Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Gujarati: મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી, pronounced [moːɦən̪d̪aːs

kərəmʨən̪d̪ ɡaːn̪d̪ʱiː] ( listen); 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent
political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement. He pioneered
satyagraha—resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, a philosophy firmly founded
upon ahimsa, or total nonviolence, which helped India to gain independence, and inspired
movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. Gandhi is often referred to as
Mahatma Gandhi ([məɦaːt̪maː]; Sanskrit: महातमा mahātmā or "Great Soul", an honorific first
applied to him by Rabindranath Tagore),[1] and in India also as Bapu (Gujarati: બાપુ , bāpu or
"Father"). He is officially honoured in India as the Father of the Nation; his birthday, 2 October,
is commemorated there as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and worldwide as the International
Day of Non-Violence.

Gandhi first employed civil disobedience while an expatriate lawyer in South Africa, during the
resident Indian community's struggle there for civil rights. After his return to India in 1915, he
organised protests by peasants, farmers, and urban labourers concerning excessive land-tax and
discrimination. After assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led
nationwide campaigns to ease poverty, expand women's rights, build religious and ethnic amity,
end untouchability, and increase economic self-reliance. Above all, he aimed to achieve Swaraj
or the independence of India from foreign domination. Gandhi famously led his followers in the
Non-cooperation movement that protested the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km (240 mi)
Dandi Salt March in 1930. Later, in 1942, he launched the Quit India civil disobedience
movement demanding immediate independence for India. Gandhi spent a number of years in jail
in both South Africa and India.

As a practitioner of ahimsa, Gandhi swore to speak the truth and advocated that others do the
same. He lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional
Indian dhoti and shawl, woven from yarn that he had spun by hand himself. He ate simple
vegetarian food, experimented for a time with a fruitarian diet, and undertook long fasts as a
means of both self-purification and social protest.

6 Gandhi's principles

• 6.1 Truth
• 6.2 Nonviolence
• 6.3 Vegetarianism
• 6.4 Brahmacharya
• 6.5 Simplicity
• 6.6 Faith
• 6.7 Swaraj

A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to
please, or worse, to avoid trouble.
Mohandas Gandhi

A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.

Mohandas Gandhi
A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.
Mohandas Gandhi

A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of
others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect
act.
Mohandas Gandhi

A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.
Mohandas Gandhi

A policy is a temporary creed liable to be changed, but while it holds good it has got
to be pursued with apostolic zeal.
Mohandas Gandhi

A principle is the expression of perfection, and as imperfect beings like us cannot

practise perfection, we devise every moment limits of its compromise in practice.
Mohandas Gandhi

A religion that takes no account of practical affairs and does not help to solve them
is no religion.
Mohandas Gandhi

A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission

can alter the course of history.
Mohandas Gandhi

A vow is a purely religious act which cannot be taken in a fit of passion. It can be
taken only with a mind purified and composed and with God as witness.
Mohandas Gandhi

A weak man is just by accident. A strong but non-violent man is unjust by accident.
Mohandas Gandhi

Action expresses priorities.

Mohandas Gandhi

Action is no less necessary than thought to the instinctive tendencies of the human
frame.
Mohandas Gandhi

All compromise is based on give and take, but there can be no give and take on
fundamentals. Any compromise on mere fundamentals is a surrender. For it is all
give and no take.
Mohandas Gandhi

All the religions of the world, while they may differ in other respects, unitedly
proclaim that nothing lives in this world but Truth.
Mohandas Gandhi

Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at
purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.
Mohandas Gandhi

Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act
depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest.
Mohandas Gandhi

An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth
become error because nobody sees it.
Mohandas Gandhi

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
Mohandas Gandhi

An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.

Mohandas Gandhi

India's Independence Day is celebrated on 15 August to commemorate its

independence from British rule and its birth as a sovereign nation on that day in
1947.[1] The day is a national holiday in India. All over the country, flag-hoisting
ceremonies are conducted by the local administration in attendance. The main
event takes place in New Delhi, where the Prime Minister hoists the National Flag at
the Red Fort and delivers a nationally televised speech from its ramparts. In his
speech, he highlights the achievements of his government during the past year,
raises important issues and gives a call for further development. The Prime Minister
also pays his tribute to leaders of the freedom struggle.

Road to independence
Main articles: History of Independent India, Political Integration of India, and Partition of India
On 3 June 1947, Viscount Lord Mountbatten of Burma, the last British Governor-General of
India, announced the partitioning of the British Indian Empire into India and Pakistan, under the
provisions of the Indian Independence Act 1947. At the stroke of midnight, on 14 August 1947,
India became an independent nation. This was preceded by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's famous
speech titled Tryst with Destiny.

At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and
“ freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the
old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds
utterance..... We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again.

Celebrations
The Prime Minister of India hoists the Indian flag on the ramparts of the historical site, Red Fort,
Delhi, on August 15. 15 August is a national holiday in India. Government Offices are lit up.
Flag hoisting ceremonies and cultural programs take place in all the state capitals. In the cities
around the country the national flag is hoisted by politicians in their constituencies. In various
private organisations the flag hoisting is carried out by a senior official of that organisation.All
over the country, flags are given out to citizens who wear them proudly to show their patriotism
towards India. Schools and colleges around the country organise flag hoisting ceremonies and
various cultural events within their premises, where younger children in costume do
impersonations of their favourite characters of the Independence era.They also have a parade.
Families and friends get together for lunch or dinner, or for an outing. Housing colonies, cultural
centres, clubs and societies hold entertainment programs and competitions, usually based on the
Independence Day theme. Most national and regional television channels screen old and new
film classics with patriotic themes on Independence Day.We all should feel proud of our nation
because of many brave people loving india has sacrifised for there true nation.