Essay, Research Paper: Gandhi

Gandhi was a great leader of India's independence. What made him such a great leader was his motivation. When he did something, he stuck to it. He also did everything nonviolently. All his teachings and beliefs were all based on nonviolence. He told all his followers that they must be prepared to take beatings and even be thrown in jail. He himself was not afraid. He, in fact, spent 7 years inside a prison. Some of his nonviolent revolts included the Salt Tax of 1930, the hunger strikes in jail, and the quiet movements of 1942-44. He felt that people were the same, color or not, he himself was Indian and knew how it felt to be treated bad. He stood up for the lowest class, called the "Untouchables" and he lived like the rest of his people. Gandhi lived in a hut, and he only owned his glasses, song book. He made his own clothes and tended to fruit trees. What made people like Martin Luther King, Jr. follow his teachings was he knew what he was doing, and his things worked; they got there point across without violence. When India finally got it's independence from the British, the Muslims and Hindu's got in a violent skirmish. Even though he had accomplished much, he felt very bad that the two major religious groups in India could not live in peace. To save his country be what he believed, he fasted until they could convince him that these fights would stop. Since he had become their hero long before by fighting for what they all believed fair, they agreed to stop. Gandhi lived a bit more before he was shot by one of his fellow Indians. These acts of nonviolence in fighting for what he believed made him a great leader and an inspiration to others.