Gandhi Jayanti This Year Marks 155th Anniversary, Read All You Need To Know

Gandhi Jayanti is annually observed on 2nd October to celebrate the Birth Anniversary of Shri Mahatma Gandhi. The man who was a pioneering figure of the Indian Freedom Struggle which leads to Independence of India in 1947. To give tribute to his contribution to the nation this day is celebrated annually on 2nd October. This year marks the 155th Anniversary of “Father of The Nation”. This article will give all the information regarding the great leader of our nation.

Personal Life of Gandhiji

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2nd October, 1869 in Porbandar, Gujarat. His Father name was Karamchand Gandhi and Mother name was Putli Bai. He married Kasturba Gandhi. 

He studied Law at University College London. After completing his studies Mahatma Gandhi started his law career in South Africa after Dada Abdullah requested to come there. Before participating in Indian Freedom Struggle Gandhi Spent 21 years in South Africa. After coming from South Africa he took part in India’s freedom struggle.

Independence Struggle History of Gandhi

After the arrival from South Africa Gandhi started to take part in small satyagraha to understand the Indian culture, practices, people, area. Then he participated in the Champaran Satyagraha (1917), Ahmedabad Mill Strike (1918), Kheda Satyagraha (1918) on which main theme of the satyagraha was Non-Violence, Fast until demands are not fulfill played the significant role in the success of those satyagraha. 

When the Freedom Struggle took the pace, the mass participation movement were started with support of huge number of crowds and played an important role in the movement like Protest against Rowlatt act, Non-cooperation Movement (1921-22), Civil Disobedience Movement (1930-34), Quit India movement (1942), although it did not immediately achieve its goals, it contributed to the weakening of British rule and paved the way for the independence of India. 

Philosophy of Gandhi

Gandhian Philosophy is the religious and social ideas adopted and developed by Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhian Philosophy exists on several planes – spiritual or religious, moral, political, economic, social, individual, and collective. Like important Gandhian Principles are, Truth and Non-Violence, Against Discrimination, Secular Outlook, Communal Harmony, Self-Reliance were ideals of Gandhi. 

Significance of Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti

The day honors Mahatma Gandhi, the values of non-violence and tolerance he preached, and pays tribute to the freedom fighter. People celebrate the day to promote peace, harmony, and unity worldwide. It is marked with much pomp everywhere in the country, including schools, colleges, government and non-government offices. People organize cultural activities, patriotic songs, dances, and speeches on the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. 

International Day of Non-violence

In 2007, the United Nations General Assembly designated October 2 as International Day of Non-Violence to honor Gandhi’s principles. According to the United Nations, the day is an occasion to “disseminate the message of non-violence, including through education and public awareness”. It reaffirms “the universal relevance of the principle of non-violence” and the desire “to secure a culture of peace, tolerance, understanding and non-violence”.

Gandhi Jayanti Celebrations

Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated as a national holiday. Prayer meetings are held to pay homage, in front of the statue at the Raj Ghat in New Delhi. The President and Prime Minister of India are present during the prayer at the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi where he was cremated. His most preferred and devotional song Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram is sung in his memory. Also a celebration by schools and common man are also performed on the day.

Important Facts about Gandhi

1. Satyagrah : In South Africa (1893-1915), he had successfully fought the racist regime with a novel method of mass agitation, which he called satyagraha.

• The idea of satyagraha emphasized the power of truth and the need to search for truth.

2. Satyagraha Movements in India: Mahatma Gandhi believed that the dharma of non-violence could unite all Indians.

• He traveled to Champaran in Bihar to inspire the peasants to struggle against the oppressive plantation system.
• He organized a satyagraha to support the peasants of the Kheda district of Gujarat. Affected by crop failure and a plague epidemic, the peasants of Kheda could not pay the revenue, and were demanding that revenue collection be relaxed.
• In 1918, he went to Ahmedabad to organize a satyagraha movement amongst cotton mill workers.

3. Non-Cooperation Movement (1921-22): At the Calcutta session of the Congress in September 1920, he convinced other leaders of the need to start a non-cooperation movement in support of Khilafat as well as for swaraj. In February 1922, Mahatma Gandhi decided to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement after the Chauri-Chaura incident.
4. The Salt March and the Civil Disobedience Movement: For several years after the Non-cooperation Movement ended, Mahatma Gandhi focused on his social reform work.

• In 1930, Gandhiji declared that he would lead a march to break the salt law.
• According to this law, the state had a monopoly on the manufacture and sale of salt.
• This marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement. In 1931, Gandhi accepted a truce (the Gandhi-Irwin Pact), called off civil disobedience, and agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference in London as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress.

5. Quit India Movement:

• With the outbreak of World War II (1939-45), the nationalist struggle in India entered its last crucial phase.
• The failure of the mission of Sir Stafford Cripps, a British cabinet minister who went to India in March 1942 with an offer that Gandhi found unacceptable, the British equivocation on the transfer of power to Indian hands, and the encouragement given by high British officials to conservative and communal forces promoting discord between Muslims and Hindus impelled Gandhi to demand in the summer of 1942 an immediate British withdrawal from India—what became known as the Quit India Movement.

6. Social Work:

• He worked for the upliftment of untouchables and gave them a new name ‘Harijan’ meaning the children of God.
• In September 1932, B.R. Ambedkar negotiated the Poona Pact with Mahatma Gandhi.
• His symbol of self-reliance – the spinning wheel – became a popular symbol of Indian Independence Movement.
• He played a key role in pacifying people and averting the Hindu-Muslim riots as tensions rose before and during the partition of the country.
• He founded the Hindustani Prachar Sabha in 1942 at Wardha in Maharashtra. The aim of the organization was to promote Hindustani, a link language between Hindi and Urdu.

7. Books Written: Hind Swaraj, My Experiments with Truth (Autobiography).
8. Gandhi Peace Prize is given for social, economic and political transformation through non-violence and other Gandhian methods.
9. Father of the Nation : Mahatma Gandhi is revered in India as the Father of the Nation. Much before the Constitution of Free India conferred the title of the Father of the Nation upon the Mahatma, it was Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose who first addressed him as such in his condolence message to the Mahatma on the demise of Kasturba.