Gandhi, Mahatma

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Indian nationalist leader. A pacifist, he led the struggle for Indian independence from the UK by advocating non-violent non-cooperation (satyagraha ‘truth and firmness’) from 1915. He was imprisoned several times by the British authorities. He was influential in the nationalist Congress Party and in the independence negotiations in 1947. He was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist in the violence that followed the partition of British India into India and Pakistan in 1948. Religious violence in India and Pakistan soon waned, and his teachings came to inspire non-violent movements in other parts of the world, notably in the USA under civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, and in South Africa under Nelson Mandela.

Gandhi began to develop the principles of satyagraha, the practice of non-violent resistance, while practising as a lawyer in South Africa, where he lived from 1893. He led the Indian community there in opposition to racial discrimination until 1914, when the South African government made important concessions to his demands. He returned to India in January 1915 and became the leader in the country's complex struggle for independence from British rule. He organized hunger strikes, boycotts of British goods, and events of civil disobedience, and campaigned for social reform. In 1920, when the British failed to make amends, Gandhi proclaimed an organized campaign of non-cooperation. Indians in public office resigned, government agencies were boycotted, and Indian children were withdrawn from government schools. Gandhi was arrested by the British, but they were soon forced to release him.

India's economic independence was an important issue for Gandhi's Swaraj (self-ruling) movement. As a remedy for the extreme poverty affecting Indian villagers as a result of exploitation by British industrialists, Gandhi advocated the revival of cottage industries. He began to use a spinning wheel as a token of the renewal of native Indian industries and the return to the simple village life he expounded.

In 1921 the Indian National Congress, the group that spearheaded the movement for independence, gave Gandhi complete executive authority. However, a series of armed revolts against Britain broke out and Gandhi withdrew from active politics 1924–30. In 1930, he led a 265 km/165 mi march from Ahmadabad, Gujarat, to the Arabian Sea, and produced salt by evaporating sea water as a gesture of defiance against the British monopoly in salt production. In 1932, he began to fast as a method of protest. The fasts were effective measures against the British, because revolution could well have broken out had he died. He formally resigned from politics in 1934, but continued to travel through India teaching ahimsa (non-violence) and demanding the eradication of ‘untouchability’, the policy of shunning members of India's lowest caste. In real terms, his political power remained immense and, in 1939, he returned to active political life because of the pending federation of Indian principalities with the rest of India. Gandhi stood steadfastly against the partition of India, but ultimately had to concede to it, hoping that internal peace would be achieved after the Muslim demand for separation had been met.

The three stars are taken from the arms of the Duchy of Selje. The flag uses the pan-Slav colours. Effective date: 25 June 1991. >>