Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, also known as Mahatma Gandhi, was one of the most influential leaders in Indian history. India was ruled by the British empire from 1858 to 1947. Gandhi pretty much lived his entire life under the British Empire since they ruled India for a long period of time. They mistreated the Indians and Gandhi was totally against the unjust ruling of British empire. Through his great leadership he was able to start a revolution against the British empire. Gandhi showed both transformational and authentic leadership, as well as the ability to overcome challenges and communicate his values. Also, his honesty and him being dependable were all the elements that allowed him to play a major leadership role in the salt march, the “true” beginning of the Indian revolution.
Jad Adams, “Gandhi: The True Man Behind Modern India”, discusses Gandhi’s struggle for Indian Independence along with his spirituality and ideology. Mahatma Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, India into a Hindu family. Porbandar is a small coastal town in the Kathiawar agency of the Indian Empire. Porbandar’s weather is very nice over the year. It is in between 60-80 degrees. He lived his first nineteen years in India and then he was sent to London to study law after his father passed away in 1888. There he adapted the philosophy of nonviolence after reading all kinds of religious books such as the Bible. In 1891, he returned to India where he found little to no success in law and accepted a position in South Africa at the age of 23. There he spent 21 years of his life. During his time, people were religiously divided in different parts of India(Adams).
Early in his life, Gandhi was faced with an unfortunate event which contributed to his character development that put him in a credible position. The critical life event that contributed to Gandhi’s character development was him being sent to London to study after his father died. Gandhi was only 18-year-old and this was his very first time traveling alone to a place where he never been to. The early days in London were hard for Gandhi but it helped him perfect his lifestyle and make him a better person. Before he moved to London, he made a vow to his mother about not ever eating meat, drinking alcohol, or dating women because he was married. Well for him the most difficult thing to do was staying away from meat because in London most people were non-vegetarian, so he used to go hungry until he finds a vegetarian restaurant to eat in. Later he joined the London Vegetarian Society and soon was elected to its executive committee. This was the first time where he was leading a group of people. This also gave him the ability to lead. Another vow he made to his mother was staying away from women because he was a sex addict. But since his wife was not with him there, it was very hard to resist his temptation. To make the matter worse, he once got a marriage proposal from a British woman, but he declined the proposal with respect and told the lady the truth about him being married(Adams, 26-38). Gandhi’s honesty makes him credible. The book “The Truth About Leadership” is about 10 different types of truth about leaders written by James Kouzes, Dean’s Executive Professor of leadership, Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, and one of the leading executive educators in the United States, have stated that after 30 years of research they found that 85 percent of the people look at how honest a person is before deciding if they are credible or not(17-18). This makes Gandhi credible because he stayed true to his promise he made to his mother. He could have broken the promise when his mother could not see him, but he did not. This shows how mature he became as a person by keeping his words and being honest. He learned to control himself. Also, he spent a lot of time reading holy books such as the Bible, the Quran, etc. From that he possessed the philosophy of nonviolence. The lessons he learned and the lifestyle he adapted stayed with him for the rest of his life.
Gandhi was a man of justice. He believed in equality and fairness. Later in his life, he found the British empire ruling to be unfair and unjust. This led to his most famous work. On March 12, 1930, Gandhi started the salt march due to the unfairness of the British empire. The Salt March was an act of civil disobedience led by Gandhi himself against the British empire. The Indians were being heavily taxed on salt when buying from the British manufacturer since they were forbidden from buying from Indian manufacturers. This left them with no other option but to buy from the British manufacturer. Gandhi was not in support of that, he believed it was unfair ruling by the British. To address the issue, he wrote many letters informing British government about the issue, but he received no response, so he broke the law nonviolently. March 12, 1930, Gandhi started the march to the sea to make salt with few dozens people but gradually thousands of people had joined him. His values and beliefs were being challenged by the British, so he stood against them.
The article “When Gandhi’s salt march rattled British Colonial rule” written by Evan Andrew, historian and a writer for History.com, is about Gandhi leading the salt march and how it came to be. In the article, Andrew stated that “with Gandhi setting a brisk pace at its head, the column crossed the countryside at a rate of roughly 12 miles per day. Gandhi paused at dozens of villages along the route to address the masses and condemn both the Raj and the salt tax. He also encouraged government workers to embrace his philosophy of noncooperation by quitting their jobs. As Gandhi once said during his march, “What is government service worth, after all?” he asked during a stop at the city of Nadiad. “A government job gives you the power to tyrannize over others” (Andrew). This was an act of transformational leadership. Transformational leadership is a process of engaging with others to create a connection that increases motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower. In the textbook, Leadership Theory and Practice, about different types leadership and they function where Peter Northouse gave an example of a transformation leadership using an organization where “a manager who attempts to change his or her company’s corporate values to reflect a more humane standard of fairness and justice. In the process, both the manager and the followers may emerge with a stronger and higher set of moral values” (162-163). This is what Gandhi have done for the longest. For example, taxes on salt was an issue for everyone but only Gandhi took action. He took his time explaining to the people about the issue which influenced many people to do the same and change their way of thinking. Initially the march started with less than 100 people but later on thousands of people have joined him. Also, they adapted to his nonviolence ways of solving things. The whole march was done nonviolently. Nobody put their hands on each other. He changed people’s way of doing things.
On April 5, 1930, he and his followers reached their final destination to the sea where it is rich in salt deposits rested. Then he picked up a rich-salt mud with his own hands. Obviously, there was media all over the place and the whole world was informed about this. This defy British law, so Gandhi and 80 thousand others were thrown in jail for civil disobedience, but it did not stop the people from continuing on. This brought nationwide attention where millions of Indians were out of control and the British had to let go of Gandhi and others out of jail.(Adams 176-195) After he was released, he negotiated with the British viceroy Lord Irwin and they have agreed to end the monopoly over the salt.
The Salt March was the very first time India found success against British. It gave Indians living on the coast, the rights to produce mineral from the sea. Well Gandhi did not stop there, he led many other nonviolent protests against the British empire. Gandhi had his own values and beliefs that he stayed with for the rest of his life and it is equality, justice, and nonviolence. At the time British were ruling over India and they were doing things that Gandhi found to be unjust like the monopoly of salt which drove him to revolt against the British and he did not stop until India was liberated from British empire. This shows how much he values his beliefs that he put his own life at risk do achieve. Plus, this was not only for his own benefit, it was for India.
The salt march was also an act of authentic leadership. Authentic leadership focuses on whether leadership is genuine or not. Gandhi was an honest man and therefore he had many followers. He was the same person inside and outside. He did not pretend to be someone else; he was true to himself. Gandhi was against violence completely. He did not lay a finger on anyone even during his quest to liberating India from British empire. Also, he was arrested on multiple occasions throughout his time going against British ruling because it was not fair to him yet still persistent on his quest for justice and equality. Many would have been broken down or even change their behavior if they were to get thrown in jail several times but the case with Gandhi was different. He stayed true to his words and did what he said would do. This why till this day, millions of people respect and follows his philosophy of nonviolence.
Salt march was not the only thing that Gandhi was involved with, he led many other nonviolent protests against the British empire during the Indian revolution. Every single day, Gandhi was gaining followers, and this made the British leaders realize that he was a force all by himself and gave India its independence in August 1947. Gandhi played a major role in India’s independence but without the help of other great leaders, it would not have been possible. Unfortunately, Gandhi did not live much longer after that, he was assassinated in less than six months after India won independence. But the salt march was the main reason India got their foundation to go against the British Empire during Indian revolution. The march brought every single person from India to work together no matter what their religion or belief is. At the time, the only thing that mattered was to get their country its Independence.
After India was liberated, the Hindu extremists were not very fond of the idea of living alongside Muslims. Since Gandhi tolerated the Muslims and wanted everyone to live alongside each other, he was shot and killed by the Hindu extremist. Soon after the war between Hindu and Muslim started in India where Pakistan and Bangladesh separated from India.
Beside the point, the world noticed and acknowledged Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence. He proved that without violence it is still possible to win and get whatever you want as long as it is for the right cause. This led to the start of many other revolutions throughout the world. For example, a leader like Martin Luther King took the same action as Gandhi have which was civil disobedience. He did this to fight for his rights as Gandhi did. Gandhi left an example for people to follow. Many people admire his work and follows his philosophy of nonviolence. Throughout the world, people to this day act by protesting to show their disapproval to the government. The salt march was Gandhi’s biggest achievement and had gotten the most positive outcomes from.
This was Gandhi’s most impactful accomplishment because he was able to help liberate India from British rule. He became an icon and millions of people in India look up to him. People till this day know and respect Gandhi for the action he has taken against the British empire which ultimately helped liberate India. Also, many people follow his philosophy of nonviolence since it defeated arguably the strongest empire in history. When this idealism is applied, it’s called “Gandhism”. In today’s society, if people are opposed to something or trying to get their point across, they protest which is a nonviolent approach. Gandhi’s work had an influence on many people.
Gandhi was arguably the greatest leader in Indian history. He showed many types of leadership including authentic and transformational leadership throughout his life. Many challenges have come up, but he took them head on and overcame every obstacle that stood ahead of him. For example, there is a website dedicated to Gandhi and his work by the Indian government, in the article “From Mohan to Mahatma” it states that “Gandhi was imprisoned several times in his pursuit of non-cooperation and undertook many ‘fasts’ to protest against the oppression of the downtrodden in India” by the British empire, but that did not faze him at all and continued to fight for what he believed in. Also, he was able to powerfully communicate his values through his actions. He made them his priority which allowed his values to be heard. This was after he matured as a person, but before anything, after his father passed away his life completely changed. He was sent to England to study all by himself and to make the matter worse, the place was completely unknown to Gandhi. There, he developed into the person that he became later in his life. He stayed away from alcohol, meat, and women since he was already married. Also, he adapted the philosophy of non violence during his time in England. He was honest with himself and kept his word to his mother which made his dependable. These were all the elements that led him to succeed the salt march and help liberate India from the British empire.
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