India and Gandhi
...economic control to keep them suppressed. The high taxes forced peasants to borrow money at high interest rates, making them forever indebt to the British. Most Indian people were never able to obtain a high socio-economic status, as Europeans were favored for all jobs. Viceroy Mayo commented “Teach your subordinates that we are all British gentlemen engaged in the magnificent work of governing an inferior race”. These were the seeds of discontent. Relationships between Indians and the British over the years were characterized by many minor skirmishes and some major confrontations. The British insensitivity to Indians religious customs led to the Indian Mutiny of 1857. This bought to an end the East India Company and many lives were lost. Noted Raja Ram, an Indian nationalists historian, “It was the entire imperial system which was the incident, and responsible for this naked barbarity”. The British dealt brutally with the rebels and subsequently the British government took control from the East India Company. After the introduction of the Rowlatt Acts, the Indian National Congress held an illegal meeting in Punjab, Amritsar, where, although the Indians were not posing any threat to the British, General Dyer and his army opened fire killing 1,200 Indians and 26 British. Those Indians who retaliated were publicly executed to frighten the Indians and keep them under control. The Amritsar Massacre, was an example of the inflexible British attitude. After Gandhi returned from South Africa in 1915, he assumed the leadership of the Indian National Congress, which had become increasingly resentful of the British occupation and exploitation. His aim was to provide and lead India in a non-violent struggle for independence.Gandhi’s early life and experiences and his time in South Africa greatly affected the way in which he constructed these philosophies. Coming from a Hindu background who opposed industrialization and westernization would influence his philosophy of Swadeshi, and his experiences in London, where he learnt passive resistance or ‘turning the other cheek’, would aid him in his acquired belief of Satyagraha. Satyagraha ‘truth force’ was a philosophy of social action with the pursuit of truth as it’s highest goal. His one absolute was non-violence “as no one has the right to commit violence in the name of their own truth”, As stated by Gandhi when explaining his philosophy to the Congress. Gandhi traveled throughout India and quickly realized that the poor had to be mobilized if India was to achieve independence. For this to happen the Indian National Congress would have to take up their cause. Gandhi championed the rights of the Indigo growers in reference to their high rents and also the peasants of the Kaira district in relation to land taxes. Gandhi’s idealistic philosophy of non-violent, non-cooperation when applied to the masses often failed at non-violent campaigns and an example of this is the salt march. The mass march to the coast to break the British monopoly of salt also led to mass arrests and uncontrolled violence. However, he did draw attention to how immoral and...