his personal experiences, he realized that truth and love are among the supreme values. Mohandas married Kasturba Makhanji at the age of 13. Gandhi later went on to reveal that the marriage didn’t mean anything to him at that age and that he was happy and excited only about wearing new set of clothes. But then as days passed by, his feelings for her turned lustful. Gandhi had also confessed that he could no more concentrate in school because of his mind wavering towards his new and young wife. At age 9, Gandhi entered the local school in Rajkot, near his home. There he studied the rudiments of arithmetic, history, the Gujarati language and geography. At age 11, he joined the High School in Rajkot. He was an average student, won some prizes, but was a shy and tongue tied student, with no interest in games; his only companions were books and school lessons.

ENGLISH BARRISTER Gandhi came from a poor family, and he had dropped out of the cheapest college he could afford. 2”Mavji Dave Joshiji, a Brahmin priest and family friend, advised Gandhi and his family that he should consider law studies in London. His mother was not comfortable about Gandhi leaving his wife and family, and going so far from home. Gandhi's uncle Tulsidas also tried to dissuade his nephew. Gandhi wanted to go. To persuade his wife and mother, Gandhi made a vow in front of his mother that he would abstain from meat, alcohol and women”. Gandhi's brother

1

www.gandhi-manibhavan.org/aboutgandhi/biography_earlylife.htm

2

https://www.biography.com/people/mahatma-gandhi

Laxmidas, who was already a lawyer, cheered Gandhi's London studies plan and offered to support him. Putlibai gave Gandhi her permission and blessing. On 10 August 1888, Gandhi aged 18, left Porbandar for Bombay. Upon arrival, he stayed with the local Modh Bania community while waiting for the ship travel arrangements. The head of the community knew Gandhi's father. After learning Gandhi's plans, he and other elders warned Gandhi that England would tempt him to compromise his religion, and eat and drink in Western ways. Gandhi informed them of his promise to his mother and her blessings. The local chief disregarded it, and excommunicated him an outcast. But Gandhi ignored this, and on 4 September, he sailed from Bombay to London. His brother saw him off. “In London, Gandhi studied law and jurispudence and enrolled at the inner temple with the intention of becoming a barrister. His childhood shyness and self withdrawal had continued through his teens, and he remained so when he arrived in London, but he joined a public speaking practice group and overcame this handicap to practise law. His time in London was influenced by the vow he had made to his mother. He tried to adopt "English" customs, including taking dancing lessons. 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 by Henry salt’s writing, he joined the vegetarian society, was elected to its executive committee, and started a local bayswater chapter.” 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 and Hindu literature. They encouraged Gandhi to join them in reading the Bhagavad Gita both in translation as well as in the original. 3

Gandhi, at age 22, was called on 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. His attempts at establishing a law practice in bombay failed because he was psychologically unable to cross-examine witnesses. He returned to Rajkot to make a modest living drafting petitions for litigants, but he was forced to stop when he ran afoul of a British officer. In 1893, a Muslim merchant in Kathiawar named Dada Abdullah contacted Gandhi. Abdullah owned a large successful shipping business in South Africa. His distant cousin in Johannesburg needed a lawyer, and they preferred someone with Kathiawari heritage. Gandhi inquired about his pay for the work. They offered a total salary of £105 plus travel expenses. He accepted it, knowing that it would be at least one year commitment in the colony of Natal, South Africa, also a part of the British Empire. “South Africa was the crucible that forged Gandhi’s identity as a political activist and was an important prelude to his return to India, where he played a pivotal role in securing its independence from British rule in August 1947.” 4

Gandhi arrived in South Africa in 1893 at the relatively tender age of 24 as a newly qualified lawyer on a temporary assignment to act on behalf of a local Indian trader in a commercial dispute. What was meant to be a short stopgap for the struggling young lawyer turned into a 21-year stay, with spells in India and England. 3 4

https://www.culturalindia.net/indian-history/modern-history/mahatma-gandhi.

https://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Gandhi/gandhi

“By the time Gandhi left South Africa for the last time in 1914, he had already earned the appellation Mahatma (or Great Soul) for his work in securing significant legal concessions for the local Indian population in South Africa.” 5

During his time here, he developed the strategy known as satyagraha (truth-force), in which campaigners went on peaceful marches and presented themselves for arrest in protest against unjust laws.” This form of action was to become one of the great political tools of the 20 th century, influencing the civil rights movement in the United States and the African National Congress in its early years of struggle against apartheid in South Africa.

GANDHI JI’S ARRIVAL IN SOUTH AFRICA Gandhi arrived in Durban, Natal in 1893 to serve as legal counsel to a merchant Dada Abdulla. In June, Dada Abdulla asked him to undertake a rail trip to Pretoria, Transvaal, a journey which first took Gandhi to Pietermaritzburg, Natal. There, Gandhi was seated in the first-class compartment, as he had purchased a first-class ticket. A White person who entered the compartment hastened to summon the White railway officials, who ordered Gandhi to remove himself to the van compartment, since 'coolies' (a racist term for Indians) and non-whites were not permitted in firstclass compartments.6” Gandhi protested and produced his ticket, but was warned that he would be forcibly removed if he did not make a gracious exit. As Gandhi refused to comply with the order, a White police officer pushed him out of the train, and his luggage was tossed out on to the platform. The train steamed away, and Gandhi withdrew to the waiting room. "It was winter," Gandhi was to write in his autobiography, and "the cold was extremely bitter. My overcoat was in my luggage, but I did not dare to ask for it lest I should be insulted again, so I sat and shivered". He says he began to think of his "duty": ought he to stay back and fight for his "rights", or should he return to India? His own "hardship was superficial", "only a symptom of the deep disease of colour prejudice." The next evening he continued the train journey-this time without a mishap. But a bigger mishap awaited him on the journey from Charlestown to Johannesburg which had to be covered by stagecoach. He was made to sit with the coachman on the box outside, while the white conductor sat inside with the white passengers. Gandhi pocketed the insult for fear of missing the coach altogether. On the way the conductor who wanted a smoke spread a piece of dirty sack-cloth on the footboard and ordered Gandhi to sit there so that the conductor could have Gandhi's seat and smoke. Gandhi refused. The conductor swore and rained blows on him, trying to throw him down. Gandhi clung to the brass rails of the coach

5

6

https://erenow.com/exams/indiasstruggleforindependence

box, refusing to yield and unwilling to retaliate. Some of the White passengers protested at this cowardly assault and the conductor was obliged to stop beating Gandhi who kept his seat. “The position of Indians in the Transvaal was worse than in Natal. They were compelled to pay a poll tax of £3; they were not allowed to own land except in specially allotted locations, a kind of ghetto; they had no franchise, and were not allowed to walk on the pavement or move out of doors after 9 p.m. without a special permit. One day Gandhi, who had received from the State Attorney a letter authorizing him to be out of doors all hours, was having his usual walk. As he passed near President Kruger's house, the policeman on duty, suddenly and without any warning, pushed him off the pavement and kicked him into the street. A Mr. Coates, an English Quaker, who knew Gandhi, happened to pass by and saw the incident.” He advised Gandhi to proceed against the man and offered himself as witness. But Gandhi declined the offer saying that he had made it a rule not to go to court in respect of a personal grievance. 7

POLITICAL ACTIVITIES MODERATE PHASE “Gandhiji’s political activities from 1894 to 1906 may be classified as the moderate phase of struggle of the south African Indians. During this phase he concentrated on petitioning and sending memorials to the south African legislatures , the colonial secretary in London and British parliament. He believed if all the facts were presented to the government the British sense of justice and fair play would be aroused and imperial government would intervene on behalf of Indians who were after all British subjects.” His attempt was to unite the different sections of Indians and to give their demands wide publicity. 8

NATAL INDIA CONGRESS(1894) This he tried to do through setting up of the Natal Indian Congress. The NIC (Natal Indian Congress) was the first of the Indian Congresses to be formed. It was established in 1894 by Mahatma Gandhi to fight discrimination against Indian traders in Natal. The NIC, was the first of the Indian Congresses followed by the formation of the Transvaal Indian congress and the Cape Indian Congress, the three later went on to form the South African Indian Congress (SAIC) in 1919. At a farewell dinner in his honour in 1894, Gandhi read about the intentions of the Natal Legislative Assembly to disenfranchise the Indians, and immediately suggested to the Indians present that they should resist this attack on their rights. The Indians concurred and prevailed upon him to postpone his departure in order to spearhead the struggle.

7 8

https://selfstudyhistory.com/2015/01/29/rise-of-gandhi-and-early-activism

On the night of the farewell party he drew up a petition and set up a temporary committee. Within a month, a monster petition bearing 10,000 signatures was presented to Lord Ripon, Colonial Secretary, and the agitation compelled the British Government to disallow the Bill. However, in 1896 the Bill finally became law. To overcome the objections of the Imperial Government, the Act did not mention the Indians but merely disqualified those who were not of European origin and the indigenous population who had not previously enjoyed the vote. This was the first time that the Indian people had not only participated in, but also organized an agitational campaign. The temporary committee was transformed into the Natal Indian Congress (NIC), which Gandhi helped to found in May 1894. Membership of the Congress was restricted to the trading class since a minimum of £3 annual subscription was a condition of membership. According to Gandhi, in less than a month about three hundred Hindus, Moslems, Parsees and Christians became members. Recruitment drives were held and Indians throughout Natal were contacted. The NIC met at least once a month and they discussed current affairs, accounts and other matters. Congress also had as part of its programs self-improvement. In line with this, the Congress meetings discussed and debated issues ranging from sanitation to the need for the richer Indians to live in greater opulence and to distinguish between uses of business and residence. Two of the most important campaigns organized by the NIC in the early years were the Gandhi campaigns of 1908 and 1913. During these campaigns a large section of the Indian community demonstrated its willingness to participate in militant struggles.

INDIAN AMBULANCE CORPS(1899) The Indian Ambulance Corps was created by Gandhi for use by the British as stretcher bearers during the second Boer war. Gandhi encouraged the recruitment of Indian soldiers for service in South Africa with his organization of the Indian Ambulance Corps despite his sympathies for the Boer cause. The objective of Gandhi's service to the British Crown in the Anglo-Boer War was to force the British to recognize Indians as equal citizens of the British Empire At the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War, Gandhi's approach to the conflict was one of flexible idealism . The British government did not deploy the Indian Army to South Africa during the Boer War, the voluntary participation of a group of Indians was instrumental in supporting the Royal Army. The Boer invasion of Natal in October 1899 gave Gandhi and his like-minded followers the opportunity to garner political benefit by demonstrating their dedication to the Empire even though Gandhi's “personal sympathies were all with the Boers. As soon as news of the hostilities reached Gandhi, he wrote to the Colonial Secretary of Natal enclosing a list of Indians “who have offered their services unconditionally” and “without pay” to Imperial authorities. Gandhi admitted that the volunteers had not received combat training and did not know how to handle weapons. However, Gandhi suggested that there were “other duties no less important to be performed on the battlefield.” Gandhi and the volunteers considered it a “privilege” to be called upon to support the military operations of the British Crown. Initially, the Natal Government ignored their offer of

assistance but the Boers demonstrated more “pluck, determination and bravery than had been expected” and the services of the volunteers were needed. As a result of Gandhi’s persistence, a volunteer Indian Ambulance Corps formed in late-October 1899. The Natal Indian Ambulance Corps comprised of 300 free Indians, of which “thirty-seven were looked upon as leaders” by the additional 800 indentured laborers from the sugar plantations. The volunteers of the Ambulance Corps served as dhoolie (stretcher) bearers who received basic medical instruction, including first aid, the dressing of wounds, ambulance training and the administering of medication, from Dr. Lancelot Parker. Gandhi and thirty-seven volunteered were recipients of the War Medal that bore the Queen’s portrait on one side and a helmeted Britannia on the other, summoning to her aid the men of South Africa. Gandhi later received the Kaisar-i-Hind gold medal for his humanitarian work in South Africa and the Zulu War medal for his renewed ambulatory services in 1906. He would later return these medals as a demonstration that he could “retain neither respect nor affection for such a government” that continued to act “in an unscrupulous, immoral and unjust manner” towards their Indian subjects.

INDIAN OPINION(1903) The IndianOpinion was a newspaper established by indian leader Mahatama gandhi. The publication was an important tool for the political movement led by Gandhi and the Indian national congress to fight racial discrimination and win civil rights for the Indian immigrant community in south africa. It existed between 1903 and 1915. Madanjit Vyavaharik, an exschool teacher of Bombay and a political coworker of Gandhiji, had established 'The International Printing Press' at 113 Grey Street, Durban, in 1898. Much of the literature of NIC was printed there. Gandhiji was able to inspire Madanjit with the idea to start a weekly newspaper, the Indian Opinion, and the first issue was out on June 4, 1903, and hit the streets two days later. [Gandhiji has incorrectly mentioned the date as 1904 in his Autobiography (CW 39:228)] As manager, Madanjit had to secure the licence, the type for the different languages, prospective customers and advertisers. Its first editor was Mansukhlal Hiralal Nazar, a journalist from Bombay, known to Gandhiji since 1897, and had volunteered in the Indian Medical Corps under him in the Boer War. Nazar played an important role in strategizing the content and policy of the paper. While he was politically astute and made important interventions, he relied on Gandhiji in Johannesburg to do much of the significant writing. The Indian Opinion began by adopting a very moderate tone, reiterating its faith in British law and seeking not to provoke the hostility of British officials. However, the Indian. Opinion especially highlighted the poor conditions under which indentured labourers worked. Editorials tackled the discrimination and harsh conditions prevalent in the agricultural estates where indentured Indians were employed. Cases of harsh treatment by employers were publicized and the astoundingly high rate of suicide amongst Indians was pointed out. A campaign to end the system was launched and editor Henry Polak, a friend of Gandhi's, went to India to mobilise support. From 1906 onwards it became a vehicle for challenging state laws and urging defiance of these when these were clearly unjust. This tradition began during the satyagraha campaign between 1906 and 1913 which began

because of attempts to impose passes on Indians in the Transvaal. The paper played a fundamental role on defeating the registration drive of officials. Its pages paid tribute to local resisters and Brian Gabriel, one of Natal's earliest Indian photographers, provided visual coverage. The Indian Opinion was a means of bringing news about Indians in the colonies before the public in India. The pages of Indian Opinion provide a valuable historical record of the disabilities that Indians suffered under. It also provides an invaluable record of the political life of the Indian community. Gandhi's experience with the publication and the political struggle in South Africa proved a major experience for him that helped him in his work for the Indian independence movement. He commented satyagraha would have been impossible without Indian Opinion.

PHOENIX SETTLEMENT(1904) Phoenix Settlement was an area of outskirt Johannesburg. This region was known as Transvaal.This area was a settlement of indentured Indian Laborers, ex indentured laborers and Indian merchants. this type of settlements were always outside of white settlements due to racial discrimination. During various movements against discrimination , Gandhiji helped people of various Indian settlers to wage legal fight against injustice and he himself lived with them whenever he visited Transvaal.

PASSIVE RESISTANCE PHASE The second phase of struggle in South Africa, which began in 1906, was characterized by the use of method of passive resistance or civil disobedience which Gandhiji named satyagraha. It was first used when the government enacted legislation making it compulsory for Indians to take out certificates of registration which held their finger prints. It was essential to carry these on person at all times.

MEETING AT EMPIRE THEATRE IN JOHANNESBURG At a huge public meeting held on 11 September 1906 , in the empire theatre in Johannesburg , Indians resolved that they would refuse to submit to this law and are ready to face the consequences. The last date of registration being over the government started proceedings against Gandhiji and twenty six others the passive resisters pleaded guilty were order to leave the country and when they refused to do so they were sent to jails. The fear of going to jail had completely vanished from them and it was popularly known as king Edward’s hotel.

General smut called Gandhiji for talks , and promised to withdraw the legislation if Indians voluntarily agreed to register themselves. Gandhiji accepted and was first to register. But smuts had played a trick , he ordered that the voluntary registration be ratified under the law. The Indians under the leadership of Gandhiji retaliated by publically burning their registration certificates. Meanwhile the government brought in new legislations , this time to restrict indian immigration. The campaign widened to oppose this. Indians from Transvaal opposed the law by hawking without a license traders who had license refused to produce them were jailed Gandhiji himself landed in jail in October 1908 and along with other Indians was sentenced to a prison term involving hard physical labour. But the imprisonment failed to crush the spirit of the of the resisters and the government resorted to deportation to Indians. Merchants were pressurized by threats to their economic interests. The movement at this stage reached an impasse and majority of statyagrahis were showing signs of fatigue. The struggle was obviously going to be a long one and and the government was in no mood to relent. Gandhiji’s visit to London in 1909 to meet the authorities did not turn out to be fruitful. The funds for supporting the satyagrahis families and for running indian opinion was fast running out. At this point Gandhiji setup Tolstoy farm made possible through generosity of his german architect friend Kallenbach to house the families of satyagrahis and give them a means to sustain themselves.

HIND SWARAJ OR INDIAN HOME RULE(1909) Hind swaraj, the title of the first definitive writing of Mahatma Gandhi, and which continues to evoke critical interest the world over even now, literally means ‘self-rule in India’. This small book of about 30,000 words was written in Gujarati, in November 1909, on board the ship during Gandhi's return trip from England to South Africa after an abortive mission, within 10 days, 40 of the 275 pages being written with left hand. As stated by Gandhi himself: "I wrote the entire Hind Swaraj for my dear friend Dr. Pranjivan Mehta. All the argument in the book is reproduced almost as it took place with him." It was published in the Indian Opinion in Natal and was soon banned by the Government in India because it contained 'matter declared to be seditious'. On that, Gandhi published the English translation from Natal to show the innocuous nature of its contents. The ban was finally lifted on 21 December 1938. Gandhi's Hind swaraj is primarily known for its trenchant critique of modern civilization. In Hind swaraj he also dwells on the condition of India as it has developed under the British rule and tutelage. He makes a basic formulation that under the impact of the British rule India is turning into an 'irreligious' country. He hastens to add that he is not thinking of any particular religion, but rather of that Religion which underlies all religions. We are turning away from God, he adds. He likens modem civilization to a 'mouse' 'gnawing' our people while apparently soothing them. Then he turns his moral gaze to some of major developments like railways and the emergence of new elite like lawyers and doctors. All these developments, he asserts, have only led to the impoverishment of the India. According to him railways have helped the British to tighten their grip over India. Besides, they have been also responsible for 'famines', epidemics and other

problems for the country. He counters the argument that railways have contributed to the growth of Indian nationalism by saying that India had been a nation much before the British arrived. In chapter XI of hind swaraj he argues that lawyers have contributed more to the degradation of India. Besides, they have accentuated the Hindu-Muslim dissensions, helped the British to consolidate their position and have sucked the blood of the poor of India. In the next chapter he describes how doctors have failed the Indian society. In his opinion, doctors have been primarily responsible for making the people 'self-indulgent' and taking less care of their bodies. He concludes his critique of modern civilization by comparing it to an upas tree, a poisonous plant which destroys all life around it.

TOLSTOY FARM (1910) The Tolstoy Farm was named such by Herman Kallenbach, Gandhi's associate It was founded in 1910 and disbanded in 1913 proved to be an ideal laboratory for Gandhi's educational experiments. "Tolstoy Farm was a family in which I occupied the place of the father," wrote Gandhi, and that I should so far as possible shoulder the responsibility for the training of the young”. Mohandas K. Gandhi attributes the success of the final phase of the satyagraha campaign in South Africa between 1908 and 1914 to the "spiritual purification and penance" afforded by the Tolstoy Farm. He devotes a considerable number of pages in Satyagraha in South Africa to the discussion of the day-to-day activities on the farm as the experiment appeared important to him, even though it had not enjoyed much "limelight". He wrote: "I have serious doubts as to whether the struggle could have been prosecuted for eight years, whether we could have secured larger funds, and whether the thousands of men who participated in the last phase of the struggle would have borne their share of it, if there had been no Tolstoy Farm." To a large extent Gandhi's more intimate involvement at the Tolstoy Farm coincided with the heightened tempo of the passive resistance campaign, and the development of the Gandhian philosophy of the perfect individual in a perfect new order.

TRANSVAAL CONTROVERSY From 1860 tens of thousands of Indian indentured labourers had been brought to Natal to work on the sugar plantations. They were followed by other Indians who crossed the Indian Ocean either to work as labourers in South Africa or to open businesses there. As the businessmen, many of whom were Muslims, prospered, the white community saw them as an increasingly powerful and dangerously influential element in South African society. When the indentured labourers completed their contracts, they and their families overwhelmingly chose to stay in South Africa, particularly in Natal. When Natal became a fully self-governing colony in 1893, the newly established responsible government began a campaign to strip Indians of any political privileges they enjoyed and to obstruct the full citizenship of the Indian immigrant population as a whole. The 1896 Franchise Act passed in the Natal parliament effectively

disenfranchised Indians, who were not mentioned specifically in the legislation, by ingeniously denying the vote in Natal to anyone whose home country did not have its own parliamentary representation. In 1897 the Natal parliament forbade the immigration of any Indians who had not signed indentures, and allowed the trading licences of Indians to be cancelled without appeal to a court of law. These were the predictable responses of a white minority community insecurely settled among a much larger black majority. The Europeans were generally resentful of further non-white immigration, and feared the competition of Indian migrants in trade and in the job market. As Indians moved to other parts of South Africa, particularly to the Transvaal, a series of legislative and judicial obstacles were raised to their entering into full citizenship. Among the stratagems devised by the whites to harry and demoralise Indians and their families, were hefty taxes, challenges to their rights to enter the country and a legal ruling which appeared to declare Hindu marriages illegal.

MARCH THAT MADE GANDHI THE MAHATAMA(1913) On 15 October 1913 Gandhi gathered his supporters at Phoenix, his farm near the port city of Durban, to begin the long march to the Natal border with the Transvaal. When they got there they would cross without permission – knowing that this was illegal. Just 16 protesters, including his long-suffering wife, Kasturba, answered his call.For a moment it appeared that Gandhi’s entire South African mission would end in failure; that he would have to leave for India with little to show for years of resistance. Staring defeat in the face, Gandhi reversed a long-held position and turned at last to the one group he had previously ignored: the poorest of the poor. He called on the indentured labourers on the sugar plantations and coal mines to support his cause. The result was extraordinary. Thousands downed tools and joined the protest. By 6 November the march had reached Volksrust, on the border with the Transvaal. Whites in the town threatened to ‘shoot the Indians like rabbits.’ Still they pressed on and the border was crossed without violence. By the end of November the towns in Natal were at a standstill, troops had been rushed from the Eastern Cape and Pretoria and the mines had been turned into temporary prisons. Strikers were bludgeoned, beaten and intimidated; some died. Gandhi and his closest supporters – including several whites – were imprisoned. Yet still the protests continued. News of the action reached India via the Reuters newsagency, and carried in every newspaper. There were angry meetings across the sub-continent. Fearing that the situation might spiral out of control, the Viceroy came out in support of the protest. Speaking in Madra, Lord Hardinge said that the South African Indian community had violated the law “with full knowledge of the penalties involved, and ready with all courage and patience to endure those penalties.” But, he went on: “In all this they have the sympathy of India – deep and burning – and not only of India, but of all those who like myself, without being Indians themselves, have feelings of sympathy for the people of this country.”

For an Imperial ruler, like Lord Hardinge, to openly attack another government within the Empire was almost unprecedented. He came close to losing his job, receiving strong letters from the Colonial Secretary and the King. But so positive was the response in India itself that London backed down and he remained in post. On 11 December, under acute pressure from both home and abroad, South Africa’s Minister of the Interior, Jan Smuts, finally took the step that broke the impasse. He announced a Commission of Inquiry into the causes of the strike. Gandhi was freed from jail.

GANDHI AND JAN SMUTS REACH AN AGREEMENT On 21 January 1914, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Jan Christian Smuts reached an agreement aimed at settling the long struggle over the rights of Indian immigrants in South Africa. The Gandhi-Smuts agreement led to the passing, six months later, of the Indian Relief Bill which acceded to all the protesters’ demands: the £3 annual tax was abolished, marriages considered legal in India became legal in South Africa, and the domicile certificate became sufficient right to enter the Union. There was, of course, more to it than Smuts simply recognising the moral strength of the Gandhian campaigners. For one thing, it was possible to see the fairly small but increasingly influential Indian community in South Africa as potential allies in the real race conflict in the subcontinent – that between the whites and the blacks. For another, an agreement would almost certainly rid the country of Gandhi, and when he sailed from Durban in July 1914 Smuts remarked ‘The Saint has left our shores; I sincerely hope for ever’.

CONCLUSION Gandhi demonstrated great leadership while ending discrimination of Indians in South Africa and gaining independence for India using nonviolence, inspiring others to embrace human equality, religious tolerance, and simple lifestyle, always leading by example. His legacy lives on in the important historical people he influenced, like M.L.K., Mandela, and others. His accomplishments in India and his influence on the world changed history and his life has been and will always be an inspiration for everyone.

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