Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was

the preeminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India. Employing nonviolent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired
movements for non-violence, civil rights and freedom across the world. There are
many leaders who are learners; there are some leaders who walked their talk and
became true leaders; and there are a few leaders who became ladders for others.
However, there is the rarest breed of leaders who are a blend of learning, leading
and laying ladders for others. Gandhi was such the rarest leader who learned
continuously, led by example and served as a ladder for others throughout his life.
Gandhi studied law in London. After returning to India he tried to establish
himself as a lawyer in Bombay but failed to establish. Subsequently he went to
South Africa in 1893 and lived there for two decades where he forged the unity
among Indians and fought against anti-Indian and discriminatory practices. He
successfully tried his principles of truth and non-violence, and transformed from an
inexperienced barrister into an accomplished political leader in South Africa. He
returned to India in 1915, joined the Indian National Congress and dedicated the
rest of his life for Indias freedom movement.
Although Gandhi was not the originator of the principle of nonviolence, he
was the first to apply it in the political field on a large scale. He became a leader of
the Indian community and over the years developed a political movement which he
called satyagraha, Gandhi employed noncooperation, nonviolence and peaceful
resistance as his "weapons" in the struggle against the British colony. His wide
popularity among both Hindus and Muslims made his leadership possible; he even
convinced the extreme faction of Muslims to support peaceful non-cooperation.
Gandhi managed to achieve all of this even if electronic media was practically nonexistent, most of the Indians were illiterate, and physical communication excluded
rural India where most of the population lived. How did he manage to do this? It was
through his technique of participatory management that he appealed to one and all
to see it as their campaign rather than his.
Now more than everything else what Mahatma Gandhi proved that it is
possible for ONE MAN to change the world, he managed to take down an empire
without
using
any
violence.
As a youth, he was neither a genius nor a child prodigy and he came from a middle
class family and actually, he even suffered from extreme shyness. However, he
approached life with making small steps towards his goals, which
he pursued relentlessly. He had become the change he wishes to see in the world.
He is a transformational leader who always strove for maintaining unity among
various religions. Gandhi has invented a completely new and humane means for the
liberation war of an oppressed country, and practised it with greatest energy and
devotion. The moral influence he had on the consciously thinking human being of

the entire civilized world will probably be much more lasting than it seems in our
time with its overestimation of brutal violent forces. Because lasting will only be the
work of such statesmen who wake up and strengthen the moral power of their
people through their example and educational works.
Gandhis principles were not only confined to Indias freedom struggle but
also relevant to the world. Gandhis management style was ruthlessly leadershipdriven; yet he ensured that it is related to the poorest of the poor, the downtrodden
and the enslaved, the weak and the discriminated. This is what made his message
universal. It was this universality that influenced Martin Luther King and Nelson
Mandela, two great leaders of our times, to adopt Gandhis methods for their nonviolent struggle and succeed. As Mahatma Gandhi rightly remarked, Nonviolence is
a weapon of the strong. The person who puts up with attack is stronger than the
person who attacks. The person who has stamina to bear pain is stronger than the
person who inflicts pain. The person who pioneers non-violence is stronger than the
person who practices violence. An eye for an eye will just make the world blind; this
is the eternal legacy that Gandhi left which is an integral part to achieve
international peace and prosperity that had indeed, forever change the world.