Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi
By Nicole Sharma
Gandhi’s Belief of Non-Violence
“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind”, Mahatma
Gandhi.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869. his actions
inspired the great Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore to call him "Mahatma"
("great soul").
Nationalist leader, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi not only led his own
country to independence but also influenced political activists of many
different beliefs throughout the world with his methods and philosophy of
nonviolent confrontation, or civil disobedience.
Gandhi sought ought to practice non-violence and truth in all situations,
and advocated that others do the same. He is known to Indians as the
Father of their Nation.
Mahatma Gandhi
 Gandhi was one of the foremost spiritual and political
leaders of the 1900s.
 He helped free India from British control by a unique
method of nonviolent resistance and is honored by the
people of India.
 Gandhi was slight in build, but had limitless physical and
moral strength.
 He was assassinated by an Indian who resented his
program of tolerance for all creeds and religions.
Gandhi’s Protests
Mahatma Gandhi worked in South Africa. During those years Gandhi's humiliating
experiences of racial discrimination made him distress and anxious for change, on behalf of
the Indian community in South Africa. He assumed leadership of protest campaigns and
gradually developed his techniques and beliefs of nonviolent resistance known as
Satyagraha.
In the movie “Gandhi”, there is a scene where it shows that Indians had to carry passes, like
ID badges and that infuriated Gandhi. Therefore, he torched his badge and those who
followed him did the same. When Gandhi did this the police officer beat him in public but
Gandhi would not stop until he was he was physically incapable of anymore.
Gandhi returned to India in January 1915. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre of Amritsar
(1919), in which troops fired on and killed hundreds of innocent nationalist demonstrators,
including women and children, pushed him to direct political protest.
He launched on a policy of noncooperation with the British. He continued civil
disobedience, organizing protests and marches against unpopular British measures, such as
the salt tax , and promoted boycotts on British goods.
Independence and Division of India
and Pakistan
Gandhi was repeatedly imprisoned by the British and resorted to hunger
strikes as a part of his civil disobedience. His final imprisonment came in
1942-44, after he had demanded total withdrawal of the British (the "Quit
India" movement) during World War II.
Gandhi was also tireless in trying to forge closer bonds between the
Hindu and the Muslims.
In August 1947 Indian had gained its independence and had been divided
into two countries, India and Pakistan. This sadden Gandhi. He wanted
one country united with all religions. The Hindus and Muslims were
killing each other. Gandhi worked very hard to forge closer bonds
between the Hindu and Muslims. But all his hard work eventually led to
his assassination.
Gandhi’s Independence
Campaigns
 Gandhi led many campaigns for Indian rights in South Africa
and edited a newspaper called Indian Opinion.
 Gandhi began a program of hand spinning and weaving about
1920. He believed the program helped the fight for
independence in three ways:
 1- It aided economic freedom by making India self-sufficient
in cloth.
 2- It promoted social freedom through the dignity of labor.
3- it advanced political freedom by challenging the British
textile industry and by preparing Indians for self-government.
Independence Campaigns
(continued)
 In 1930, Gandhi led hundreds of followers on a 200 mile
march to the sea, where they made salt from seawater.
This was a protest against the Salt Acts, which made it a
crime to possess salt not bought from the government.
 During WWII, Gandhi continued his struggle for India’s
freedom through nonviolent disobedience to British rule.
 He was jailed for the last time in 1942. Altogether, he
spend seven years in prison for political activity. He
believed that it is honorable to go to jail for a good cause.
Mahatma Gandhi’s Death
The assassination took place on January 30th 1948. In point blank range,
Nathuram Godse shot and killed Mahatma Gandhi as he was walking to
his prayer meeting.
Many people were unhappy of the division of India and Pakistan including
Mahatma Gandhi but some blamed Gandhi for the division.
In the movie, it shows that there was a group of Hindu extremists who did
not like Mahatma Gandhi because Nathuram Godse was a Hindu fanatic
and believed that Gandhi was more lenient to the Muslims then Jinnah, the
leader of the Muslim League, was to the Hindus.
Nathuram’s Views of Gandhi
Nathuram Godse did not like
Gandhi’s philosophy of unity among
all religions, especially not with the
Muslims. Jinnah wanted all Hindus to
leave Pakistan, whereas, Gandhi
welcomed the Muslims to stay in
India.
Nathuram Godse said that Gandhi
was a “political and ethical
impostor”, and the “curse of India, a
force of evil”. Nathuram Godse
tried to rationalize his wrong doing
because he was against Gandhi’s
belief that Muslims and Hindus
should be united and that there
should be an end to the caste system.
Misconceptions
The media we chose for this project was a movie, and articles. There seemed to
be misconceptions about why Nathuram Godse killed Mahatma Gandhi.
One of the misconceptions was that Nathuram Godse did not like the partition
of India and Pakistan and he felt that Gandhi was responsible for their division.
The other misconception was that he killed Gandhi, because Gandhi believed
that Muslims and Hindus should live in harmony and be united. Gandhi
promoted that Hindus and Muslims be treated equally. Nathuram was also angry
because Gandhi was more lenient to the Muslims than Jinnah was to the Hindus.
Nathuram Godse believed that Gandhi betrayed the Hindu cause.
Although Nathuram Godse without a doubt committed a heinous act, there were
many other people that shared the same ideas as Nathuram Godse.
Interpretation of Media
Sources
There were many different media sources that
spoke about the death of Mahatma Gandhi, which
had their respectable and unscrupulous effects.
Nathuram Godse’s statement, that he made before
the judge during his trial, saying why he killed
Mahatma Gandhi was never made public so there
are many misconpcetions as to why he killed
Mahatma Gandhi.
Ultimately, the end result was that the world lost a
truly inspirational figure and a great leader.
The assassination of Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi is considered to be one of the most tragic
assassinations in history.
Influences of Gandhi
 Mahatma Gandhi’s devotion to truth and
nonviolence had influenced leaders such as
Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela.
 The great scientist Albert Einstein said of
Gandhi: “Generations to come will scarcely
believe that such a one as this walked the
earth in flesh and blood.” Gandhi’s beliefs
continue to be studied and analyzed today.