9. Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma also known as Mohandas (Great-Souled) Gandhi, was born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, India. Gandhi became effectively the spiritual leader of his country during the struggle to bring about an end to British rule in India. Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolent resistance is arguably what he is best remembered for. Gandhi became a prominent leader in the Indian home-rule movement and urged Indians to boycott British goods, and take a number of other measures in opposition to British authority in India, such as advocating that “government officials stop working for the Crown, students stop attending government schools, soldiers to leave their posts and citizens to stop paying taxes” to the British government.
During World War II, Gandhi launched the “Quit India” movement which called for immediate British withdrawal from India. The British responded by suppressing the movement and Gandhi along with his wife and other leaders of the India National Congress were arrested in August 1942. The British government’s attitude to British withdrawal from India was expressed by Britain’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill while speaking in parliament: “I have not become the King’s First Minister in order to preside at the liquidation of the British Empire.”
When Churchill and the Conservative Party lost the election in 1945, Gandhi negotiated with the new Labour Party government who were in favour of Indian independence. Despite Gandhi’s efforts to form a unified India, the country was partitioned along religious lines which led to the creation of the predominantly Muslim state of Pakistan in 1947. Sectarian violence between Hindus and Muslims continued and Gandhi toured the country advocating peace.
On January 30, 1948, while attending a prayer meeting a frail and elderly Gandhi was shot and killed by a Hindu extremist named Nathuram Godse. Godse, who was angered by Gandhi’s message of tolerance amidst a background of sectarian violence, knelt before Gandhi before shooting him three times from close range. Gandhi’s violent death contrasted starkly with a life of pacifism and nonviolent protest. He was 78 years old when he was murdered.