Gandhi and India
OUSD 10th Grade History Assessment - Spring, 2010
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Gandhi’s Last Possessions
OUSD 10th Grade History Assessment - Spring, 2010
Photograph from the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence
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Mahatma Gandi in 1940
OUSD 10th Grade History Assessment - Spring, 2010
Wikipedia entry on Gandhi, March 18, 2010
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Predominately
Muslim Area
Predominately
Muslim Area
Predominately Hindu Area
OUSD 10th Grade History Assessment - Spring, 2010
Map “Prevailing Religions, British Indian Empire 1909” fromImperial Gazetteer Atlas of India, Oxford
University Press, 1909. From Wikipedia Commons, uploaded by Fowler&fowler, March 19, 2007.
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Gandhi and his wife, Kasturba, 1902
Gandhi was born in 1869.
At the age of 13 he married Kasturbha. She was 15.
Like most marriages in India, it was an arranged
marriage.They had four sons.
OUSD 10th Grade History Assessment - Spring, 2010
Wikipedia entry on Gandhi, March 18, 2010
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While Gandhi was growing up, India was controlled
by the British.
However, two organizations were founded when he
was still a young man that, over time, fought against
British rule. These were the:
 Indian National Congress
and
 The Muslim League
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The Indian National Congress, founded in 1885,
believed:
British rule should end.
The caste system should be abolished.
Poverty should end.
People should work together to avoid religious
differences.
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The Muslim League, founded in 1906, believed:
 Muslim rights and liberties should be protected.
 Understanding with other religions should be
promoted.
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 1888 – Gandhi went to London to train as a
lawyer and returned home to India in 1891.
 His mother had died while he was away, but his
family hadn’t told him until he returned.
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In 1893 Gandhi went to
South Africa. He faced
discrimination there
against Indians.
For example, he was not
allowed to ride on the
same part of a train as
white people. He
organized protests
against the South African
government.
Gandhi in South Africa, 1895
- Wikipedia entry on Gandhi, March 5, 2010
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 In South Africa Gandhi developed his ideas about
nonviolent resistance.
 He believed in civil disobedience – meaning he
wouldn’t obey laws he thought were wrong, but he
was willing to undergo government punishment.
 He believed in shaming the government into changing
their policies by refusing to respond to violence with
violence.
 He said,
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”
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 1914 – World War I began and Gandhi returned to
India.
 The British promised Indians that they would have
more self-rule if they helped in the British war effort.
 1.3 million Indians served in the army or helping the
army.
 After the war, the British allowed Indians more control
over agencies like health and education but not over
agencies like finance, taxation, the army or the police.
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 After the World War I not only did the British refuse to
yield power, they extended, indefinitely, the Rowlatt
Act. This meant anyone who spoke against British
rule could be sent to jail without a trial. It meant
demonstrations were not allowed against the British
government.
 In protest, Indians demonstrated throughout the
country. In Amritsar thousands gathered.
 A British general, O’Dwyer, brought machine guns and
rifles to the demonstration and blocked all the exits.
Without warning, he ordered troops to fire, killing over
1,000 unarmed people.
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There was outrage over this massacre. In England,
the Hunter Commission looked into the event.
O’Dwyer testified to the commission. When asked if
he could have given a warning, he said:
“I think it quite possible that I could have dispersed
the crowd without firing but they would have come
back again and laughed, and I would have made,
what I consider, a fool of myself.”
— Dyer’s response to the Hunter Commission Inquiry
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1920 Gandhi and the Indian National Congress began a
campaign of “non-cooperation” with the British. This
included:
Not buying products from the British
Making their own clothes
Resigning from government jobs
Not accepting any honors from the British
Gandhi was sent to jail for this activity.
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 1930 – Gandhi, continuing
to defy the British, urged
people to make their own
salt. The British had
forbidden anyone to make
their own – they said all
the salt must be bought
from them.
 Gandhi led a march of
people to the sea where
he made his own salt.
 60,000 people were jailed
Gandhi on the Salt March, 1930
OUSD 10th Grade History Assessment - Spring, 2010
for making salt.
Wikipedia entry on Gandhi, March 18, 2010
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Gandhi was invited to England to negotiate with their
government on handing over power to Indians, but the
negotiations were disappointing. While he was there, Winston
Churchill, a British leader, said about Gandhi:
“It is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr. Gandhi, a
seditious middle temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir (a poor
religious person who begs for alms) of a type well known in the
east, striding half-naked up the steps of the viceregal palace,
while he is still organizing and conducting a defiant campaign
of civil disobedience, to parley (negotiate) on equal terms with
the representative of the king-emperor.”
—Winston Churchill addressing the Council of the West Essex Unionist
Association (23 February 1931); as quoted in "Mr. Churchill on India" in
The Times (24 February 1931)
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Winston Churchill didn’t like Gandhi, and Gandhi
wasn’t too impressed with Churchill or the British
government. When he was asked by the press what
he thought of Western civilization, Gandhi said:
“I think it would be a good idea.”
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In 1932 Gandhi was concerned about the lowest caste in India
– then called the untouchables (now called Dalits). Among other
things, untouchables:
 Could not touch anything that was going to be used by
someone of a higher caste
 Could not enter a Hindu temple
 Could not use the well water that other people used
 Were forced to live in the worst parts of city slums
 In villages were forced to live on the outskirt of town
 Had to drink polluted water
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 Gandhi, who was in jail, began fasting to protest treatment of
untouchables.
 Specifically, the British government had said that
untouchables would have their own elections – they wouldn’t
be able to participate with others.
 Gandhi said he would fast until this was changed.
 He ended his fast when the British agreed to his demands.
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 1939 – World War II began.
 The British wanted Indians to help them in the war
against Hitler.
 However, Gandhi and the Indian National
Congress were not willing to do this. They drafted
a resolution saying they wanted no part of the
British effort.
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“Quit India” march, 1942
Gandhi and the Indian National Congress started
the “Quit India” campaign against the British.
100,000 people were arrested.
OUSD 10th Grade History Assessment - Spring, 2010
Wikipedia entry on Quit India, March 18, 2010
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Nehru and Gandhi, 1942
1947 – The war was over and the British finally agreed to give
India its independence. Within India there was disagreement
about whether India should be one country or two – India and
another country for Muslims.
Nehru (on the left) and Gandhi from the Indian National
Congress wanted one country.
OUSD 10th Grade History Assessment - Spring, 2010
Wikipedia entry on Gandhi, March 5, 2010
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Jinnah, the leader of the
Muslim League, wanted a
separate country for Muslims
– to be called Pakistan.
Mohammed Ali Jinnah, 1946
OUSD 10th Grade History Assessment - Spring, 2010
Wikipedia entry on Jinnah, March 18, 2010
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Gandhi tried to work out a
compromise between
Jinnah (in picture) and the
Indian National Congress,
but he was unsuccessful.
The British agreed to
partition the country –
divide it into two parts.
OUSD 10th Grade History Assessment - Spring, 2010
Jinnah and Gandhi, 1942
Wikipedia entry on Gandhi, March 18, 2010
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Wikipedia, March 18, 2010
India Pre-Partition
This is India pre- and post-partition. Notice what
happens to the shaded areas in the next slide.
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Wikipedia, March 18, 2010
India Post-Partition
The shaded areas become Pakistan, Nepal, and
Bangladesh.
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 After India was divided, millions of people moved.
Muslims who were in India moved to Pakistan,
and Hindus who were in Pakistan moved to India.
 As Gandhi feared, there was tremendous
violence.
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“Convoy of Muslims streaming past the dead of a
previous caravan and the whitened bones of their
buffaloes”
– photo by Margaret Bourke-White, 1947
http://8ate.blogspot.com/2008/12/pictures-of-indian-partition.html
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 Gandhi, in an attempt to stop the rioting and
violence, went on a fast again.
 He is credited with stopping some of the violence in
Calcutta – one of the largest Indian cities.
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Mourners at Gandhi’s Funeral
Gandhi’s Funeral Pyre
On January 30, 1948 Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu
nationalist who thought that Gandhi was being too supportive
of the Muslims. His funeral took place on February 1.
OUSD 10th Grade History Assessment - Spring, 2010
Wikipedia entry on Gandhi, March 18, 2010
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Indians were distraught.
In an address to the nation Nehru, then Prime Minister,
said:
“Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our
lives, and there is darkness everywhere, and I do not
quite know what to tell you or how to say it. Our beloved
leader, Bapu as we called him, the father of the nation, is
no more. Perhaps I am wrong to say that; nevertheless,
we will not see him again, as we have seen him for these
many years, we will not run to him for advice or seek
solace from him, and that is a terrible blow, not only for
me, but for millions and millions in this country.”
—Nehru’s address about Gandhi
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