The force of truth

The whole of India was throbbing with one heartbeat. Every Indian wanted independence, but they needed one person who would help them get it. That person turned out to be a frail lawyer who was educated in England and was employed in Sout Africa. His name was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

Gandhi was a simple lawyer who had learned that the truth was a powerful force. He had pursued a career in law so that he could insure that the truth always triumphed. When he went to Sout Africa, things took a sudden change. In Sout Africa, Gandhi witnessed the shocking discrimination that the white Sout Africans practiced against the Africans and Indians. The Africans and Indians were not allowed to walk on the same pavement as the whites. And they were treated like animals by the whites.

In 1915 AD Gandhi returned to India. On a tour of India, Gandhi found that the poor people were suffering the most. He was sad to find that untouchability and the caste system were still being practiced. He decided that all these social evils were just a bad, If not worse than the British colonialism.Gandhi called on the Indian people to conduct silent protests, strikes and break the new laws. The British were overwhelmed when strikes and protests broke all over India.

On April 13^th,1919 AD a British General in Punjab found an excuse to teach the Indian a lesson. The British officer, General Dyer, had received news that the people were going to hold a public meeting. He promptly declared that all public meeting were illegal. When the people disobeyed his orders and went to a place called Jallianwalla Bagh, he decided to teach them a lesson that they would never forget. He sent 150 fully armed British and Indian soldiers to block the only route out of Jallianwalla Bagh. Without warning he ordered his men to being firing at the gathering. With nowhere left to run, the unarmed men, women and children were shot down in large numbers. At the end of the massacre 1,200 people lay wounded and 379 lay dead in Jallianwalla Bagh.

Gandhi was shocked by the insensible cruelty of the British. This massacre only strengthened his resolve to implement Satyagraha. He requested all Indians to oppose the British, stand up for their rights and refuse to strike back when the British struck them. but not everyone shared Gandhi`s   non-violence views. In many place young people destroyed British establishments and attacked the soldiers. In a place called chauri, a violent mob set fire to a police station with 22 policemen inside. The policemen were burnt alive.Gandhi was so angry that he wanted to call off the non-cooperation movement.

Gandhi told people:

"Although Independence was very important, the way to get it was also very important. Freedom won through bloodshed was not freedom at all."

From: History of India, written by:B.J. Thomas

پ ن ۱: فقط به جمله آخر این روایت کوتاه از تاریخ هند اگر نگاه می کنید متوجه بزرگی و بینش انسانی گاندی می شوید،این خط جواب سوال همیشگی من بود که چرا ایران گاندی ندارد...

پ ن۲:امروز جمعه دوم اکتبر سالروز تولد گاندی است،مردم هند او را پدر ملت father of nation می نامند.این روز در هند تعطیل رسمی است.